- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMyrton Daniel Healey
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- American actor and occasional screenwriter. One of the most frequently seen heavies in films and television programs of the 1950s, his name is nevertheless well known only to buffs. Occasionally he played minor leads and sympathetic characters, but his stern good looks and rich deep voice made him a memorable villain, particularly in Westerns.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
- SpousesAdair Jameson(June 24, 1971 - September 1972) (divorced)Elizabeth Mary D'Errico(January 1, 1967 - June 1968) (divorced, 1 child)Leslie Wright(August 5, 1961 - ?) (divorced)Dorothy Ann Pemberton(December 26, 1944 - 1948) (divorced, 1 child)
- During World War II he joined the US Army Air Corps and was a navigator and bombardier, flying many bombing missions over Germany.
- Was a child prodigy who sang on radio and gave violin and piano recitals while still in his early teens.
- His body was donated to University of California in Los Angeles for medical science.
- Remembered as being the man who gives Robert Horton 20 lashes with a bullwhip in the TV series episode The Traitor (1961), broadcast 13 December 1961.
- Studied acting with Maria Ouspenskaya.
- There's much more leeway in playing a heavy, you can get more out of the role. With the existing dialogue, you get more of a chance to pull things out of it . . . character and personality. With a heavy, you just play it straight and it's just plain interesting, the fact that you're not a nice guy.
- [on Harry Lauter] Harry probably saved my life. We were up at Big Bear for a week's location shoot with [Gene Autry]. Harry and I were doing heavies. I'm supposed to ride by a rock, Gene follows and bulldogs me into the lake for a fight in that cold water. Harry has to ride by with Pat Buttram pursuing him--Pat bulldogs him and he succumbs to Pat--on dry ground. Now, I had a bad cold all week--real sick, coughing, no medication. Unbeknownst to me, Harry talked to director George Archainbaud and said, "What's the difference who goes in the water? Let us switch places". So we did. If I'd gone in the water I would have come down with pneumonia and possibly died. To this day, I say Harry probably saved my life. He was always good for a laugh--take a bad situation and make it fun.
- [on Dennis Moore] He was never what you'd call a team player. I don't know whether he didn't like the business or was just a private man.
- [on Mike Ragan] He was always good for a laugh if he was on the show . . . always into something. He was a hell of a personality. Everybody seemed to like him, including myself.
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