Stacy Harris

Stacy Harris (July 26, 1918 – March 13, 1973) was a Canadian-born actor with hundreds of film and television appearances.[1] His name is often found spelled Stacey Harris.

For the American cookbook author, see Stacy Lyn Harris.
Stacy Harris
Harris as Doug Carter in Doorway to Danger, 1953.
Born(1918-07-26)July 26, 1918
Big Timber, Quebec, Canada
DiedMarch 13, 1973(1973-03-13) (aged 54)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
NationalityCanadian
OccupationActor
Years active1951–1972

Early years

Harris was an Army pilot whose leg was injured in a plane crash less than six months after he enlisted in 1937. That injury prevented him from re-enlisting when World War II began, but he served with the American Field Service as an ambulance driver and with the French Foreign Legion as a dispatch rider. Before becoming an actor, he held a variety of jobs, including newspaper reporter, boxer, sailor, and artist.[2]

Theatre

Harris acted in five Broadway plays and received a New York Critics Award. [3][4]

Radio

Harris was best known for his role as agent Jim Taylor on ABC Radio's This is Your FBI. In 1946, Jerry Devine, that program's producer-director, told newspaper columnist Jack O'Brian: "Stacy has just the sort of voice I need for the quiet authority of the special agent on my show. On top of that, he's a good actor, and it's a combination on radio which can't be beat."[2]

His other roles in radio programs included Batman in The Adventures of Superman,[5] and Ted Blades in The Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters.[5]:319 He was also a member of the casts of Confession,[6] Dragnet,[6]:200 Pepper Young's Family,[6]:294 Destiny's Trails,[5]:98 and Frontier Gentleman.[7]

Television

Harris's roles in television programs included those shown in the table below

ProgramRole
Four Star Playhouse: A Place of His Own (Charles Boyer)Guest stars on October 8, 1953 as Frank Le Beau
Doorway to DangerAgent Doug Carter[8]
The Life and Legend of Wyatt EarpJohn Clum[8]:600
N.O.P.D.Detective Victor Beaujac[8]:770–771
O'Hara, U.S. TreasuryBen Hazzard[8]:783
Return to Peyton PlaceLeslie Harrington[9]
Bearcats!Emmet Grosvenor
BonanzaRegis in the episode "A House Divided" (1960)

Col. Clinton Wilcox in the episode "The Honor of Cochise" (1961)

Mr. Corman in the episode "Twilight Town" (1963)

Martin Melviney in the episode "The Far, Far Better Thing" (1965)

Judge Simpson in the episode "Five Sundowns to Sunup" (1965)

Atty. Harry Teague in the episode "Anatomy of a Lynching" (1969)

Harris played varied characters, often villains, on various programs produced by Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, such as Dragnet, Noah's Ark, GE True, Adam-12, and Emergency!.[10][11][12][13][14]

Harris guest starred in the religion anthology series, Crossroads, and played a gangster in the 1956 time travel television episode of the anthology series Conflict entitled "Man from 1997" opposite James Garner and Charles Ruggles.[15][16] Thereafter, he appeared as Whit Lassiter in the 1958 episode "The Man Who Waited" of the NBC children's western series, Buckskin.[17] He guest starred as Colonel Nicholson in the 1959 episode "A Night at Trapper's Landing" of the NBC western series, Riverboat, starring Darren McGavin.[18]

Harris appeared too in three syndicated series, Whirlybirds, starring Kenneth Tobey, Sheriff of Cochise and U.S. Marshal, both with John Bromfield, and as the character Ed Miller in the episode "Mystery of the Black Stallion" of the western series, Frontier Doctor, starring Rex Allen.[19][20][21] He was cast in two episodes of the David Janssen crime drama, Richard Diamond, Private Detective.[22]

Harris in 1958 portrayed Max Bowen in "The Hemp Tree" and in 1959 as Abel Crowder in "Rough Track to Payday", episodes of the CBS western series, The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun.[23]

In 1960, Harris was cast as a drummer named Cramer in the episode "Fair Game" of the ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams.[24] Harris appeared in three episodes of CBS's Perry Mason, playing the role of murder victim Frank Curran in "The Case of the Married Moonlighter" (1958), Perry's client Frank Brooks in "The Case of the Lost Last Act" (1959), and murderer Frank Brigham in "The Case of the Crying Comedian" in 1961.[25] In 1963 Harris appeared as a Gambler on the TV western The Virginian in the episode titled "If You Have Tears."

