Barton MacLane

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Barton MacLane
Barton MacLane Outlaws.JPG
MacLane in 1961
Born(1902-12-25)December 25, 1902
Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedJanuary 1, 1969(1969-01-01) (aged 66)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood
Alma mater Wesleyan University
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
OccupationActor, playwright, screenwriter
Years active1927–1969
Spouse(s)
Charlotte Wynters MacLane
(m. 1939;his death 1969)

Barton MacLane (December 25, 1902 – January 1, 1969) was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Although he appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, he became best-known for his role as General Martin Peterson on the 1960s NBC television comedy series I Dream of Jeannie , with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman. [1]

NBC American television and radio network

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial terrestrial television network that is a flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, with additional major offices near Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. The network is one of the Big Three television networks. NBC is sometimes referred to as the "Peacock Network", in reference to its stylized peacock logo, introduced in 1956 to promote the company's innovations in early color broadcasting. It became the network's official emblem in 1979.

<i>I Dream of Jeannie</i> American television series

I Dream of Jeannie is an American fantasy sitcom starring Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries. Produced by Screen Gems, the show originally aired from September 18, 1965 to May 26, 1970 with new episodes, and through September 1970 with season repeats, on NBC. The show ran for five seasons and produced 139 episodes.

Barbara Eden American actress and singer

Barbara Eden is an American film, stage, and television actress, and singer, best known for her starring role of "Jeannie" in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.

Contents

Career

MacLane was born in Columbia, South Carolina, on Christmas Day, 1902. [2] He attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he excelled at American football. His first movie role, in The Quarterback (1926), was a result of his athletic ability. [3] He then attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Columbia, South Carolina Capital of South Carolina

Columbia is the capital and second largest city of the U.S. state of South Carolina, with a population estimate of 134,309 as of 2016. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. It is the center of the Columbia metropolitan statistical area, which had a population of 767,598 as of the 2010 United States Census, growing to 817,488 by July 1, 2016, according to 2015 U.S. Census estimates. This makes it the 70th largest metropolitan statistical areas in the nation, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau as of July 1, 2018. The name Columbia is a poetic term used for the United States, originating from the name of Christopher Columbus.

Wesleyan University private liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut. Wesleyan is a baccalaureate college that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and sciences but also grants research master's degrees in many academic disciplines, and PhD degrees in biology, chemistry, mathematics and computer science, molecular biology and biochemistry, music, and physics.

Middletown, Connecticut City in Connecticut, United States

Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Native American name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. Middletown was included within Hartford County upon its creation on May 10, 1666. In 1784, the central settlement was incorporated as a city distinct from the town. Both were included within newly formed Middlesex County in May 1785. In 1923, the City of Middletown was consolidated with the Town, making the city limits extensive.

He made his Broadway debut in 1927, playing the assistant district attorney in Bayard Veiller's The Trial of Mary Dugan . [4] He then performed in the 1928 Broadway production of Gods of the Lightning [5] and was part of the original cast of Subway Express as Officer Mulvaney in 1929. He appeared in the Marx Brothers' 1929 film debut The Cocoanuts . MacLane made his first credited film appearance in the 1931 romantic drama His Woman . The following year, he wrote the play Rendezvous, which he sold to Arthur Hopkins. The play was performed on Broadway, with MacLane in a featured role. [6]

The Trial of Mary Dugan is a play written by Bayard Veiller.

Gods of the Lighning was a 1928 Broadway three-act drama written by Maxwell Anderson and Harold Hickerson, produced by Hamilton MacFadden and Kellogg Gary and staged by MacFadden. It ran for 29 performances from October 24, 1928 to November 1928 at the Little Theatre. The Sacco-Vanzetti case was the play's inspiration, Charles Bickford in the Sacco character role.

Marx Brothers American comedy troupe

The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) as among the top 100 comedy films, with two of them in the top twelve. They are widely considered by critics, scholars, and fans to be among the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century. The brothers were included in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema, the only performers to be inducted collectively.

