Actor dan duryea biography
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The sneering presence of Dan Duryea on screen indicated the female of the film was in for a rough time. Duryea himself once commented, “My fan mail goes up every time I tee off on a girl.” Duryea was also the screen’s number one “heel”, he’d doublecross a pal then brag about it. It was often the wry amusement with which Duryea viewed his own misdeeds that made him so enjoyable. Duryea used his trademark semi-deranged laugh—sometimes a cackle—to effectively project his sadistic badman image. Duryea stated, “You can’t make a picture without a villain…it pays well and you last.” Constantly employed, in over 65 films and that many or more TV shows, he was usually the bad guy. That’s what his public expected of him.
However, his TV series “China Smith” (revived in ‘54 as “New Adventures of China Smith”) saw him as an Irish soldier of fortune in, at first, the Far • Biography And MemoirFilm StudiesPopular Culture The biography of a devoted family man best known for his roles as abusive villains Dan Duryea (–) made a vivid impression on moviegoers with his first major screen appearance as the conniving Leo Hubbard in 's classic melodrama The Little Foxes. His subsequent film and television career would span from until his death. Duryea remains best known for the nasty, scheming villains he portrayed in such noir masterpieces as Scarlet Street, Criss Cross, and The Woman in the Window. In each of these, he wielded a blend of menace, sleaze, confidence, and surface charm. This winning combination led him to stardom and garnered him the adoration of female fans, even though Duryea's onscreen brutality so often targeted female characters. Yet this biography's close examination of Duryea's oeuvre finds him excelling in various roles in many genres—war films, westerns, crime dramas, and even the occasi • New York Times (New York) Mr. Duryea, who had undergone surgery for a malignancy several months ago, was pronounced dead at his hilltop home. He had collapsed in his bathroom. According to a preliminary autopsy report, the actor died of cancer. Mr. Duryea's wife, Helen Bryan, died of a heart ailment in []. The had two sons, Peter, an actor, and Richard, a talent manager now touring with the Beach Boys, a singing group. A begravning service will be held P.M. Monday at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS Six-foot one-inch tall, slim, blond and blue-eyed, Dan Duryea made a fortune by allowing Hollywood to typecast him as a movie villain. In his 28 years in Hollywood, he made more than 60 motion pictures and 75 television
Dan Duryea
Heel with a Heart
June 08,
DAN DURYEA DIES
TOUGHNESS STIRRED FAN MAIL;
IN REAL LIFE, HE AIDED COMMUNITY ACTIVITES
HOLLYWOOD, June 7 (AP) Dan Duryea, famed for his movie and television portrayals of the heel with sex appeal, died today. He was 61 years old.