Wendell Corey was a hard-working American character actor who appeared
in numerous movies and television productions in the 1940s, '50s and
'60s. Born on March 20, 1914 in Dracut, Massachusetts, in the
northeastern part of the Commonwealth near the New Hampshire border,
Corey was the son of a Congregationalist clergyman. After receiving his
education, Corey began his acting career in summer stock. During the
Depression he worked with the Federal Theater Project, part of the
Works Progress Administration that had been created by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to
put the unemployed to work. It was while working with the Federal
Theater Project in the late 1930s that he met his wife, Alice Wiley.
He made his Broadway debut in "Comes the Revelation" in 1942, a flop
that lasted only two performances. His next play, "Strip for Action"
(1942-43), was more successful, lasting 110 performances. He appeared
in more plays in supporting roles from 1943-45, before making his
reputation as the cynical newspaperman in
Elmer Rice's hit comedy "Dream Girl," which
ran for 341 performances in the 1945-46 season. He was discovered
during the run of the play by producer
Hal B. Wallis, the former head of
production at Warner Bros. who was an independent producer affiliated
with Paramount Pictures. Wallis, who discovered
Burt Lancaster shortly after the war,
signed Corey to a Paramount contract.
It was at Paramount that he made his movie debut in
Desert Fury (1947). He went on to a
career as a supporting player in the '40s and '50s in A-level
productions with top Hollywood stars. He also carved a niche for
himself in television and in the late 1950s starred in the TV series
Peck's Bad Girl (1959). In
the 1960s he worked mostly in television.
Like
Ronald Reagan, who was then a
Democrat, the Republican Corey was interested in politics. He was
elected to membership on the board of directors of the Screen Actors
Guild and served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences from 1961 to 1963. As a Republican, he was elected to the City
Council in Santa Monica, California, in 1965. He made a bid for the
Republican nomination to contest a seat in Congress in 1966, but was
defeated in the primary.
Corey was still serving on the Santa Monica City Council when he died
on November 8, 1968 at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in
Woodland Hills, California. He was 54 years old.
Buckskin(1968)as Rep Marlowe
The Astro-Zombies(1968)as Holman
The Wild Wild West(1965)as Cullen Dane
The Guns of Will Sonnett(1967)as Sheriff Morg Braham
Rich, Young and Pretty(1951)
The Mike Douglas Show(1961)as Self
That Regis Philbin Show(1964)as Self
You Don't Say(1963)as Self
The Bob Hope Show(1950)as Self, Self - Guest
My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock(2022)as Self
'Rear Window' Ethics: Remembering and Restoring a Hitchcock Classic(2001)as Self
Century of Cinema(1995)as Dave, 'I Walk Alone'
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire(1991)as Self
Arena(1975)
