Barry Sullivan: Leading & Character Man of THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL, TENSION, THE TALL MAN, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES and More

One of the most respected and recognizable character leads & supporting players in Hollywood history, the durable & talented Barry Sullivan was born on August 29th, 1912 in New York City. He passed away on June 6th, 1994 at age 81.

Sullivan's career spanned over 6 decades, with almost 200 film & TV credits and 10 appearances on the Broadway stage. He was best known for playing Pat Garrett on TV's THE TALL MAN

Sullivan scored big on Broadway as Lt. Barney Greenwald,

in the 1955 Bwdy. production of THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL, directed by

Charles Laughton

Sullivan made his first appearance on The Great White Way in 1936's

I WANT A POLICEMAN. His other Broadway credits include THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, MR. BIG, ALL THAT GLITTERS and JOHNNY 2 X 4.

Sullivan appeared in an out-of-town tryout of the 1958 musical

GOLDILOCKS opposite Elaine Stritch, but was replaced by Don Ameche before it reached Broadway.

Sullivan made his film debut in the 1936 short STRIKE! YOU'RE OUT, appearing in his first feature role in a full length feature in 1943, HIGH EXPLOSIVE with Chester Morris

Sullivan started working on TV in the early 1950's.

He recreated his Bwdy. role of Lt. Barney Greenwald in the 1955 FORD STAR JUBILEE

presentation of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, snagging an Emmy Nomination for Best Actor--Single Performance, losing to his cast mate Lloyd 'Capt. Queeg' Nolan.

Nolan, Sullivan and Frank Lovejoy in FORD's Caine

Sullivan played a wide range of roles in his long career: early on he was many a doctor, cop, writer, cowboy, soldier, and ''the other guy'' who loses the girl to the star. He then moved into leading roles opposite tough female actresses like Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, etc., usually as a rich, boozing, philandering businessman husband. Sullivan later aged into such character types as politicians, professors, generals, secretaries of state, attorney generals, judges, bishops, power brokers, and even more doctors.

Sullivan worked with legendary directors like Vincente Minnelli, Samuel Fuller, Anthony Mann, Sam Peckinpah and Elia Kazan

Some notable (and some my favorite) film & TV roles for Sullivan include:

1940's

Psychiatrist Dr. Alex Brooks in 1944's LADY IN THE DARK

with Ginger Rogers

Danny Murphy in the star-studded film version of Ed Gardner's radio favorite

DUFFY'S TAVERN

With Marjorie Reynolds in DUFFY'S

Ted Dalton, best friend of Dennis O' Keefe in the 1945 remake of the silent film slapstick favorite GETTING GERTIE'S GARTER

2 lead roles opposite Belita, the Ice Maiden--figure skater turned actress, ala Sonia Henie, in SUSPENSE and THE GANGSTER

Belita and Sully skating through SUSPENSE

On thin ice with Belita in THE GANGSTER

Scheming embezzler Steve Price in the 1947 B film noir FRAMED

with Glenn Ford & Janis Carter

A starring role as Tom Horn in 1949's BAD MEN OF TOMBSTONE

Re-teamed with his DUFFY'S TAVERN leading lady Marjorie Reynolds in TOMBSTONE

Tom Buchanan in the 1949 version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's

THE GREAT GATSBY, starring Alan Ladd

Lt. Collier Bonnabel in the crackerjack 1949 crime drama TENSION, also starring Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter and Cyd Charisse

Sullivan puts TENSION on Totter--his crafty cop is one of my favorite performances

of the versatile actor

1950's

Greedy Confederate soldier Jess Wallace, who has a falling out with pal Joel McCrea over ravishing Arlene Dahl, in the 1950 oater THE OUTRIDERS

Kind and confused businessman Paul Berten in the musical NANCY GOES TO RIO

with Jane Powell, Ann Sothern and Louis Calhern

David Ramsey, the philandering husband of opportunistic San Francisco socialite Bette Davis in the 1951 drama PAYMENT ON DEMAND

Advertising man Mike '' Mickey'' Tracy, one of the 3 title fellas (along with Van Johnson & Howard Keel) in love with Jane Wyman in

THREE GUYS NAMED MIKE

A lead role, crooked insurance investigator Steve Keiver in the 1951 crime drama

NO QUESTIONS ASKED

NO QUESTIONS with Jean Hagen

Maybe Sullivan's best big screen performance, Hollywood director Fred Amiel, in Vincente Minnelli's brilliant THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, starring Kirk Douglas as ruthless producer Jonathan Shields

Doug Stilwin, the trapped husband of Barbara Stanwyck in 1953's

JEOPARDY

Lt. Tunner, the obsessed cop after bayou fugitive Vittorio Gassman in the taut 1953 film noir CRY OF THE HUNTED, directed by Joseph H. GUN CRAZY Lewis

Sullivan and his TENSION partner William Conrad reunited on

CRY

Reformed gangster Mick Flagg in THE MIAMI STORY

Lt. Col. Rocky Samford in STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND with James Stewart

Boozing mill owner Avery Phillips, whose wife Joan Crawford makes his life a living hell in 1955's QUEEN BEE

