Forrest Tucker
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films.
Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man, aged fifteen years old. A mentor provided funds and contacts for a trip to California, where party hostess Cobina Wright persuaded guest Wesley Ruggles to give Tucker a screen test, based on his photogenic good looks, thick wavy hair and height of six feet, five inches - putting him into the same league as John Wayne, Chuck Connors, Fess Parker, James Arness, and Peter Graves, Arness's younger brother. Tucker was a sight reader who needed only one take.
His film career started well despite a perception in most Hollywood studios that blond men were not photogenic. After twenty years spent mainly in Westerns and action roles, he returned to his roots, showing versatility as a comedic and stage musical actor. In the TV show F Troop, he became identified with the character of Cavalry Sgt. Morgan O'Rourke (a manipulative character quite similar to Phil Silvers' role as MSgt Ernie Bilko). Tucker struggled with a drinking problem that began to affect his performances in the later years of his career.
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Early life and education
Tucker described himself as a farm boy. He was born in Plainfield, Indiana on February 12, 1919, a son of Forrest A. Tucker and his wife, Doris Heringlake. His mother has been described as an alcoholic.
Tucker began his performing career at age 14 at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, pushing the big wicker tourist chairs by day and singing "Throw Money" at night.
After his family moved to Washington, D.C., Tucker attracted the attention of Jimmy Lake, the owner of the Old Gaiety Burlesque Theater, by winning its Saturday night amateur contest on consecutive weeks. After his second win, Tucker was hired full-time as Master of Ceremonies at the theatre. However, his initial employment there was short-lived, as it was soon discovered that Tucker was underage.
Tucker graduated from Washington-Lee High School, Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., in 1938. Tucker joined the United States Army cavalry. He was stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington County, Virginia, but was discharged when his age became known. He returned to work at the Old Gaiety after his 18th birthday.
Career
Hollywood
When Lake's theatre closed for the summer in 1939, Tucker was helped by a wealthy mentor to travel to California and try to break into film acting. He made a successful screen test, and began auditioning for movie roles. In his own estimation, Tucker was in the mold of large "ugly guys" such as Wallace Beery, Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen, rather than a matinee idol.
His debut was as a powerfully built farmer who clashes with the hero in The Westerner (1940), which starred Gary Cooper. Tucker stood out in a fight scene with Cooper.
Tucker had a support role in The Great Awakening (1941) for United Artists. Overcoming a feeling in Hollywood that fair hair did not photograph well, he quickly attained leading man status, starring in PRC's Emergency Landing (1941). He signed a contract with Columbia Pictures.
Columbia Pictures
At Columbia Tucker had a support role in one of their Lone Wolf pictures, Counter-Espionage (1942), followed by a Boston Blackie entry, Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942). He was borrowed by MGM for Keeper of the Flame with Tracy and Hepburn.
World War Two
Despite his budding stardom, Tucker enlisted in the United States Army during World War II, earning a commission as a second lieutenant.
Post War
Tucker resumed his acting career at war's end. MGM borrowed him for the classic 1946 film The Yearling. Warners borrowed him to play Errol Flynn's love rival with Eleanor Parker in Never Say Goodbye the same year.
Back at Columbia he was in Coroner Creek (1948) with Randolph Scott.
Republic Pictures
In 1948, Tucker left Columbia and signed with Republic Pictures. His first films for them were Hellfire (1949) and The Last Bandit (1949) with Wild Bill Elliott. He made Montana Belle for Republic with Jane Russell; it was sold to RKO.
Tucker had a good role in Republic's Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), as PFC Thomas, a Marine with a score to settle with John Wayne's Sergeant Stryker. He went back to Columbia to support Scott again in The Nevadan (1950).
Tucker was promoted to star roles with California Passage (1950). He followed this with Rock Island Trail (1950).
Tucker was back to supporting actor for Hoodlum Empire (1952) then over at Paramount he co-starred with Sterling Hayden in Flaming Feather (1952) and supported Charlton Heston in Pony Express (1953).
