William Talman (Hamilton Burger)

[Dan Tanna Spenser]

William Whitney Talman, Jr. (February 4, 1915 – August 30, 1968) was an American television and movie actor, who played Los Angeles District Attorney Hamilton Burger in the long-running series Perry Mason.

Family and education

Talman was born in Detroit, Michigan to Ada Barber and William Whitney Talman, a vice president of an electronics company. His maternal grandparents, Catherine Gandy and James Wells Barber, were immigrants from England.

He founded the drama club at the Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He continued to act at Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan. After college he worked in summer stock and at an iron foundry, paper mills, boat yards, and as an automobile salesman.

He served for 30 months in the army in the Pacific in World War II, beginning his service as a private on February 4, 1942 at Camp Upton in Yaphank, (Long Island) New York. He was ultimately commissioned a major during the war.

Acting career

Before his iconic television role, he worked on the Broadway stage and in movies. He played a sadistic psychopathic killer in Ida Lupino's 1953 film noir, The Hitch-Hiker.The New York Times said of him: "William Talman, as the ruthless murderer, makes the most of one of the year's juiciest assignments." But in the 1952 thriller Beware, My Lovely, about a war widow who is terrorized by a madman in her home, a photograph of Talman is used for the picture of her late, heroic husband.

Aside from his role in Perry Mason, he also guest-starred in various television series. He appeared in a first season episode of The Invaders, Quantity: Unknown. This would be his last on-screen acting role before his death.

Originally Talman auditioned for the title role of Perry Mason and Raymond Burr auditioned for the role of Hamilton Burger. Perry Mason creator and author, Erle Stanley Gardner, however, was present and demanded that the actors switch parts. Burr was then given the title role and Talman got the role of Burger. Talman, as Burger, would go on to lose all but three cases in the nine-year series, including a record two separate murder trials in the final episode. He called his record "the longest losing streak in history".

William Talman was fired from Perry Mason for a short period in 1960. Sheriff's deputies, suspicious of marijuana use, raided a party on March 13, 1960, in a private home in Beverly Hills at which Talman was a guest.[5] The deputies reported finding Talman and other defendants in the nude. A morals charge was made against Talman (vagrancy charges and lewd conduct was made against others at the party), but municipal judge Adolph Alexander dismissed the charges against Talman and the others on June 18 for lack of proof. "I don’t approve of their conduct," the judge ruled, "but it is not for you and me to approve but to enforce the statutes." Despite this Talman was fired by CBS who refused to give a reason. Talman was rehired after producer Gail Jackson made a request of CBS.

Personal information

Talman was married three times. His first wife was the actress Lynne Carter – their marriage lasted from just before Talman left for active service in 1942 to September 1952 and produced one daughter, Lynda. His second wife was the actress Barbara Read. They had one daughter, Barbie, and one son, William Whitney Talman III. The couple divorced on August 23, 1960. His third wife was Margaret Flanagan whom he married in 1963. Margaret had a son (Steve) and daughter (Debbie) from a previous marriage. William and Margaret had two children: a son, Timothy, and a daughter, Susan. Widow Margaret Talman outlived Talman by 34 years, until her death in January 2002, at age 73.

Anti-smoking advocacy and death

Talman is also known for being the first actor in Hollywood to film an anti-smoking commercial for the American Cancer Society. A lifelong heavy smoker, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and knew he was dying when he filmed the commercial. The short film began with the words, "Before I die I want to do what I can to leave a world free of cancer for my six children ... " Talman requested that the commercial not be aired until after his death.

He had made another such commercial, which opened with his voice-over and a picture of his home, followed by filmed shots of his wife and kids, then a still of himself "with a friend of mine you might recognize," Raymond Burr, from the Perry Mason TV series. He then said, "You know, I didn't mind losing those courtroom battles, but I'm in a battle now I don't want to lose at all. Because if I lose it it means losing my wife and those kids you just met. I've got lung cancer...If you don't smoke, don't start. If you do smoke, quit! Don't be a loser."

Four weeks after filming the second ad, Talman died on August 30, 1968, at the age of 53, and was buried in the George Washington Section, 2nd Terrace, at Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. In January 2002, his widow Margaret Louise Talman joined him there, at the time of her death, at age 73.



William Talman in The Hitch-Hiker (1953).



Quelle: wikipedia.org

[Dan Tanna Spenser]

Filmographie (Quelle: imdb.de)

Schauspieler:

"The Invaders" .... Colonel Frank Griffith (1 Folge, 1967)
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Invasion von der Wega" - Bundesrepublik Deutschland
        - Quantity: Unknown (1967) TV Folge .... Colonel Frank Griffith
    The Ballad of Josie (1967) .... District Attorney Charlie Lord
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Das Teufelsweib von Texas" - Deutschland (Titel auf DVD), Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Teufelsweiber" - Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Titel für das Fernsehen)
    "The Wild Wild West" .... Sheriff (1 Folge, 1966)
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Verrückter wilder Westen" - Bundesrepublik Deutschland
        - The Night of the Man-Eating House (1966) TV Folge .... Sheriff
    "Perry Mason" .... Hamilton Burger / ... (228 Folgen, 1957-1966)
        - The Case of the Final Fade-Out (1966) TV Folge .... Hamilton Burger
        - The Case of the Crafty Kidnapper (1966) TV Folge .... Hamilton Burger
        - The Case of the Positive Negative (1966) TV Folge .... Hamilton Burger
        - The Case of the Misguided Model (1966) TV Folge .... Hamilton Burger
        - The Case of the Dead Ringer (1966) TV Folge .... Hamilton Burger
          (223 weitere)
    "Gunsmoke" .... Race (1 Folge, 1963)
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Rauchende Colts" - Bundesrepublik Deutschland
        - Legends Don't Sleep (1963) TV Folge .... Race
    "Have Gun - Will Travel" .... George Jondill / ... (2 Folgen, 1960-1961)
        - Long Way Home (1961) TV Folge .... Sheriff
        - The Shooting of Jessie May (1960) TV Folge .... George Jondill

