Rorvic Productions was a movie production company formed in 1956 by Rory Calhoun and Victor Orsatti. [1] The name derives from the combination of the founders names, Rory and Victor.
Rorvic Productions produced the television series The Texan, three feature films, and two television films, all starring Calhoun. [2]
The Hired Gun, released in 1957, was the first film produced by Rorvic Productions. [3] Rorvic also produced Domino Kid (1957) and Apache Territory (1958). [4]
Year | Title | Medium |
---|---|---|
1956 | Flight to Hong Kong | Featured Film |
1957 | The Hired Gun | Featured Film |
1957 | Domino Kid | Featured Film |
1958 | Apache Territory | Featured Film |
1958-1960 | The Texan | Television Series |
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Silver Bear, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Stuart Maxwell Whitman was an American actor, known for his lengthy career in film and television. Whitman was born in San Francisco and raised in New York until the age of 12, when his family relocated to Los Angeles. In 1948, Whitman was discharged from the Corps of Engineers in the U.S. Army and started to study acting and appear in plays. From 1951 to 1957, Whitman had a streak working in mostly bit parts in films, including When Worlds Collide (1951), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Barbed Wire (1952) and The Man from the Alamo (1952). On television, Whitman guest-starred in series such as Dr. Christian, The Roy Rogers Show, and Death Valley Days, and also had a recurring role on Highway Patrol. Whitman's first lead role was in John H. Auer's Johnny Trouble (1957).
Charles Bronson was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," and action films, Bronson was born into extreme poverty, in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania. His father, a miner, died when Bronson was young. Bronson himself worked in the mines as well until joining the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 to fight in World War II. After his service, he joined a theatrical troupe and studied acting. During the 1950s, he played various supporting roles in motion pictures and television, including anthology drama TV series in which he would appear as the main character. Near the end of the decade, he had his first cinematic leading role in Machine-Gun Kelly (1958).
Rory Calhoun was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953).
Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle (1881–1928). Blackie, a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's stories, became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."
Eric Scott Norris is an American former stock car racing driver and stuntman. He won the 2002 NASCAR Winston West Series Championship.
Walter C. Kelly was a vaudeville comedian and actor.
Claudette Colbert (1903–1996) was an American actress who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in It Happened One Night (1934). Born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin, she had early passions for a career in fashion design. Although she is more generally remembered for her film work, Colbert's show business career began on stage, and theatrical work remained part of her professional life for six decades. It was her friend, Anne Morrison, an aspiring playwright, who nudged her towards the acting profession. She chose the professional name of Claudette Colbert, using a family name three generations removed on her father's side.
David Winters was an English-born American actor, dancer, choreographer, producer, distributor, director and screenwriter. At a young age, he acted in film and television projects such as Lux Video Theatre,Naked City; Mister Peepers,Rock, Rock, Rock, and Roogie's Bump. He received some attention in Broadway musicals for his roles in West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959). In the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) he was one of the few to be re-cast. It became the highest grossing motion picture of that year, and won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The AFI Catalog of Feature Films, also known as the AFI Catalog, is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute (AFI) to catalog all commercially-made and theatrically exhibited American motion pictures from the birth of cinema in 1893 to the present. It began as a series of hardcover books known as The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures, and subsequently became an exclusively online filmographic database.
Thunder in Carolina is a 1960 stock car racing film directed by Paul Helmick and starring Rory Calhoun, Alan Hale, Jr., and Connie Hines. Written by Alexander Richards, it contains 1959-vintage stock car race footage.
Apache Territory is a 1958 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro and produced by and starring Rory Calhoun. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The story is based on the 1957 novel Last Stand at Papago Wells by Louis L'Amour.
Victor Manuel Orsatti was an American talent agent and film producer. As an agent, he represented some of the biggest stars of the 1930s and 1940s, including Judy Garland, Betty Grable, and Edward G. Robinson, as well as directors Frank Capra and George Stevens. He was credited with persuading figure skating champion Sonja Henie to move to Hollywood and become an actress after the 1936 Winter Olympics. He later became a motion picture and television producer, whose works include Flight to Hong Kong and the television series The Texan. He was also married to actress June Lang, singer/actress Marie "The Body" McDonald, and model/actress Dolores Donlon.
Jonathan Hole was an American actor whose entertainment career covered five genres over 50 years. From his early days on the vaudeville stage and in legitimate theater, through radio, television and feature-length films that took his career up to the 1990s, Hole created a variety of characters in hundreds of roles.
Miraculous Journey is a 1948 film about seven airplane passengers who find themselves stranded in an African jungle after their plane crashes. It was directed by Sam Newfield, under the pseudonym of Peter Stewart. The film stars Rory Calhoun and Virginia Grey.
American actor and producer James Garner rose to prominence as a contract player for Warner Bros. in the 1957 television show Maverick as the series initial lead character Bret Maverick. He would continue to be associated with the Maverick brand several times in his career, as his original character Bret Maverick in the 1978 television film The New Maverick, briefly in the series Young Maverick (1979), and the series Bret Maverick (1981–1982). He also appeared in the role of Marshal Zane Cooper in the 1994 western film Maverick, with Mel Gibson portraying the role of Maverick.
The Looters is a 1955 American adventure film directed by Abner Biberman and written by Richard Alan Simmons. The film stars Rory Calhoun, Julie Adams, Ray Danton, Thomas Gomez, Frank Faylen and Russ Conway. The film was released in May 1955, by Universal Pictures.
Domino Kid is a 1957 American Western film directed by Ray Nazarro and written by Kenneth Gamet and Hal Biller. The film stars Rory Calhoun, Kristine Miller, Andrew Duggan, Yvette Dugay, Peter Whitney and Eugene Iglesias. The film was released in October 1957, by Columbia Pictures.