Film work: 1930s-1950s

MacLane in Smart Blonde (1937) Barton MacLane in Smart Blonde trailer.jpg
MacLane in Smart Blonde (1937)
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, MacLane, Peter Lorre and Ward Bond in The Maltese Falcon (1941) Maltese-Falcon-Tell-the-Truth-1941.jpg
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, MacLane, Peter Lorre and Ward Bond in The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The success of Rendezvous landed MacLane a contract with Warner Bros. and brought him to the attention of several renowned film directors, including Fritz Lang, Michael Curtiz, and William Keighley. As a result, throughout the remainder of the 1930s, MacLane was highly active in film, with major supporting roles in such productions as The Case of the Curious Bride , G Men , The Prince and the Pauper , and Lang's You Only Live Once and You and Me . He also played the role of detective Steve McBride, opposite Glenda Farrell in seven of the nine films featuring the fictional newspaper reporter Torchy Blane.

Warner Bros. American entertainment company

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., commonly referred to as Warner Bros. and abbreviated as WB, is an American entertainment company headquartered in Burbank, California and a subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia. Founded in 1923, it has operations in film, television and video games and is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Fritz Lang 20th-century Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor

Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-German-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best-known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute.

Michael Curtiz American director

Michael Curtiz was a Hungarian-born American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed classic films from the silent era and numerous others during Hollywood's Golden Age, when the studio system was prevalent.

During the 1930s and 1940s, MacLane worked alongside Humphrey Bogart in several films. He played Lieutenant Dundy opposite Bogart's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon , writer/director John Huston's acclaimed film noir based upon Dashiell Hammett's novel. MacLane again collaborated with both Bogart and Huston on the Academy Award-winning 1948 adventure film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre .

Humphrey Bogart American actor

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American film and theater actor. His performances in numerous films from the Classical Hollywood era made him a cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected him as the greatest male star of classic American cinema.

Sam Spade fictional private detective

Sam Spade is a fictional private detective and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, The Maltese Falcon. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett.

<i>The Maltese Falcon</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by John Huston

The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 film noir with screenplay by and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut, and based on Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel of the same name. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his femme fatale client. Gladys George, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet co-star, with Greenstreet appearing in his film debut. The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette.

MacLane's many other film credits during the 1940s include The Big Street , Victor Fleming's Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde , Fritz Lang's Western Union , Reginald Le Borg's The Mummy's Ghost , and Frank Borzage's The Spanish Main . He also appeared in two Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmuller, Tarzan and the Amazons and Tarzan and the Huntress . Some of MacLane's films during the 1950s include Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye , The Glenn Miller Story , and Three Violent People .

<i>The Big Street</i> 1942 film by Irving Reis

The Big Street is a 1942 American drama film starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, based on the short story "Little Pinks" by Damon Runyon, who also produced the movie. The film was directed by Irving Reis. The screenplay was written by Leonard Spigelgass from Runyon's story.

Victor Fleming American film director, cinematographer, and producer

Victor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Gone with the Wind (1939), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director. Fleming has those same two films listed in the top 10 of the American Film Institute's 2007 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list.

<i>Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</i> (1941 film) 1941 American horror film directed by Victor Fleming

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner. The production also features Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter, Barton MacLane, C. Aubrey Smith, and Sara Allgood. Its storyline is based on the gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde written by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886.

As he was the regular heavy and bad guy, juveniles started using the term "Don't give me that Barton MacLane", if they felt justly or unjustly being turned off by adults or authorities, e.g. cops, teachers and so on.

Television and final films

In the 1950s, MacLane began to appear regularly on television. Between 1953 and 1967, he guest starred on such programs as Conflict , Lux Video Theatre , Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse , Laramie , The Monkees , and Gunsmoke . In 1958 he played Sen. Harriman Baylor in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll". In 1960 he played Eugene Norris, Perry's friend and small-town sheriff, in "The Case of the Violent Village". In 1964 he played Archer Osmond in "The Case of the Ruinous Road".

