photo: http://www.latimes.com/includes/projects/hollywood/portraits/wendell_corey.jpg
Biography
Actor Wendell Corey in a prisoner uniform from the 1956 film The Killer Is Loose
Wendell Corey (March 20, 1914 – November 8, 1968) was an American actor.
He was born Wendell Reid Corey in Dracut, Massachusetts, the son of Milton Rothwell Corey (October 24, 1879-October 23, 1951) and Julia Etta McKenney (April 11, 1882-June 16, 1947). His father was a Congregationalist clergyman. Wendell was educated in Springfield.
Corey began his acting career on the stage, doing a number of productions in summer stock. While appearing with a WPA theatre company in the late 1930s, he met his future wife, Alice Wiley.
His Broadway debut was in Comes the Revelation (1942). After appearing in a number of supporting roles, he scored his first hit as a cynical newspaperman in Elmer Rice's comedy Dream Girl (1945). While appearing in the play, Corey was seen by producer Hal Wallis, who persuaded him to sign a contract with Paramount and pursue a motion picture career in Hollywood.
His movie debut was playing a gangster in Desert Fury (1947) starring John Hodiak, Lizabeth Scott and Mary Astor. Corey appeared in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster, and a year later as Janet Leigh's fiancee in the Robert Mitchum romantic comedy Holiday Affair. He starred opposite Stanwyck in The File on Thelma Jordon (1950) and opposite Joan Crawford in Harriet Craig, which was released the same year. His other movies include Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, with Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr, The Big Knife (1955) starring Jack Palance and Ida Lupino and The Rainmaker (1956) starring Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn.
Corey and Wiley had one son and three daughters, Jonathan, Jennifer, Bonnie Alice, and Robin.
He starred in the weekly television programs Harbor Command (1957) and The Eleventh Hour (1961-1963), and made guest star appearances on a number of popular shows, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Untouchables, Burke's Law, Perry Mason and The Wild Wild West.
Corey served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1961 to 1963 and was a member of the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild. A Republican campaigner in national politics since 1956, Corey was elected to the Santa Monica City Council in April 1965. The conservative politician ran for the California seat in Congress in 1966, but lost the primary election. He was still a councilman at the time of his death.
He died at age fifty-four at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, of cirrhosis of the liver as a result of alcoholism. He is interred in Washington Cemetery, Washington, Massachusetts.
Wendell Corey has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in TV at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.
Filmography
Desert Fury (1947) ... Johnny Ryan
I Walk Alone (1948) ... Dave
The Search (1948) ... Jerry Fisher
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) ... Doctor Alexander
Man-Eater of Kumaon (1948) ... Dr. John Collins
The Accused (1949) ... Lt. Ted Dorgan
Any Number Can Play (1949) ... Robbin Elcott
Holiday Affair (1949) ... Carl Davis
The File on Thelma Jordon (1950) ... Cleve Marshall
No Sad Songs for Me (1950) ... Brad Scott
The Furies (1950) ... Rip Darrow
Harriet Craig (1950) ... Walter Craig
The Great Missouri Raid (1951) ... Frank James
Rich, Young and Pretty (1951) ... Jim Stauton Rogers
The Wild Blue Yonder (1951) ... Capt. Harold Calvert
The Wild North (1952) ... Constable Pedley
Carbine Williams (1952) ... Capt. H.T. Peoples
My Man and I (1952) ... Ansel Ames
Jamaica Run (1953) ... Todd Dacey
Hell's Half Acre (1954) ... Chet Chester
Laughing Anne (1954) ... Capt. Davidson
Rear Window (1954) ... Det. Lt. Thomas J. "Tom" Doyle
The Big Knife (1955) ... Smiley Coy
The Killer Is Loose (1956) ... Leon Poole
The Bold and the Brave (1956) ... Fairchild
The Rack (1956) ... Maj. Sam Moulton
The Rainmaker (1956) ... Deputy Sheriff J.S. File
Loving You (1957) ... Walter "Tex" Warner
The Light in the Forest (1958) ... Wilse Owens
Alias Jesse James (1959) ... T.J. "Jesse" James
Blood on the Arrow (1964) ... Clint Mailer
Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966) ... Jim Graff
Broken Sabre (1966)
Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966) ... Adm. David King
Waco (1966) ... Preacher Sam Stone
Picture Mommy Dead (1966) ... Clayborn
Cyborg 2087 (1966) ... Sheriff
Red Tomahawk (1967) ... Sy Elkins
Buckskin (1968) ... Rep Marlowe
The Star Maker (1968)
The Astro-Zombies (1969) ... Holman
