Lyle Talbot

His screen test was watched and appreciated by studio head Darryl Zanuck and, even more so, by director William Wellman who immediately wanted to cast Talbot.

Most notable among his film work: his appearance in the classic pre-noir Three on a Match (1932) with Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis, co-starring with Spencer Tracy in the prison movie 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, romancing opera singer Grace Moore in One Night of Love, and pursuing Mae West in Go West, Young Man. He appeared opposite many famous actresses including Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck, Mary Astor, Ginger Rogers, and Shirley Temple.

Talbot's activism in union affairs affected his career path. Warner Bros. dropped him from its roster, and Talbot seldom received starring roles again. He became a capable character actor, playing affable neighbors or crafty villains with equal finesse. In countless low-budget B-movie work, Talbot's roles spanned the gamut. He played cowboys, pirates, detectives, cops, surgeons, psychiatrists, soldiers, judges, newspaper editors, storekeepers, and boxers. In later life he proudly claimed to have never rejected any role offered to him. He played roles in three now infamous Edward D. Wood, Jr. films: Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Talbot also worked with the Three Stooges in Gold Raiders, portrayed Lex Luthor in 1950's Atom Man vs. Superman, played villains in four comedies with The Bowery Boys, and took the role of Commissioner Gordon in the 1949 serial Batman and Robin. Read Less

Three of his four children became journalists: Stephen Talbot (who also played Gilbert Bates on Leave It to Beaver) was for many years a documentary producer for the PBS series Frontline and "Frontline World" and is now the executive producer of "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders." David is an author ("Brothers" about John and Robert Kennedy) and the founder and editor of Salon.com, and Margaret is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His other daughter, Cynthia Talbot, is a family physician and residency director in Portland, Oregon. Margaret Talbot wrote about her father's long career beginning in pre-Code Hollywood, why he never became a big star, and his role in founding the Screen Actors Guild, in the October 1, 2012 edition of The New Yorker. Read Less