Howard Duff(1913-1990)
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Tough, virile, wavy-haired and ruggedly handsome with trademark
forlorn-looking brows that added an intriguing touch of vulnerability
to his hard outer core, actor Howard Duff and his wife-at-the-time,
actress Ida Lupino, were one of Hollywood's
premiere film couples during the 1950s "Golden Age". Prior to that,
Duff had relationships with a number of the cinema's most dazzling
leading ladies, including Ava Gardner (just
prior to her marriage to musician Artie Shaw)
and Gloria DeHaven.
Duff's talent first manifested itself on radio as
Dashiell Hammett's popular private eye
"Sam Spade" (1946-1950), and eventually extended to include stage, film
and TV. While never considered a top-tier movie star and, despite his
obvious prowess, never considered for any acting awards, Howard Duff
was an undeniably strong good guy and potent heavy but perhaps lacked
the requisite charisma or profile to move into the ranks of a
Burt Lancaster,
Kirk Douglas or
Robert Mitchum. His career spanned over
four decades.
His full name was Howard Green Duff and he was born in Bremerton,
Washington on November 24, 1913. Growing up in and around the Seattle
area, he attended Roosevelt High School where he played basketball. It
was here that he also found an outlet acting in school plays and,
following graduation, studied drama. He eventually became an acting
member of the Repertory Playhouse in Seattle. Military service
interrupted his early career and he served with the U.S. Army Air
Force's radio service from 1941 to 1945. Upon his discharge, he
returned to his acting pursuits and won the role of "Sam Spade" on NBC
Radio in the role Humphrey Bogart made
famous in
The Maltese Falcon (1941).
Lurene Tuttle played his altruistic
secretary "Effie" on the series. He eventually left the program when
his film career settled in and
Stephen Dunne took over the radio
voice of the detective in 1950 for its final season.
Duff's post-war movie career started completely on the right foot at
Universal with the hard-hitting film noir
Brute Force (1947), in which he
received good notices as an ill-fated cellmate to
Burt Lancaster,
Charles Bickford and others. Quite
well-known for his radio voice by this time, he was given special
billing in the movie's credits as "Radio's Sam Spade". This was
followed by equally vital and volatile performances in the prescient
semi-documentary-styled police drama
The Naked City (1948) and in
Arthur Miller's taut family drama
All My Sons (1948) starring
Lancaster, again, and
Edward G. Robinson.
After such a strong showing, Howard career went into a period of
moviemaking in which his films were more noted for its entertainment
and rousing action than as character-driven pieces. A number of them
were routine westerns that paired him opposite some of Hollywood's
loveliest ladies: Red Canyon (1949)
with Ann Blyth,
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949)
with Yvonne De Carlo and
The Lady from Texas (1951)
with Mona Freeman. Other adventure-oriented
flicks that more or less came and went included
Spaceways (1953),
Tanganyika (1954),
The Yellow Mountain (1954),
Flame of the Islands (1955),
Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado (1956)
(title role),
The Broken Star (1956) and
Sierra Stranger (1957). Howard
also began appearing infrequently on the stage in the early 1950s with
such productions as "Season in the Sun" (1952) and "Anniversary Waltz"
(1954).
Those films that rose above the standard included gritty top-billed
roles in
Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949),
Illegal Entry (1949),
Shakedown (1950),
Spy Hunt (1950) and
Woman in Hiding (1950), the last
a film noir which paired him with Ida Lupino
for the first time. Here, he plays the hero who saves Lupino from a
murdering husband
(Stephen McNally). In 1951, he
married Ms. Lupino, already a well-established star at Warner Bros.,
who was coming into her own recently as a director. The couple had one
daughter, Bridget Duff, born in 1952.
Lupino and Duff co-starred in four hard-boiled film dramas during the
1950s -- Jennifer (1953),
Private Hell 36 (1954),
Women's Prison (1955) and
While the City Sleeps (1956).
The demise of the studio-guided contract system had an effect on
Howard's film career and offers started drying up in the late 1950s.
