person

Guy Madison

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Gender

Male

Birthday

1922-01-19

Place of Birth

Pumpkin Center, California, USA

Guy Madison

Biography

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)

Also Known For

poster

61

The Last Frontier

Dec 07, 1955

poster

NA

Where's Willie?

Apr 12, 1978

poster

61

Old Shatterhand

Apr 30, 1964

poster

65

Since You Went Away

Jun 30, 1944

poster

60

5 Against the House

Jun 10, 1955

poster

76

Los Angeles Plays Itself

Jul 28, 2004

poster

58

Legacy of the Incas

Sep 08, 1965

poster

NA

When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion

Jun 05, 1979

poster

48

This Man Can't Die

Apr 05, 1968

poster

45

Five for Revenge

Jan 01, 1966

poster

53

Reverend's Colt

Dec 24, 1970

poster

61

Son of Django

May 26, 1967

poster

37

Women of Devil's Island

Jul 27, 1962

poster

67

Till the End of Time

Jul 23, 1946

poster

42

The Beast of Hollow Mountain

Aug 01, 1956

poster

44

Bullwhip

May 25, 1958

poster

62

The Command

Feb 13, 1954

poster

54

Jet Over The Atlantic

Nov 04, 1959

poster

54

Drums in the Deep South

Sep 01, 1951

poster

54

Payment in Blood

Apr 14, 1967

poster

60

The War Devils

Dec 19, 1969

poster

52

The Bang-Bang Kid

Nov 14, 1967

poster

72

Hilda Crane

May 08, 1956

poster

52

Gunmen Of The Rio Grande

Nov 19, 1964

poster

48

The Hard Man

Dec 01, 1957

poster

NA

Gentlemen of the Night

May 10, 1964

poster

72

Reprisal!

Nov 02, 1956

poster

60

Return of Sandokan

Oct 18, 1964

poster

44

Blood of the Executioner

Sep 19, 1963

poster

56

The Charge at Feather River

Jul 11, 1953

poster

40

On the Threshold of Space

Mar 29, 1956

poster

53

Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven

Jul 16, 1948

poster

50

Adventurer of Tortuga

Aug 12, 1965

poster

64

Honeymoon

May 17, 1947

poster

50

The Battle of the Last Panzer

Jan 23, 1969

poster

55

Sword of the Conqueror

Aug 24, 1961

poster

NA

Behind Southern Lines

Nov 02, 1952

poster

42

Slave of Rome

Feb 02, 1961

poster

53

Sandokan Fights Back

Aug 13, 1964

poster

62

Massacre River

Jun 26, 1949

poster

30

Red Snow

Jul 07, 1952

poster

50

Hell Commandos

Jun 07, 1969

poster

62

Kidnapped to Mystery Island

Dec 27, 1964

poster

NA

The Yellow Haired Kid

Nov 02, 1952

poster

NA

Trail of the Arrow

Nov 02, 1952

poster

NA

Trouble on the Trail

Dec 26, 1954

poster

NA

Six Gun Decision

Nov 15, 1953

poster

NA

Secret of Outlaw Flats

Nov 15, 1953

poster

NA

Two Gun Marshal

Nov 15, 1953

poster

NA

The Tilted Tenderfoot

May 08, 1955

poster

NA

Outlaw's Son

Dec 26, 1954

poster

NA

Marshals in Disguise

Dec 26, 1954

poster

NA

The Matchmaking Marshal

May 08, 1955

poster

48

A Place In Hell

Jan 10, 1969

poster

NA

The Rebels

May 14, 1979

poster

51

Superargo and the Faceless Giants

Jan 26, 1968

poster

NA

Border City Rustlers

Nov 15, 1953

poster

41

Hell in Normandy

Aug 13, 1968

poster

43

The Pacific Connection

Nov 14, 1974

poster

57

LSD Flesh of Devil

Feb 02, 1967

poster

50

The Devil's Man

Jun 30, 1967

poster

56

Red River

Apr 10, 1988

poster

NA

The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon

Nov 01, 1952

poster

NA

The Two Gun Teacher

Dec 26, 1954

poster

NA

Phantom Trails

May 08, 1955

poster

NA

Timber Country Trouble

May 08, 1955

poster

65

The Silk Worm

Mar 01, 1974

poster

NA

Not One Shall Die

Jan 01, 1957

poster

41

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

Jul 26, 1976

poster

70

Crossbow: The Movie

Jan 01, 1989

poster

62

General Electric Theater

Feb 01, 1953

poster

72

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

Oct 05, 1951

poster

32

Climax!

Oct 07, 1954

poster

45

The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

Apr 15, 1951

poster

55

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Oct 05, 1956

poster

73

The Ford Television Theatre

Oct 02, 1952

poster

69

What's My Line?

Feb 02, 1950