September 27 Birthday Wishes

William Conrad [1920 - 1994]
Will Sampson [1933 - 1987]
Wilford Brimley [1934 - ]
Claude Jarmon, Jr. [1934 - ]
A. Martinez [1948 - ]

Howdy Manco!!

William Conrad came to film late in his career. Radio was his biggest medium. With his graveley voice, he was perfect for radio. He had already done over 7000 radio shows, including the role of Matt Dillon, before he took on his first film role of a heavy in the 1946 film, The Killers. At 5 feet 7 & 1/2 inches and with a weight problem, he was turned down for the film role of Matt Dillon on the C.B.S. t.v. series. Nevertheless, Conrad found a niche in t.v. He narrated the popular t.v. series, The Fugitive, Rocky And Bullwinkle show, Hudson Hawk along with Buck Rogers In The 25Th Century. He will probably be best remembered for his role of the tough private investigator on the t.v. series, Cannon and another t.v. series afterwards, Jake And The Fatman. A little trivia about Conrad. He was presented one of the two falcon props, that were made of lead, from the film, The Maltese Falcon by studio head, Jack Warner. After Conrad's death, it was sold for almost 400.000 dollars. It has now been restored, using gold and diamonds and is valued at 2 million dollars.

Will Sampson was a native American Indian of the Creek Nation. He began his film career in the 1975 film, Crazy Mama. He was next cast in the 1975 film that would garner him national attention, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, as the quite Indian inmate. He would go on to appear with Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales, Orca with Richard Harris and White Buffalo with Charles Bronson. In 1986 he was cast in Poltergeist II. Sampson felt the film was haunted and would do Indian rituals on the set, to stave off the " bad spirits" on the set. Some people think Sampson was a vicim of the "Poltergeist curse" which claimed the lives of Dominique Dunne, Heather O'Rourke and Julian Beck. Sampson died from complications from heart and lung replacement surgery in 1987.

Believe it or not, Wilford Brimley was once a bodyguard for Howard Hughes. He was a rodeo rider and did stunts in the Jimmie Stewart, Dean Martin film, Bandelero. He had an uncredited role in the original True Grit and in the Burt Lancaster film, Lawman, he played the role of Corman, the body across the saddle, that Lancaster rides into Lee.J.Cobb's town with. He then took on a semi- recurring role on the t.v. series, The Waltons and then was off to the movies, with roles in the remake of The Thing, Absence Of Malice, Cocoon and Cocoon II, Country and The China Syndrome and then the role of Gus Witherspoon in the 1986-1988 t.v. series, Our House. He is also a pretty good western actor, with appearances in Billy The Kid, Commanche and Crossfire Trail. Still busy in film, he currently is the spokesperson for Liberty Medical supplies.

Claude Jarmon .jr was a child star actor in the 40's and 50's. His first role in the 1946 film, The Yearling was his best. He later appeared in Rio Grande, The Hangman's Knot with Randolph Scott and The Great Locomotive Chase with Fess Parker, but by 1959, his film career was over. Another of the child star actors, who couldn't make the transition from child actor to adult.

A. Martinez or "Adolpho Martinez" began his film career in 1968, in the film, The Young Animals, but it was the 1972 film, The Cowboys, with John Wayne that drew attention to him, as the young Hispanic and the oldest of the "boys" on the drive. Although most of his career has been in t.v. with appearances on Mannix, Bonanza, Ironside, Adam 12, L. A. Law etc, he did appear in Change Of Habit with Elvis Presley. Powwow Highway and Desolation Canyon. He is probably best known for his Emmy Award winning role on the 1984-1992 daytime soap, Santa Barbara as Cruz Castillo and General Hospital.

Ed

Who can forget Wilford Brimley on the Quaker Oatmeal commercials? "Eat Quaker Oatmeal. It's the right thing to do...and a tasty way to do it."

Arthur Penn (1922-2010) started director films in 1958 with The Left Handed gun, starring Paul Newman as Billy the Kid. He then directed The Miracle Worker, for which Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke won Oscars, and Penn won a Tony for directing the play. He's probably best known for directing Bonnie and Clyde, but he also directed Alice's Restaurant, Little Big Man and Missouri Breaks. He passed away the day after his 88th birthday in 2010.

Kathleen Nolan (1933-) is a television actress who's been acting since the early 1950s. She's best known for the role of Kate McCoy on the series The Real McCoys. Her TV Western credits include Tombstone Territory, Broken Arrow, The Big Valley, and Gunsmoke.