American actor Stuart Whitman died just yesterday. He was 92.
A household name in the 60s and 70s thanks to starring roles in films such as The Comancheros (1961), Sands of the Kalahari (1965) and Shatter (1974) and tv appearances in shows such as Cimarron Strip (1967–1968) where he played Marshal Jim Crown. Despite appearing in some truly bad movies such as the infamous horror flick Night of the Lepus (1972) and Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive (1976) he was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar playing a convicted child molester in The Mark (1961). His last film appearance was in the Chuck Norris movie The President's Man (2000).
For those of you that like to pick to pick your favourite score from a Stuart Whitman film (get ready for lots of Rio Concho and Comancheros) I will start the ball rolling with Trovajoli's excellent Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (1976) -
Competent actor whose finest moment was no doubt in the Cimarron Strip TV series, which I enjoyed watching every Saturday morning in those long-ago days of childhood.
He apparently did very well financially via his investments, so good for him.
I'm not a big fan of his so I don't know all his movies, but Lyn Murray's "Signpost to Murder" is excellent. CIMARRON STRIP was Whitman's own series, which included a Herrmann score for episode "Knife in the darkness." Whitman was also in the Irwin Allen flick "City beneath the sea" scored by Lasalle, but I don't recall if Lasalle composed anything new or not. I forgot he was in "Lepus." Even with Deforest Kelley, not a film I remember much beyond the plot.
From what I've read, he was a close friend of the great David Janssen, and it was Whitman who attempted to revive him on that sad day in 1980 when Janssen died.
That great gravelly voice. He was really good in The Comancheros & Rio Conchos & Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, the last film I can remember seeing him in was The White Buffalo. His commentary on the Blu-ray of The Comancheros is very good.
Truth is I remember him mainly from "Those Magnificent Men..." and from an episode of "Knight Rider" (where Michael investigates the theft of some tractors...) that I recently (re)watched!
I'll pick the superb Alex North score for THE SOUND AND THE FURY and Jerry's RIO CONCHOS.
American actor Stuart Whitman died just yesterday. He was 92.
A household name in the 60s and 70s thanks to starring roles in films such as The Comancheros (1961), Sands of the Kalahari (1965) and Shatter (1974) and tv appearances in shows such as Cimarron Strip (1967–1968) where he played Marshal Jim Crown. Despite appearing in some truly bad movies such as the infamous horror flick Night of the Lepus (1972) and Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive (1976) he was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar playing a convicted child molester in The Mark (1961). His last film appearance was in the Chuck Norris movie The President's Man (2000).
For those of you that like to pick to pick your favourite score from a Stuart Whitman film (get ready for lots of Rio Concho and Comancheros) I will start the ball rolling with Trovajoli's excellent Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (1976) -
Stuart Whitman made his screen debut, credited as Kip Whitman, in a bit part in the 1951 George Pal sci-fi film WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. One source gives his role as “Student,” while another lists it as “Man by Bank During Instigation.”
Although WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE is generally listed as Whitman’s debut film, because the special effects work took so long on that film, Whitman’s second screen role (that of a “Sentry” in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) was released two months prior to WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.
Rudolph Maté directed WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. Selections from Leith Stevens’ score were first released on CD by Tsunami in 1995. Intrada released an expanded edition in 2012.
Stuart Whitman appeared in his first western with the Gene Autrey picture BARBED WIRE. It was also the first film in which he was credited as “Stuart.” Whitman had a small role as a cattle buyer in the film. George Archainbaud directed the 1952 release, which used a stock music score.
Competent actor whose finest moment was no doubt in the Cimarron Strip TV series, which I enjoyed watching every Saturday morning in those long-ago days of childhood.
He apparently did very well financially via his investments, so good for him.
One of the free over-the-air TV stations (MeTV or H & I) had that show on in the afternoon on Saturday. I had never even heard of it before.
ONE MINUTE TO ZERO is set during the early days of the Korean War, when U.S. Army colonel “Steve Janowski” (Robert Mitchum) is one of the military advisers training the South Korean army. He's tasked with evacuating American civilians from the war zone. Stuart Whitman had a small role as an unnamed “Officer” in the 1952 film, which was directed by Tay Garnett.
Victor Young provided the film’s unreleased score. The score's love theme was later adapted into a song entitled "When I Fall in Love" with lyrics by Edward Heyman. The song has become a standard, with many artists recording it, though the original hit version was the Doris Day recording issued in 1952. Another version was recorded by Nat 'King' Cole in 1956 on the Capitol LP, "Love Is the Thing". Cole also sang it in ISTANBUL (1957), and he is the singer now most closely associated with the song.
