January 25 Birthday Wishes

King Donovan [1918 - 1987]

Gregg Palmer [1927 - ]

Howdy Pards!!

With a name like King Donovan, you would expect an actor with the screen presence of Charleton Heston or Lee Marvin, but Donovan was a slightly built balding fella, who always played the role of the sniveling cowardly fella, who some bad guy was always threatening with a gun or a knife and Donovan was always spilling his guts to him, to save his own life. He made a career out of these characters!! Nevertheless, without the talent to play these roles, westerns, detective stories, horror movies and the like would never be as exciting. A journeyman actor, who never got the lead roles, but without his acting abilities, movies wouldn't be the same.
He was the husband of Imogene Coco, the actress and comedianne, who became a star on the Sid Caesar show back in the mid 50's.

Greg Palmer was also a character actor, whose career dates back into the 50's. Frequently playing a member of the gang or a thug or some other low life. Probably his most memorable role was as the fella who tried to hold up J.B. Books( the Duke) in the opening scenes of The Shootist and was gut shot for his trouble!!

Ed

Although King Donovan acted in westerns like Tumbleweed with Audie Murphy, I will always remember him as Kevin McCarthy's friend in Invasion of the Body Snatchers who finally falls to the enemy and becomes one of the pod people.
Gregg Palmer acted in so many westerns, sometimes as one of the leads in films like Taza Son of Cochise or as one of the bad gus like in The Cimarron Kid with Audie Murphy; memorable as the machete wielding bad guy in John Wayne's "Big Jake" (a film that I met with casting director Hoyt Bowers for but unfortunately didn't land the part). I know Gregg personally, met and talked with him on a number of occasions, and he is another of those nice guys that are great to talk with. A sidenote: Gregg can do the best John Wayne impersonation that has ever been done. He could even fool John Wayne himself. Happy birthday, Gregg.