Tucker went to England to co-star with Margaret Lockwood in Laughing Anne (1953), a co-production with Republic.
Back in the US he went back to work for Republic: San Antone (1953) with Rod Cameron; Flight Nurse (1953) and Jubilee Trail (1954) with Joan Leslie.
England and Crunch and Des
He returned to England to make another with Lockwood, Trouble in the Glen (1954), and stayed on to make Break in the Circle (1955) for Hammer Films.
Tucker made some films for Allied Artists, Paris Follies of 1956 (1955) and Finger Man (1955) and supported Randolph Scott once more in Rage at Dawn (1956).
Tucker had a two-year stint on television in the series Crunch and Des from 1955 to 1956 with Sandy Kenyon, featuring Forrest as a charter-boat captain in the Bahamas, was well received.
He was top billed in Fox's The Quiet Gun (1957) and supported Charlton Heston in Three Violent People (1957). Hammer Films in Britain asked him back to play the lead in The Abominable Snowman (1957). He stayed on in England for The Strange World of Planet X (1957), and The Trollenberg Terror (1958).
Auntie Mame
The year 1958 brought another turning point in his career, when he won the role of Beauregard Burnside, Mame's first husband in Auntie Mame, the highest grossing U.S. film of the year. Tucker showed a flair for light comedy under the direction of Morton DaCosta that had largely been unexplored in his roles in westerns and science fiction films.
He supported Joel McCrea in Fort Massacre (1958) and had the lead in Counterplot (1959).
Stage
Tucker was cast as "Professor" Harold Hill by director Da Costa in the national production of The Music Man and played the role 2,008 times over the next five years, including a 56-week run at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago.
Following his Music Man run, Tucker starred in the Broadway production of Fair Game for Lovers (1964).
Tucker played the outlaw Bob Dalton in the 1963 episode "Three Minutes to Eternity" of the syndicated western series, Death Valley Days, a dramatization of the simultaneous bank robberies by the Dalton gang in Coffeyville, Kansas. Tom Skerritt portrayed the surviving Emmett Dalton; Jim Davis was cast as Grat Dalton. The episode was narrated by Stanley Andrews, known as "The Old Ranger".
F Troop
Tucker turned to television for his most famous role, starring as frontier capitalist Sgt. Morgan O'Rourke in F Troop (1965–67). Though F Troop lasted only two seasons on ABC, the series has been in constant syndication since, reaching three generations of viewers. (Two of his Gunsmoke episodes feature Tucker in his cavalry uniform again, as the comic Sergeant Holly (1970), who in one scene "marries" and spends a hectic night with Miss Kitty.)
He appeared in many television series, including CBS's Appointment with Adventure in the 1956 series finale titled "Two Falls for Satan", ABC's Channing a drama about college life that aired during the 1963–64 season. In 1961, Tucker appeared on NBC in Audie Murphy's short-lived western series Whispering Smith.
Later Career
After the close of F Troop, Tucker returned to films in character parts like The Night They Raided Minsky's (1969), Barquero (1970), Chisum (1970), Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol (1972), and Cancel My Reservation (1972). He had the lead in The Wild McCullochs (1975).
On television, Tucker was a frequent guest star, including a total of six appearances on Gunsmoke and the recurring role of Jarvis Castleberry, Flo's estranged father on the 1976-1985 TV series, Alice and its spinoff, Flo.
Tucker was a regular on three series after F Troop: Dusty's Trail (1973) with Bob Denver; The Ghost Busters (1975) which reunited him with F Troop co-star Larry Storch; guest star on The Bionic Woman as J.T. Conners and Filthy Rich playing the second Big Guy Beck. (1982–83). He continued to be active on stage as well, starring in the national productions of Plaza Suite, Show Boat, and That Championship Season.
Tucker returned to the big screen, after an absence of several years, in the Cannon Films action film Thunder Run (1986), playing the hero, trucker Charlie Morrison. His final film appearance was Outtakes, a low-budget imitation of The Groove Tube.
