Ray Danton
Encyclopedia
Ray Danton also known as Raymond Danton, was a radio, film, stage, and television actor, director, and producer whose most famous role was The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960). He was married to actress Julie Adams
from 1954–1981.
, entered show business as a child radio actor on NBC
radio's Let's Pretend
show in 1943. Danton did many stage roles whilst attending the University of Pittsburgh
and Carnegie Technical School and in 1950 went to London to appear on stage in the Tyrone Power
production Mister Roberts
.
Danton's acting career was put on hold when he served in the United States Army
infantry
in the Korean War
from 1951–1954.
Danton made his film debut in Chief Crazy Horse in 1955 and became contracted to Universal Pictures
His second film I'll Cry Tomorrow
led to his typecasting as a smooth but dangerous villain. His third film for Universal The Looters was where he met his future wife Julie Adams
. He was prolific in television work as well as film where he received the Golden Globe Award
in 1956 for the new male star of the year in film.
Beginning with Onionhead
Danton worked with both Warner Bros.
film and Warner Bros. Television
This led to his most famous role The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond where he played the gangster of the title for director Budd Boetticher
. Danton played his role using dynamic body language
with his smooth persona fitting the character like a glove. Danton reprised the role in Vic Morrow
's Portrait of a Mobster. Danton also kept up his gangster persona with the title role in The George Raft Story
, a screen biography of 1930s actor/dancer George Raft
. In 1959, he guest starred in the episode “The Meeting” of Bruce Gordon
's NBC docudrama
of the Cold War
, Behind Closed Doors
. Danton played American agent Ralph Drake who is sent to Austria to meet with western agents from six Iron Curtain
countries after it is revealed that the Soviet Union
had named a new head of the secret police. Danton was a semi-regular on The Alaskans
and made several television pilots playing spies such as Big Time (1957), Solitare (1961), and Our Man Flint-Dead on Target (1976).
In the mid-1960s Danton alternated between American television series and European films such as Corrida Pour en Espion/Code Name Jaguar and Secret Agent Super Dragon
, including a 1970 Hawaii Five-0 episode "The Last Eden" (as bellicose Hawaiian singer Jimmy Nuanu). He formed a production company in Europe producing films like The Last Mercenary and began directing with Deathmaster (1972). Danton continued directing as well as acting and started producing films such as Triangle in 1971.
Danton died of complications from a kidney ailment in Los Angeles, California
.
He has two sons, Steve and Mitchell.
Julie Adams
Julie Adams is an American film and television actress, sometimes credited as Julia Adams or Betty Adams.-Life and career:...
from 1954–1981.
Biography
Ray Danton, born Raymond Kaplan in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, entered show business as a child radio actor on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
radio's Let's Pretend
Let's Pretend
This article is on the US radio series. For the UK TV series see Let's Pretend .Let's Pretend, created and directed by Nila Mack , was a long-run CBS radio series for children....
show in 1943. Danton did many stage roles whilst attending the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
and Carnegie Technical School and in 1950 went to London to appear on stage in the Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
production Mister Roberts
Mister Roberts (play)
Mister Roberts is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen novel of the same name.The novel began as a collection of short stories about Heggen's experiences aboard the USS Virgo in the South Pacific during World War II...
.
Danton's acting career was put on hold when he served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
from 1951–1954.
Danton made his film debut in Chief Crazy Horse in 1955 and became contracted to Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
His second film I'll Cry Tomorrow
I'll Cry Tomorrow
I'll Cry Tomorrow is a biopic which tells the story of Lillian Roth, a Broadway star who rebels against the pressure of her domineering mother and reacts to the death of her fiancé by becoming an alcoholic...
led to his typecasting as a smooth but dangerous villain. His third film for Universal The Looters was where he met his future wife Julie Adams
Julie Adams
Julie Adams is an American film and television actress, sometimes credited as Julia Adams or Betty Adams.-Life and career:...
. He was prolific in television work as well as film where he received the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
in 1956 for the new male star of the year in film.
Beginning with Onionhead
Onionhead
Onionhead is a 1958 movie, set on a U.S. Coast Guard cutter during World War II, starring Andy Griffith and featuring Felicia Farr, Walter Matthau, and Erin O'Brien....
Danton worked with both Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
film and Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
This led to his most famous role The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond where he played the gangster of the title for director Budd Boetticher
Budd Boetticher
Oscar "Budd" Boetticher, Jr. was a film director during the classical period in Hollywood most famous for the series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.Known for their sparse style, dramatic rocky locations near Lone Pine, California, and recurring stories of...
. Danton played his role using dynamic body language
Body language
Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously....
with his smooth persona fitting the character like a glove. Danton reprised the role in Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
's Portrait of a Mobster. Danton also kept up his gangster persona with the title role in The George Raft Story
The George Raft Story (film)
The George Raft Story is a fictionalized 1961 movie biography of former top Hollywood film star George Raft. Ray Danton portrays Raft and the film was directed by Joseph M. Newman...
, a screen biography of 1930s actor/dancer George Raft
George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
. In 1959, he guest starred in the episode “The Meeting” of Bruce Gordon
Bruce Gordon (actor)
Bruce Gordon was an American actor best known for playing Frank Nitti in the ABC television series The Untouchables....
's NBC docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Behind Closed Doors
Behind Closed Doors (1958 TV series)
Behind Closed Doors is an American drama series set during the Cold War hosted by and occasionally starring Bruce Gordon in the role of Commander Matson. The series, which aired on NBC from October 2, 1958, to April 9, 1959, focuses, among other themes, on how the former Soviet Union stole American...
. Danton played American agent Ralph Drake who is sent to Austria to meet with western agents from six Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
countries after it is revealed that the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
had named a new head of the secret police. Danton was a semi-regular on The Alaskans
The Alaskans
The Alaskans is a 1959 television series set in the port of Skagway, Alaska during the 1890s. The show features Roger Moore as "Silky Harris" and Jeff York as "Reno McKee", a pair of adventurers intent on swindling travelers bound for the Yukon Territories during the height of the Klondike Gold...
and made several television pilots playing spies such as Big Time (1957), Solitare (1961), and Our Man Flint-Dead on Target (1976).
In the mid-1960s Danton alternated between American television series and European films such as Corrida Pour en Espion/Code Name Jaguar and Secret Agent Super Dragon
Secret Agent Super Dragon
Secret Agent Super Dragon is a 1966 Italian Eurospy spy film, directed by Giorgio Ferroni and starring Ray Danton as the titular secret agent...
, including a 1970 Hawaii Five-0 episode "The Last Eden" (as bellicose Hawaiian singer Jimmy Nuanu). He formed a production company in Europe producing films like The Last Mercenary and began directing with Deathmaster (1972). Danton continued directing as well as acting and started producing films such as Triangle in 1971.
Danton died of complications from a kidney ailment in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
He has two sons, Steve and Mitchell.