Guy Madison
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- January 19, 1922
- Died
- February 6, 1996
- Birthplace
- Pumpkin Center, California, USA
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)
Filmography
Crossbow: The Movie 1989
as Gerrish
Red River 1988
as Bill Meeker, Rancher
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion 1979
as Self
The Hughes Mystery 1979
Actor
Where's Willie? 1978
as Tony Flore
Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti 1977
Actor
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood 1976
as Star at Screening
The Pacific Connection 1974
as The Old Man
The Silk Worm 1974
as Robert, Smeralda's ex-husband
Reverend's Colt 1970
as Miller Colt
The War Devils 1969
as Capt. George Vincent
Hell Commandos 1969
as Major Carter
The Battle of the Last Panzer 1969
as Lofty
A Place In Hell 1969
as Major Mac Graves
Hell in Normandy 1968
as Capt. Jack Murphy
This Man Can't Die 1968
as Martin Benson
Superargo and the Faceless Giants 1968
as Prof. Wendland Wond
Bang Bang Kid 1967
as Bear Bullock
The Devil's Man 1967
as Mike Harway
Son of Django 1967
as Father Fleming
Payment in Blood 1967
as Colonel Thomas Blake
LSD Flesh of Devil 1967
as Rex Miller
Five for Revenge 1966
as Tex
Legacy of the Incas 1965
as Jaguar / Karl Hansen
Adventurer of Tortuga 1965
as Alfonso di Montélimar
Kidnapped to Mystery Island 1964
as Souyadhana
Gunmen Of The Rio Grande 1964
as Wyatt Earp / Laramie
Return of Sandokan 1964
as Yanez
Sandokan Fights Back 1964
as Yanez
Gentlemen of the Night 1964
as Massimo
Old Shatterhand 1964
as Capt. Bradley
Blood of the Executioner 1963
as Rodrigo Zeno
Women of Devil's Island 1962
as Henri Vallière
Sword of the Conqueror 1961
as Amalchi
Slave of Rome 1961
as Marco Valerio
Jet Over The Atlantic 1959
as Brett Murphy
Bullwhip 1958
as Steve Daley
The Hard Man 1957
as Steve Burden
Not One Shall Die 1957
as Stefan Gross
Reprisal! 1956
as Frank Madden
The Beast of Hollow Mountain 1956
as Jimmy Ryan
Hilda Crane 1956
as Russell Burns
On the Threshold of Space 1956
as Capt. Jim Hollenbeck
The Last Frontier 1955
as Captain Glenn Riordan
5 Against the House 1955
as Al Mercer
Timber Country Trouble 1955
as Wild Bill Hickok
Phantom Trails 1955
as Wild Bill Hickok
The Matchmaking Marshal 1955
as Wild Bill Hickok
The Tilted Tenderfoot 1955
as Wild Bill Hickok
The Two Gun Teacher 1954
as Wild Bill Hickok
Marshals in Disguise 1954
as Wild Bill Hickok
Outlaw's Son 1954
as Wild Bill Hickok
Trouble on the Trail 1954
as Wild Bill Hickok
The Command 1954
as Capt. Robert MacClaw
Border City Rustlers 1953
as Wild Bill Hickok
Two Gun Marshal 1953
as Wild Bill Hickok
Secret of Outlaw Flats 1953
as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
Six Gun Decision 1953
as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
The Charge at Feather River 1953
as Miles Archer
Trail of the Arrow 1952
as Wild Bill Hickok
The Yellow Haired Kid 1952
as Wild Bill Hickok
Behind Southern Lines 1952
as Wild Bill Hickok
The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon 1952
as Marshal James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok
Red Snow 1952
as Lt. Phil Johnson
Drums in the Deep South 1951
as Maj. Will Denning
Massacre River 1949
as Larry Knight
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven 1948
as Eddie Tayloe
Honeymoon 1947
as Corporal Phil Vaughn
Till the End of Time 1946
as Cliff W. Harper
Since You Went Away 1944
as Harold E. Smith
Credits from TMDB.