Phillip Terry

Phillip Terry (born Frederick Henry Kormann, March 7, 1909 – February 23, 1993) was an American actor.

Phillip Terry
Born
Frederick Henry Kormann

(1909-03-07)March 7, 1909
DiedFebruary 23, 1993(1993-02-23) (aged 83)
Years active1937–1974
Spouse(s)
(m. 1942; div. 1946)

Helen Murphy
(m. 1949; div. 1954)

Rosalind Lee
(m. 1973)

Early years

Terry was born in San Francisco, California, the only child of German Americans, Frederick Andrew Kormann (1883–1948) and Ida Ruth Voll (1883–1954). His father was a chemical engineer in the oil fields who moved often. To ensure he receive a stable education, his parents sent him to live with relatives in New Jersey and attend school while they travelled.

He attended grade school in Glendale, California. (A 1945 newspaper item reported that Terry "had elementary education in various schools in the oil country around Texas and Oklahoma."[1]) He attended Iona High School in New York and Sacred Heart College in San Francisco.[1]

During the holidays, he would return to his parents in such places as Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Burkburnett, Texas. When he completed high school, he rejoined them for good. He worked for a time in the oil fields as a roustabout, then a tool pusher and rig builder. When he was seventeen, they moved back to San Francisco.

He attended Stanford University, ("where he interested himself in theatricals and resolved to become an actor")[1] and where he played football. He then became interested in theatre. After a brief stay in New York, he went to London, in 1933, where he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

After studying at the Royal Academy, he toured British provinces for four years performing in stock theater. He went to Hollywood, California and took a job with CBS Radio, where he performed in a number of plays on the air, specializing in Shakespearean roles.[1] In 1937, a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talent scout heard him in one of these broadcasts and arranged an interview. Terry made a screen test and was awarded a contract with the studio. Among his motion picture appearances, he had a bit part in the movie Mannequin starring Joan Crawford.

Two years later he signed with Paramount, where he starred in The Parson of Panamint, The Monster and the Girl. He then did supporting roles in Wake Island and Bataan, the work on the latter occurring when he was on "loan-out" to MGM. During World War II Terry was classified "4F" unfit for military service due to defective vision.[2]

When he left Paramount, he signed with RKO and was in Music in Manhattan, George White's Scandals, Pan-Americana, Born to Kill and the lead in Seven Keys to Baldpate (1947).

Phillip Terry appeared in more than eighty movies over the span of his career. Many of the early roles were small and often uncredited. But in the 1940s, he received bigger and more numerous roles in some quality movies, such as The Lost Weekend (1945) starring Ray Milland, and To Each His Own (1946) starring Olivia de Havilland, who won one of her Oscars for her role in the film.

Investing

When his career began to slide in the late 1940s he turned his attention to real estate. He was a good salesman and investor, and eventually became very wealthy.

Marriages

He was married on July 21, 1942, at the Hidden Valley Ranch in Ventura County, California, to film star Joan Crawford.[3] They were divorced in 1946. Irving Wallace, Amy Wallace, David Wallechinsky, and Sylvia Wallace wrote in their book, The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People:

Despite her status as a single parent, in 1939 she [Crawford] began adoption proceedings for a baby girl, whom she named Joan Crawford, Jr. Months later Joan changed the child's name to Christina. ... During [her marriage to Phillip Terry] she adopted a second child — a boy — and named him Phillip Terry, Jr. Following her 1946 divorce from Terry, she renamed the boy Christopher Crawford.[4]

Terry later married Rosalind Lee, who was not an actress; they remained married until his death.

Later years

Terry never completely abandoned acting. During the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, he took on occasional movie roles. Some of his better B movies from this period include The Leech Woman (1960), with Grant Williams, and The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966), with Mamie Van Doren.

Sometimes he would accept television roles and was in episodes of The Name of the Game and Police Woman. He also made five guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of murder victim Robert Doniger in the 1960 episode, "The Case of the Gallant Grafter", and he played murderer Lawrence Kent in the 1961 episode, "The Case of the Resolute Reformer".

In 1973, he retired and moved to Santa Barbara, California. He suffered the first of a series of strokes in 1978. Because of the strokes, he lost his mobility and communication and was an invalid for several years before his death at the age of 83. Terry died at his home in Santa Barbara. His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1937The Last GangsterReporterUncredited
1937Navy Blue and GoldKelly
1937You're Only Young OncePilotUncredited
1937MannequinMan Outside Stage DoorUncredited
1937RosalieWest Point CadetUncredited
1938Love Is a HeadacheClub 44 Radio ManUncredited
1938Of Human HeartsArmy InternUncredited
1938Test PilotPhotographerUncredited
1938Hold That KissTed Evans
1938Yellow JackFerguson
1938Three ComradesYoung SoldierUncredited
1938Marie AntoinetteMan in Gaming HouseUncredited
1938Boys TownNewspaper ReporterUncredited
1938Too Hot to HandleSan Francisco Airport OfficialUncredited
1938Vacation from LoveBand LeaderUncredited
1938Young Dr. KildareDr. VickeryUncredited
1938The Great WaltzStudentUncredited
1938Spring MadnessDartmouth College StudentUncredited
1938Four Girls in WhiteDr. Sidney
1939HonoluluNightclub BandleaderUncredited
1939Calling Dr. KildareBates
1939Tell No TalesMan on StageUncredited
1939It's a Wonderful WorldChauffeurUncredited
1939On Borrowed TimeBill Lowry
1939Miracles for SaleMagic Show Master of CeremoniesUncredited
1939Fast and FuriousMaster of CeremoniesUncredited
1939BalalaikaLt. Smirnoff
1940Those Were the Days!Ransom
1940Junior G-MenJim BradfordSerial
1940Fugitive from a Prison CampBill Harding
1940North West Mounted PoliceConstable JudsonUncredited
1940Dancing on a DimeBrent Martin
1941The Monster and the GirlScot Webster
1941I Wanted WingsRadio OperatorUncredited
1941The Parson of PanamintReverend Philip Pharo
1941Public EnemiesBill Raymond
1942Torpedo BoatTommy Whelan
1942Are Husbands Necessary?Cory Cortwright
1942Sweater GirlProf. Martin Lawrence
1942Wake IslandPvt. 'Cookie' WarrenUncredited
1943BataanMatthew Hardy
1944Ladies CourageousTommy Harper
1944Music in ManhattanJohnny Pearson
1944Double ExposureBen Scribner
1945Pan-AmericanaDan Jordan
1945The Lost WeekendWick Birnam
1945George White's ScandalsTom McGrath
1946To Each His OwnAlex Piersen
1946The Dark HorseGeorge Kelly
1947Beat the BandDamon Dillingham
1947Born to KillFred
1947Seven Keys to BaldpateKenneth Magee
1952Deadline – U.S.A.Lewis SchaeferUncredited
1958Man from God's CountrySheriff
1958Money, Women and GunsDamian Bard
1960The Leech WomanDr. Paul Talbot
1961The Explosive GenerationMr. Carlyle
1966The Navy vs. the Night MonstersBase Doctor
1972Class of '74Dave

References

  1. Lunn, Robert (December 2, 1945). "Movie Makers". The Eugene Guard. Oregon, Eugene. p. 24.
  2. Considine, Shaun Bette And Joan: The Divine Feud Hachette UK, 29 January 2015
  3. Chandler, Charlotte (2012). Not the Girl Next Door: Joan Crawford: A Personal Biography. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781471105869. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  4. Wallace, Irving; Wallace, Amy; Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Sylvia (2008). The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People. Feral House. p. 61. ISBN 9781932595291. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
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