Guy Madison
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- January 19, 1922
- Died
- February 6, 1996 (aged 74)
- Birthplace
- Pumpkin Center, California, USA
Biography
Handsome American leading man Guy Madison stumbled into a film career and became a television star and hero to the Baby Boom generation. As a young man he worked as a telephone lineman, but entered the Coast Guard at the beginning of the Second World War. While on liberty one weekend in Hollywood, he attended a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast and was spotted in the audience by an assistant to Henry Willson, an executive for David O. Selznick. Selznick wanted an unknown sailor to play a small but prominent part in Since You Went Away (1944), and promptly signed Robert Moseley to a contract. Selznick and Willson concocted the screen name Guy Madison (the "guy" girls would like to meet, and Madison from a passing Dolly Madison cake wagon). Madison filmed his one scene on a weekend pass and returned to duty. The film's release brought thousands of fan letters for Madison's lonely, strikingly handsome young sailor, and at war's end he returned to find himself a star-in-the-making. Despite an initial amateurishness to his acting, Madison grew as a performer, studying and working in theatre. He played leads in a series of programmers before being cast as legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok in the TV series Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951). He played Hickok on TV and radio for much of the 1950s, and many of the TV episodes were strung together and released as feature films. Madison managed to squeeze in some more adult-oriented roles during his off-time from the series, but much of this work was also in westerns. After the Hickok series ended Madison found work scarce in the U.S. and traveled to Europe, where he became a popular star of Italian westerns and German adventure films. In the 1970s he returned to the U.S., but appeared mainly in cameo roles. Physical ailments limited his work in later years, and he died from emphysema in 1996. His first wife was actress Gail Russell. Date of Birth 19 January 1922, Pumpkin Center, California Date of Death 6 February 1996, Palm Springs, California (emphysema)
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Crossbow: The Movie
Movie · as Gerrish
Red River
Movie · as Bill Meeker, Rancher
Crossbow
TV · 2 eps
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
Movie · as Self
The Hughes Mystery
Movie
Where's Willie?
Movie · as Tony Flore
Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
Movie
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Movie · as Star at Screening
The Pacific Connection
Movie · as The Old Man
The Silk Worm
Movie · as Robert, Smeralda's ex-husband
Reverend's Colt
Movie · as Miller Colt
The War Devils
Movie · as Capt. George Vincent
The Battle of the Last Panzer
Movie · as Lofty
Hell Commandos
Movie · as Major Carter
A Place In Hell
Movie · as Major Mac Graves
This Man Can't Die
Movie · as Martin Benson
Superargo and the Faceless Giants
Movie · as Prof. Wendland Wond
Hell in Normandy
Movie · as Capt. Jack Murphy
Son of Django
Movie · as Father Fleming
Payment in Blood
Movie · as Colonel Thomas Blake
Bang Bang Kid
Movie · as Bear Bullock
LSD Flesh of Devil
Movie · as Rex Miller
The Devil's Man
Movie · as Mike Harway
Five for Revenge
Movie · as Tex
Legacy of the Incas
Movie · as Jaguar / Karl Hansen
Adventurer of Tortuga
Movie · as Alfonso di Montélimar
Old Shatterhand
Movie · as Capt. Bradley
Gunmen Of The Rio Grande
Movie · as Wyatt Earp / Laramie
Gentlemen of the Night
Movie · as Massimo
Return of Sandokan
Movie · as Yanez
Sandokan Fights Back
Movie · as Yanez
Kidnapped to Mystery Island
Movie · as Souyadhana
Blood of the Executioner
Movie · as Rodrigo Zeno
Women of Devil's Island
Movie · as Henri Vallière
Sword of the Conqueror
Movie · as Amalchi
Slave of Rome
Movie · as Marco Valerio
Jet Over The Atlantic
Movie · as Brett Murphy
Bullwhip
Movie · as Steve Daley
The Hard Man
Movie · as Steve Burden
Not One Shall Die
Movie · as Stefan Gross
The Beast of Hollow Mountain
Movie · as Jimmy Ryan
Hilda Crane
Movie · as Russell Burns
Reprisal!
Movie · as Frank Madden
On the Threshold of Space
Movie · as Capt. Jim Hollenbeck
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV · as Jericho - Federal Agent · 1 ep
The Last Frontier
Movie · as Captain Glenn Riordan
5 Against the House
Movie · as Al Mercer
The Tilted Tenderfoot
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
The Matchmaking Marshal
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
Phantom Trails
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
Timber Country Trouble
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
The Command
Movie · as Capt. Robert MacClaw
Trouble on the Trail
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
Outlaw's Son
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
Marshals in Disguise
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
The Two Gun Teacher
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
Climax!
TV · 2 eps
The Charge at Feather River
Movie · as Miles Archer
Six Gun Decision
Movie · as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
Secret of Outlaw Flats
Movie · as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
Two Gun Marshal
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
Border City Rustlers
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
General Electric Theater
TV · as Adam Tenney · 1 ep
Behind Southern Lines
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
Red Snow
Movie · as Lt. Phil Johnson
The Yellow Haired Kid
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
Trail of the Arrow
Movie · as Wild Bill Hickok
The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon
Movie · as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
The Ford Television Theatre
TV · as John Harpurhey · 1 ep
Drums in the Deep South
Movie · as Maj. Will Denning
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV · 1 ep
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
TV · as Wild Bill Hickok · 113 eps
What's My Line?
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Massacre River
Movie · as Larry Knight
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Movie · as Eddie Tayloe
Honeymoon
Movie · as Corporal Phil Vaughn
Till the End of Time
Movie · as Cliff W. Harper
Since You Went Away
Movie · as Harold E. Smith