Fortunately, he found just as wide an appeal on TV, appearing in a
number of dramatic showcases for
Science Fiction Theatre (1955),
Lux Video Theatre (1950)
and Climax! (1954). And, in a change
of pace, the married couple decided to go for laughs by starring
together in the TV series
Mr. Adams and Eve (1957).
Here, they played gregarious husband-and-wife film stars "Howard Adams"
and "Eve Drake". Many of the scripts, though broadly exaggerated for
comic effect, were reportedly based on a few of their own real-life
experiences. They also guest-starred in an entertaining hour-long
episode of the
The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957)
in 1959 with the two couples inadvertently booked at the same vacant
lodge, together. The show ends up a battle-of-the sexes, free-for-all
with the two gals scheming to add a little romance to what has
essentially become a fishing vacation for the guys. The 1960s bore more
fruit on TV than in film. Sans Lupino, Duff went solo as nightclub
owner "Willie Dante" in the tongue-in-cheek adventure series
Dante (1960), which lasted less than a
season. A few years later, the veteran co-starred with handsome rookie
Dennis Cole in what is perhaps his
best-remembered series, the police drama
The Felony Squad (1966), which was
filmed in and around Los Angeles. Duff directed one of those episodes,
having directed several episodes of the silly sitcom
Camp Runamuck (1965), a year or
so earlier. In between series work were guest assignments on such
popular primetime shows as
Bonanza (1959),
The Twilight Zone (1959),
Burke's Law (1963) and
Combat! (1962).
The marriage of Ida and Howard did not last, however, and the famous
married couple separated in 1966 after 15 years of marriage. Ida and
Howard didn't officially divorce, however, until 1984. Howard later
married a non-professional, Judy Jenkinson, who survived him. While
much of Howard's work in later years was standard, if unmemorable,
every now and then he would demonstrate the fine talent he was. A
couple of his better film performances came as a sex-minded,
booze-swilling relative in
A Wedding (1978) and as
Dustin Hoffman's attorney in the
Oscar-winning drama
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). He
also enjoyed a villainous role in the short-lived series
Flamingo Road (1980) and had a
lengthy stint on
Knots Landing (1979) during the
1984-1985 season. Duff died at age 76 of a heart attack, on July 8,
1990, in Santa Barbara, California.
forlorn-looking brows that added an intriguing touch of vulnerability
to his hard outer core, actor Howard Duff and his wife-at-the-time,
actress Ida Lupino, were one of Hollywood's
premiere film couples during the 1950s "Golden Age". Prior to that,
Duff had relationships with a number of the cinema's most dazzling
leading ladies, including Ava Gardner (just
prior to her marriage to musician Artie Shaw)
and Gloria DeHaven.
Duff's talent first manifested itself on radio as
Dashiell Hammett's popular private eye
"Sam Spade" (1946-1950), and eventually extended to include stage, film
and TV. While never considered a top-tier movie star and, despite his
obvious prowess, never considered for any acting awards, Howard Duff
was an undeniably strong good guy and potent heavy but perhaps lacked
the requisite charisma or profile to move into the ranks of a
Burt Lancaster,
Kirk Douglas or
Robert Mitchum. His career spanned over
four decades.
His full name was Howard Green Duff and he was born in Bremerton,
Washington on November 24, 1913. Growing up in and around the Seattle
area, he attended Roosevelt High School where he played basketball. It
was here that he also found an outlet acting in school plays and,
following graduation, studied drama. He eventually became an acting
member of the Repertory Playhouse in Seattle. Military service
interrupted his early career and he served with the U.S. Army Air
Force's radio service from 1941 to 1945. Upon his discharge, he
returned to his acting pursuits and won the role of "Sam Spade" on NBC
Radio in the role Humphrey Bogart made
famous in
The Maltese Falcon (1941).
Lurene Tuttle played his altruistic
secretary "Effie" on the series. He eventually left the program when
his film career settled in and
Stephen Dunne took over the radio
voice of the detective in 1950 for its final season.
Duff's post-war movie career started completely on the right foot at
Universal with the hard-hitting film noir
Brute Force (1947), in which he
received good notices as an ill-fated cellmate to
Burt Lancaster,
Charles Bickford and others. Quite
well-known for his radio voice by this time, he was given special
billing in the movie's credits as "Radio's Sam Spade". This was
followed by equally vital and volatile performances in the prescient
semi-documentary-styled police drama
The Naked City (1948) and in
Arthur Miller's taut family drama
All My Sons (1948) starring
Lancaster, again, and
Edward G. Robinson.