    "Cimarron City" .... Jeff Conway (1 Folge, 1958)
        - To Become a Man (1958) TV Folge .... Jeff Conway
    "Goodyear Theatre" .... Lieutenant Herman Brule (1 Folge, 1958)
        - Disappearance (1958) TV Folge .... Lieutenant Herman Brule
    "Alcoa Theatre" .... Lt. Herman Brule (1 Folge, 1958)
        - Disappearance (1958) TV Folge .... Lt. Herman Brule
    "Wagon Train" .... Walt Archer (1 Folge, 1958)
        - The Sarah Drummond Story (1958) TV Folge .... Walt Archer
    "Tombstone Territory" .... Logan Beatty (1 Folge, 1958)
        - The Return of the Outlaw (1958) TV Folge .... Logan Beatty
    "Climax!" .... Gene / ... (4 Folgen, 1956-1958)
        - Scream in Silence (1958) TV Folge .... Gene
        - Dark Wall (1956) TV Folge .... Stan
        - Sit Down with Death (1956) TV Folge .... Joe MacKenzie
        - The Louella Parsons Story (1956) TV Folge
    "Trackdown" .... Blaine Sand (1 Folge, 1957)
        - Like Father (1957) TV Folge .... Blaine Sand
    Hell on Devil's Island (1957) .... Bayard
    The Persuader (1957) .... Matt Bonham/Mark Bonham
    "Telephone Time" .... Lew Reese / ... (2 Folgen, 1956)
        - The Sergeant Boyd Story (1956) TV Folge (nicht im Abspann) (unbestätigt) .... unbestimmte Rolle
        - Scio, Ohio (1956) TV Folge .... Lew Reese
    The Man Is Armed (1956) .... Hackett
    Uranium Boom (1956) .... Grady Mathews
    "Screen Directors Playhouse" .... Barney (1 Folge, 1956)
        - No. 5 Checked Out (1956) TV Folge .... Barney
    "The Ford Television Theatre" .... Jock McLain (1 Folge, 1955)
        - South of Selangor (1955) TV Folge .... Jock McLain
    "Science Fiction Theatre" .... Norman Conway (1 Folge, 1955)
        - The Water Maker (1955) TV Folge .... Norman Conway
    "TV Reader's Digest" .... Insurance Investigator (1 Folge, 1955)
        - Old Master Detective (1955) TV Folge .... Insurance Investigator
    Two-Gun Lady (1955) .... Marshal Dan Corbin
    "Cavalier Theatre" .... Wes Hardin (1 Folge, 1955)
        - The Texas Rangers (1955) TV Folge .... Wes Hardin
    "Cavalcade of America" .... Wes Hardin (1 Folge, 1955)
        - The Texas Rangers (1955) TV Folge .... Wes Hardin
    Smoke Signal (1955) .... Capt. Harper
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Rauchsignale" - Österreich, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    Crashout (1955) .... Luther Remsen/Swanee Rawlins/Reverend Remington
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Flucht aus Sing Sing" - Österreich
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Straße des Terrors" - Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    "Four Star Playhouse" .... Eddie (1 Folge, 1955)
        - Eddie's Place (1955) TV Folge .... Eddie
    Big House, U.S.A. (1955) .... William 'Machine Gun' Mason
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Blutgeld" - Österreich, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    "Lux Video Theatre" .... Brad Ringer (1 Folge, 1954)
        - Pick of the Litter (1954) TV Folge .... Brad Ringer
    City That Never Sleeps (1953) .... Hayes Stewart
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Chicago - 12 Uhr Mitternacht" - Österreich
    The Hitch-Hiker (1953) .... Emmett Myers
    One Minute to Zero (1952) .... Col. John Parker
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Korea" - Österreich, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Der Wind des Todes" - Deutschland (Titel auf DVD)
    The Racket (1951) .... Officer Bob Johnson
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Das Syndikat" - Österreich, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Gangster" - Österreich (imdb display title), Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    Armored Car Robbery (1950) .... Dave Purvis
    The Kid from Texas (1950) .... Minninger
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Verfemt" - Österreich, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

    Ich heiratete einen Kommunisten (1949) .... Bailey
    ... Auch bekannt als: "The Woman on Pier 13" - USA (Originaltitel)
    Red, Hot and Blue (1949) .... Bunny Harris

Drehbuchautor:

    "The Virginian" (1 Folge, 1967)
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Die Leute von der Shiloh Ranch" - Bundesrepublik Deutschland
        - A Welcoming Town (1967) TV Folge (Geschichte)

    Joe Dakota (1957)
    ... Auch bekannt als: "Ein Toter kommt zurück" - Österreich, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    I've Lived Before (1956)

Weitere Auftritte:

    "Pantomime Quiz" .... als er selbst - eingeladener Diskussionsteilnehmer (1 Folge, 1963)
        - Episode vom 8. Juli 1963 (1963) TV Folge .... als er selbst - eingeladener Diskussionsteilnehmer