During the 1960-1961 television season, MacLane was a series regular on twenty-seven episodes of NBC's western, Outlaws , in which he played Marshal Frank Caine. [1] :802 His last feature film was "Buckskin" (1968).

In 1965, MacLane was cast in the recurring role of General Martin Peterson on I Dream of Jeannie. He appeared in thirty-five episodes of the series between 1965 and 1969. Three of MacLane's episodes were aired after his death in January, 1969. His character was replaced on later episodes of the series by General Winfield Schaeffer, portrayed by Vinton Hayworth, until his death in 1970. Coincidentally, Hayworth also died before all episodes featuring his character were broadcast.

Personal life

Maclane played several musical instruments, including the violin, piano, and guitar. In 1939, MacLane married actress Charlotte Wynters. From the 1940s until his death, he maintained a cattle ranch in eastern Madera County, California, where he made his home when he was not acting. He adopted a daughter. [3]

Death

MacLane died of double pneumonia on New Year's Day, 1969 in Santa Monica, California. [7] He was buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Recognition

For his contribution to the television industry, MacLane has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6719 Hollywood Boulevard. [8]

Selected filmography

Television credits

YearSeriesRoleNotes
1955 The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse Captain Hansen"The Man Nobody Wanted"
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Chief Brooks"Two-Bit Gangster"
1956 Crossroads "The Strange Bequest"
Cheyenne Martin Storm"The Storm Riders"
The Kaiser Aluminum Hour Dan Royal"Man on the White Horse"
1957 Tales of Wells Fargo Clanton"The Target", with Kelo Henderson cast as Ike Clanton
Telephone Time Pete Devlin"Plot to Save a Boy"
Circus Boy Pinkerton Detective Nolan1 episode, "The Tumbling Clown"
1958 Kraft Television Theatre Potter"Code of the Corner"
77 Sunset Strip Brannigan"Girl on the Run"
1959 Black Saddle General Orester Fowler"Client: Braun"
Walt Disney Presents Bob Scanlon2 episodes: "The Robber Stallion" and "Wild Horse Revenge"
1959-1964 Perry Mason Senator Harriman Baylor / Sheriff Eugene Norris / Harold Minter / Archer Osmond4 episodes
1960Walt Disney PresentsRawls Kettrick The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca miniseries, episode "Friendly Enemies at Law"
Laramie Cameron Gault"Street of Hate"
Overland Trail Big Jed Braddock"Lawyer in Petticoats"
Tightrope Vince Baron"Gangster's Daughter"
1960-1961 Outlaws Marshal Frank Caine27 episodes
1962LaramieMel Bishop"The High Country"
1963LaramieEd Bishop"The Wedding Party"
LaramieOwen Richards"Trapped"
1965-1969 I Dream of Jeannie General Peterson35 episodes, (final appearance)
1966 The Munsters Big Roy"Herman Picks a Winner"
Gunsmoke Herkimer Crawford"Honor Before Justice"
1967GunsmokeWillard Kerner"Noose of Gold"
Hondo Markham"Hondo and the Gladiators"

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References

  1. 1 2 Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 490–491. ISBN   978-0-7864-6477-7.
  2. ↑ Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 206. ISBN   9780786409839 . Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Actor Barton MacLane, Madera Rancher, 66, Dies". The Fresno Bee The Republican. California, Fresno. United Press International. January 2, 1969. p. 25. Retrieved April 1, 2017– via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  4. ↑ "The Trial of Mary Dugan - cast". Playbill Vault. Playbill. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Gods of the Lightning - cast". Playbill Vault. Playbill. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "Barton Maclane Biography". IMDB.
  7. ↑ "Movie Bad Guy, Barton MacLane, Dead At 66". The Evening Independent. Associated Press. January 2, 1969. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "Barton MacLane". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
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