After such a strong showing, Howard career went into a period of
moviemaking in which his films were more noted for its entertainment
and rousing action than as character-driven pieces. A number of them
were routine westerns that paired him opposite some of Hollywood's
loveliest ladies: Red Canyon (1949)
with Ann Blyth,
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949)
with Yvonne De Carlo and
The Lady from Texas (1951)
with Mona Freeman. Other adventure-oriented
flicks that more or less came and went included
Spaceways (1953),
Tanganyika (1954),
The Yellow Mountain (1954),
Flame of the Islands (1955),
Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado (1956)
(title role),
The Broken Star (1956) and
Sierra Stranger (1957). Howard
also began appearing infrequently on the stage in the early 1950s with
such productions as "Season in the Sun" (1952) and "Anniversary Waltz"
(1954).
Those films that rose above the standard included gritty top-billed
roles in
Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949),
Illegal Entry (1949),
Shakedown (1950),
Spy Hunt (1950) and
Woman in Hiding (1950), the last
a film noir which paired him with Ida Lupino
for the first time. Here, he plays the hero who saves Lupino from a
murdering husband
(Stephen McNally). In 1951, he
married Ms. Lupino, already a well-established star at Warner Bros.,
who was coming into her own recently as a director. The couple had one
daughter, Bridget Duff, born in 1952.
Lupino and Duff co-starred in four hard-boiled film dramas during the
1950s -- Jennifer (1953),
Private Hell 36 (1954),
Women's Prison (1955) and
While the City Sleeps (1956).
The demise of the studio-guided contract system had an effect on
Howard's film career and offers started drying up in the late 1950s.
Fortunately, he found just as wide an appeal on TV, appearing in a
number of dramatic showcases for
Science Fiction Theatre (1955),
Lux Video Theatre (1950)
and Climax! (1954). And, in a change
of pace, the married couple decided to go for laughs by starring
together in the TV series
Mr. Adams and Eve (1957).
Here, they played gregarious husband-and-wife film stars "Howard Adams"
and "Eve Drake". Many of the scripts, though broadly exaggerated for
comic effect, were reportedly based on a few of their own real-life
experiences. They also guest-starred in an entertaining hour-long
episode of the
The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957)
in 1959 with the two couples inadvertently booked at the same vacant
lodge, together. The show ends up a battle-of-the sexes, free-for-all
with the two gals scheming to add a little romance to what has
essentially become a fishing vacation for the guys. The 1960s bore more
fruit on TV than in film. Sans Lupino, Duff went solo as nightclub
owner "Willie Dante" in the tongue-in-cheek adventure series
Dante (1960), which lasted less than a
season. A few years later, the veteran co-starred with handsome rookie
Dennis Cole in what is perhaps his
best-remembered series, the police drama
The Felony Squad (1966), which was
filmed in and around Los Angeles. Duff directed one of those episodes,
having directed several episodes of the silly sitcom
Camp Runamuck (1965), a year or
so earlier. In between series work were guest assignments on such
popular primetime shows as
Bonanza (1959),
The Twilight Zone (1959),
Burke's Law (1963) and
Combat! (1962).
The marriage of Ida and Howard did not last, however, and the famous
married couple separated in 1966 after 15 years of marriage. Ida and
Howard didn't officially divorce, however, until 1984. Howard later
married a non-professional, Judy Jenkinson, who survived him. While
much of Howard's work in later years was standard, if unmemorable,
every now and then he would demonstrate the fine talent he was. A
couple of his better film performances came as a sex-minded,
booze-swilling relative in
A Wedding (1978) and as
Dustin Hoffman's attorney in the
Oscar-winning drama
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). He
also enjoyed a villainous role in the short-lived series
Flamingo Road (1980) and had a
lengthy stint on
Knots Landing (1979) during the
1984-1985 season. Duff died at age 76 of a heart attack, on July 8,
1990, in Santa Barbara, California.