Former Another World writer Jan Merlin died on September 20 in Los Angeles. He was 94.
Born on April 3, 1925, Merlin was a torpedo man aboard U.S. Navy destroyers during World War II. He studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and appeared in the ensemble in the original 1948 Broadway production of "Mister Roberts," starring Henry Fonda.
From 1950-54, Merlin starred as Roger Manning on the kids TV program Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, based on a comic strip.
He moved to Hollywood for a role in Six Bridges to Cross (1955), starring Curtis, then appeared with Mamie Van Doren in Running Wild (1955), with Dale Robertson in A Day of Fury (1956), with Tom Tryon in Screaming Eagles (1956) and with Ann Sheridan in Woman and the Hunter (1957).
In 1958-59, Merlin portrayed Lt. Colin Kirby on The Rough Riders, an ABC series set in the aftermath of the Civil War.
His credits also included the...
Born on April 3, 1925, Merlin was a torpedo man aboard U.S. Navy destroyers during World War II. He studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and appeared in the ensemble in the original 1948 Broadway production of "Mister Roberts," starring Henry Fonda.
From 1950-54, Merlin starred as Roger Manning on the kids TV program Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, based on a comic strip.
He moved to Hollywood for a role in Six Bridges to Cross (1955), starring Curtis, then appeared with Mamie Van Doren in Running Wild (1955), with Dale Robertson in A Day of Fury (1956), with Tom Tryon in Screaming Eagles (1956) and with Ann Sheridan in Woman and the Hunter (1957).
In 1958-59, Merlin portrayed Lt. Colin Kirby on The Rough Riders, an ABC series set in the aftermath of the Civil War.
His credits also included the...
- 9/26/2019
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
Jan Merlin, an Emmy-winning writer and actor best remembered for early TV series Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and The Rough Riders, has died at the age of 94.
Merlin’s death was confirmed by his family and collaborator William Russo, with whom he wrote books about Hollywood.
Merlin won a writing Emmy in 1975 for daytime NBC soap opera Another World.
As an actor, he built an early reputation for playing villainous characters.
“A veteran of the Navy in World War II, Jan went from the military during the big war to the Neighborhood Playhouse where he learned the craft of acting, though he had many talents,” wrote Russo.
“We wrote about Boys Town, Billy Budd, Reflections in a Golden Eye, among other films, giving a unique perspective on daily life during the studio shoot. He knew Brando, Taylor, Clift, James Dean, in ways that others could never understand. He threw James...
Merlin’s death was confirmed by his family and collaborator William Russo, with whom he wrote books about Hollywood.
Merlin won a writing Emmy in 1975 for daytime NBC soap opera Another World.
As an actor, he built an early reputation for playing villainous characters.
“A veteran of the Navy in World War II, Jan went from the military during the big war to the Neighborhood Playhouse where he learned the craft of acting, though he had many talents,” wrote Russo.
“We wrote about Boys Town, Billy Budd, Reflections in a Golden Eye, among other films, giving a unique perspective on daily life during the studio shoot. He knew Brando, Taylor, Clift, James Dean, in ways that others could never understand. He threw James...
- 9/24/2019
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Jan Merlin, who played villains in dozens of films and TV shows and good guys on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and The Rough Riders, died Friday in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 94.
In a painful year in England and Ireland in which he served as a "movable prop" and received no screen credit, Merlin donned masks and heavy makeup to portray several characters and substitute for Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra and others in John Huston's The List of Adrian Messenger (1963). He then wrote a 2001 novel, Shooting Montezuma, based on that experience.
Merlin ...
In a painful year in England and Ireland in which he served as a "movable prop" and received no screen credit, Merlin donned masks and heavy makeup to portray several characters and substitute for Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra and others in John Huston's The List of Adrian Messenger (1963). He then wrote a 2001 novel, Shooting Montezuma, based on that experience.
Merlin ...
- 9/23/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday.
This week’s question:Who’s your favorite TV father? Why? (Characters from current and old shows are fair game.)
Eric Deggans (@deggans), NPR
I wrote a piece for NPR a few years ago about how most of what I learned about being a dad, I soaked up from TV. My own father is gone now; we reconciled when I was older, but when I was a kid, he wasn’t around as much as I wanted. I never lived with a father in the house, so I knew nothing about what it was like. For a long while, I thought most married couples were like Rob and Laura Petrie in “The Dick Van Dyke Show”; sleeping in two twin beds separated by a nightstand. So when I saw John Amos as James Evans Sr.
This week’s question:Who’s your favorite TV father? Why? (Characters from current and old shows are fair game.)
Eric Deggans (@deggans), NPR
I wrote a piece for NPR a few years ago about how most of what I learned about being a dad, I soaked up from TV. My own father is gone now; we reconciled when I was older, but when I was a kid, he wasn’t around as much as I wanted. I never lived with a father in the house, so I knew nothing about what it was like. For a long while, I thought most married couples were like Rob and Laura Petrie in “The Dick Van Dyke Show”; sleeping in two twin beds separated by a nightstand. So when I saw John Amos as James Evans Sr.
- 6/11/2019
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
Here's another installment featuring Joe Dante's reviews from his stint as a critic for Film Bulletin circa 1969-1974. Our thanks to Video Watchdog and Tim Lucas for his editorial embellishments!
Well done haunted house chiller offers plenty for the shiver‑and‑shock fans. A fitting swan song for [Aip co-founder] Jim Nicholson, this could roll up good grosses in general, ballyhoo, drive‑in markets if Fox gives it an appropriately strong sell. Rating: PG.
"This house... it knows we're here!" Of such ominous dialogue are classic style horror pictures made and The Legend Of Hell House, while no classic, is spookily amusing, sometimes scary stuff with plenty of mass appeal for summer playdates. In fact, this maiden effort from the late James Nicholson's Academy Pictures is slick and entertaining enough to register as one of the season's better attractions, if 20th Century‑Fox capitalizes on its considerable ballyhoo potential.
A...
Well done haunted house chiller offers plenty for the shiver‑and‑shock fans. A fitting swan song for [Aip co-founder] Jim Nicholson, this could roll up good grosses in general, ballyhoo, drive‑in markets if Fox gives it an appropriately strong sell. Rating: PG.
"This house... it knows we're here!" Of such ominous dialogue are classic style horror pictures made and The Legend Of Hell House, while no classic, is spookily amusing, sometimes scary stuff with plenty of mass appeal for summer playdates. In fact, this maiden effort from the late James Nicholson's Academy Pictures is slick and entertaining enough to register as one of the season's better attractions, if 20th Century‑Fox capitalizes on its considerable ballyhoo potential.
A...
- 9/9/2014
- by Joe Dante
- Trailers from Hell
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