
Paul Douglas
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1907-04-11
Day of Death
1959-09-11 (52 years old)
Place of Birth
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Paul Douglas
Biography
Paul Douglas (April 11, 1907 – September 11, 1959) was an American actor.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Paul Douglas Fleischer, Douglas began his career as a stage actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1936 as the Radio Announcer in Doty Hobart and Tom McKnight's Double Dummy at the John Golden Theatre. In 1946 he won both a Theatre World Award and a Clarence Derwent Award for his portrayal of Herry Brock in Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday.
Douglas began appearing in films in 1949. He may be best-remembered for two baseball comedy movies, Angels in the Outfield (1951) and It Happens Every Spring (1949). He also played Richard Widmark's police partner in the thriller Panic in the Streets, frustrated newlywed Porter Hollingsway in A Letter to Three Wives, Sgt. Kowalski in The Big Lift, businessman Josiah Walter Dudley in Executive Suite and a con man turned monk in When in Rome. In 1950, Douglas was host of the 22nd annual Academy Awards. Douglas also worked on radio as the announcer for The Ed Wynn Show and he was the first host of NBC Radio's "Horn & Hardart Children's Hour!". In April 1959 Douglas appeared as Lucy Ricardo's television morning show boss in the "Lucy Wants a Career" episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.
Douglas was originally cast in the 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Mighty Casey", a role written for him by Rod Serling, based on his character in Angels in the Outfield, but Douglas died the same week after production of the episode had been completed. His role was taken over by Jack Warden, and most of the episode was refilmed several months later.
He was married five times, last to actress Jan Sterling from 1950 until his death. They had a son, Adams Douglas (1955–2003).
Paul Douglas died on September 11, 1959 of a heart attack in Hollywood, California at the age of 52. Film director Billy Wilder and co-writer I.A.L. ('Izzy') Diamond had just offered him the role of Jeff Sheldrake in the movie The Apartment that went to Fred MacMurray instead. Wilder later said: "I saw him and his wife, Jan Sterling, at a restaurant, and I realized he was perfect, and I asked him right there in the parking lot. About two days before we were to start, he had a heart attack and died. Iz and I were shattered."
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Known For
Acting
(1997)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
as Self (archive footage)
(1959)
The Mating Game
as Pop Larkin
(1958)
Fortunella
as Professore Golfiero Paganica
(1958)
(1957)
This Could Be the Night
as Rocco
(1957)
Beau James
as Chris Nolan
(1956)
The Gamma People
as Mike Wilson
(1956)
The Solid Gold Cadillac
as Edward L. McKeever
(1956)
The Leather Saint
as Gus MacAuliffe
(1955)
Joe Macbeth
as Joe MacBeth
(1954)
Executive Suite
as Josiah Walter Dudley
(1954)
The 'Maggie'
as Calvin B. Marshall, the American
(1954)
Green Fire
as Vic Leonard
(1954)
Calling Scotland Yard: Falstaff's Fur Coat
as Commentator
(1953)
Forever Female
as Harry Phillips
(1953)
Never Wave at a WAC
as Andrew McBain
(1952)
Clash by Night
as Jerry D'Amato
(1952)
We're Not Married!
as Hector Woodruff
(1952)
When in Rome
as Joe Brewster
(1951)
Angels in the Outfield
as Guffy McGovern
(1951)
Rhubarb
as Man on Park Bench (uncredited)
(1951)
Fourteen Hours
as Police Ofcr. Charlie Dunnigan
(1951)
The Screen Director
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1951)
The Guy Who Came Back
as Harry Joplin
(1950)
Panic in the Streets
as Capt. Tom Warren
(1950)
The Big Lift
as MSgt. Henry "Hank" Kowalski
(1950)
Love That Brute
as E.L. 'Big Ed' Hanley
(1950)
You Can Change The World
as Self
(1949)
A Letter to Three Wives
as Porter Hollingsway
(1949)
It Happens Every Spring
as Monk Lanigan
(1949)
Everybody Does It
as Leonard Borland aka Logan Bennett
(1943)
Margin for Error
as Policeman at Front Desk (uncredited)
(1939)
Filming the Fleet
as Self, Narrator
(1939)
Conquering the Colorado
as Narrator
(1938)
Saturday Night Swing Club
as Master of Ceremonies