In 1969, Harris played the corrupt and cowardly Mayor Ackerson of the since ghost town of Helena, Texas, in the episode "The Oldest Law" of the syndicated television series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Robert Taylor not long before Taylor's own death.[26] Popular character actor Jim Davis played Colonel William G. Butler (1831–1912), who takes revenge on the town after its citizens refuse to disclose the killer of Butler's son, Emmett, who died from a stray bullet from a saloon brawl. Butler arranges for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway to bypass Helena; instead Karnes City, south of San Antonio, becomes the seat of government of Karnes County. Tom Lowell (born 1941) played Emmett Butler, and Tyler McVey was cast as Parson Blake in this episode.

Death

Harris died March 13, 1973, at the age of 54 in Los Angeles, California of an apparent heart attack.[27][28]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1950Appointment with DangerPaul Ferrar
1951His Kind of WomanHarryUncredited
1953The Redhead from WyomingChet Jones
1953The Great Sioux UprisingUriah
1954DragnetMax Troy
1955New Orleans UncensoredScrappy Durant
1956ComancheDowney
1956The MountainNicholas Servoz
1956The Brass LegendGeorge Barlow
1957Raintree CountyUnion LieutenantUncredited
1958New Orleans After DarkVic Beaujacthis is an expanded version for theaters of "The Case Of The Missing Cigars" episode from the N.O.P.D. TV series
1958The HuntersCol. Monk Moncavage
1959Good Day for a HangingColey
1959Cast a Long ShadowEph Brown
1962Four for the MorgueLt. Victor Beaujac
1963It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad WorldPolice Radio Unit F-7Voice, Uncredited
1965SylviaMr. LelandUncredited
1965BrainstormJosh Reynolds
1965The Great Sioux MassacreMr. Turner
1965The Money TrapDrunken Man(scenes deleted)
1966An American DreamDetective O'Brien
1967CountdownTechnicianUncredited
1968BullittVoice, Uncredited
1970Bloody MamaAgent McClellan
1970The Wife SwappersPsychiatrist
1970Noon SundayOperations Commander Callan

References
  1. "Stacy Harris – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos". AllMovie.
  2. O'Brian, Jack (November 16, 1946). "Broadway". Hope Star. Arkansas, Hope. p. 4. Retrieved June 26, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Stacy Harris, 54, Actor On Radio, Stage and TV". 14 March 1973 – via NYTimes.com.
  4. "Actor Moved By Applause". stacysharris.blogspot.co.uk.
  5. Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4. p. 16.
  6. Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920–1960, 2nd Edition. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. p. 156.
  7. "Frontier Gentleman". Idle Minds Design. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  8. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7. p. 278.
  9. "Actor Stacy Harris Dies". The Times. California, San Mateo. United Press International. March 14, 1973. p. 4. Retrieved June 26, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Stacy Harris". TVGuide.com.
  11. "CTVA US Medical Drama – "Noah's Ark" (Jack Webb/NBC) (1956–57) starring Paul Burke". ctva.biz.
  12. "CTVA US Anthology – "GE True" (MarkVII/(CBS) narrated by Jack Webb". ctva.biz.
  13. "Adam-12". TVGuide.com.
  14. Yokley, Richard; Sutherland, Rozane (1 May 2007). Emergency!: Behind the Scene. Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN 9780763748968 – via Google Books.
  15. "CTVA US Anthology – "Crossroads" (Bernard L. Schubert/ABC) Season 1 (1955–56)". ctva.biz.
  16. "Conflict (1956–57) Man From 1997–November 27, 1956". 3 February 2012.
  17. "CTVA Western – "Buckskin" (Revue/NBC) (1958–59) Tommy Nolan, Sallie Brophy". ctva.biz.
  18. "A Night at Trapper's Landing (1959)".
  19. "The Whirlybirds". TVGuide.com.
  20. "U.S. Marshal". TVGuide.com.
  21. "Mystery of the Black Stallion (1956)".
  22. "Richard Diamond, Private Detective". TVGuide.com.
  23. "The Texan". Classic Television Archive. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  24. "The Rebel". TVGuide.com.
  25. "Stacy Harris – Movies and Filmography". AllMovie.
  26. "Death Valley Days". TVGuide.com.
  27. "The Milwaukee Sentinel". news.google.com – via Google News Archive Search.
  28. "Stacy Harris". Idaho State Journal. Idaho, Pocatello. Associated Press. March 16, 1973. p. 13. Retrieved June 26, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
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