Sullivan and Betsy Palmer with QUEEN Joan

Re-teamed with Barbara Stanwyck in 2 westerns:

As undercover Pinkerton man

Jeff Younger in THE MAVERICK QUEEN

and U.S. Griff Bonnell in Sam Fuller's FORTY GUNS

The first of 4 TV shows Sullivan starred in--the syndicated 1956-57 espionage drama

THE MAN CALLED X, based on the popular radio program, in which he portrayed

Agent Ken Thurston

His second regular series run, HARBORMASTER aka ADVENTURE AT SCOTT ISLAND ( CBS & ABC 1957-58), as crime busting sea Capt. David Scott

A very different type of sea captain, WOLF LARSEN, the title role tyrant in the low budget 1958 take on Jack London's The Sea-Wolf

Dishonest & crafty lawyer Mark Robeson in the classic

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS episode

The $2,000,000 Defense with Leslie Nielsen

1960's

Notorious outlaw Jim Flood in the 1960 Audie Murphy oater

SEVEN WAYS FROM SUNDOWN, one Sullivan's best big screen performances

His 3rd TV series, THE TALL MAN (1960-62 NBC), had him playing my favorite of his boob tube roles, lawman Pat Garrett, opposite Clu THE VIRGINIAN Gulager as Billy the Kid

Busy businessman Noel Johnson, hubby of Olivia de Havilland and father of Yvette Mimieux in the 1962 romantic drama LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, directed by Guy Green

The boozing, suicidal commander of Carmody Air Force Base, Col. Bill Fowler opposite hard-ass wing commander Rock Hudson in 1963's A GATHERING OF EAGLES

Gen. Kempton, superior of WWII U.S. Army attorney Robert Mitchum, who assigns him the almost hopeless task of defending crazy killer soldier Keenan Wynn (in an award worthy performance), in the 1964 military courtroom drama MAN IN THE MIDDLE aka THE WINSTON AFFAIR

A leading role as the aging Sheriff Horne in the tired 1964 western

STAGE TO THUNDER ROCK

With Scott Brady and Lon Chaney Jr. in THUNDER ROCK

Space Capt. Mark Markary(!) in the influential 1965 Mario Bava cult sci-fi classic

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES

Traitorous U.S. business & con man Alex Lowell in

the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE episode The Psychic

with Martin Landau and Barbara Bain

Pioneer patriarch Ben Pride in Sullivan's 4th and final regular TV series run in the family adventure oaterTHE ROAD WEST (NBC 1967-68)

Reunited with Samuel Fuller on 1969's SHARK! aka MATEATER as Prof. Dan Mallare

With Silvia Pinal in SHARK!

Ray Calvert in the 1969 western TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE with

Robert Redford

1970's

Powerful rancher John Chisum in Sam Peckinpah's 1973's

PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID

The corrupt lawman Kane in 1975's

TAKE A HARD RIDE

The Commandante, the crime lord in VIOLENT NAPLES with

John Saxon

Sen. Paxton in RICH MAN, POOR MAN--BOOK II with

Peter Strauss

Bishop Rearson in 1976's OH GOD! with Jeff Corey & John Denver

Some of Sullivan's other roles of note on TV and film include:

Arthur Franz in the 1971 TV version of Arthur Miller's THE PRICE with George C. Scott & Colleen Dewhurst, Marcus Hubbard in the 1972 TV version of Lillian Hellman's ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST with Dorothy McGuire & Robert Foxworth, the seismologist Stockle in 1974's EARTHQUAKE, Secretary of State Dean Acheson in COLLISION COURSE: TRUMAN VS. MacARTHUR, Gen. Bannerman in the 1976 miniseries ONCE AN EAGLE and Attorney General Harry Daugherty in the 1979 miniseries BACKSTAIRS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

With Scott in THE PRICE

EARTHQUAKE

A sample of Sullivan's other film and TV credits include:

THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN!, THE WOMAN OF THE TOWN, RAINBOW ISLAND, AND NOW TOMORROW, SMART WOMAN, ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY, GROUNDS FOR MARRIAGE, MR. IMPERIUM, INSIDE STRAIGHT, CAUSE FOR ALARM, THE UNKNOWN MAN, SKIRTS AHOY!, CHINA VENTURE, CHEVRON THEATRE, PLAYGIRL, HER TWELVE MEN, TEXAS LADY, JULIE, THE WAY TO THE GOLD, DRAGOON WELLS MASSACRE, MY BLOOD RUNS COLD, THE POPPY IS ALSO A FLOWER, AN AMERICAN DREAM, BUCKSKIN, IT TAKES ALL KINDS, THE ARRANGEMENT, THE HUMAN FACTOR, CARAVANS, LUX VIDEO THEATRE, STUDIO ONE IN HOLLYWOOD, CLIMAX!, PLAYHOUSE 90, ZANE GREY THEATRE, THE PURPLE GANG, THE U.S. STEEL HOUR, THE DICK POWELL THEATRE, ROUTE 66, ARREST AND TRIAL, PYRO...THE THING WITHOUT A FACE, BEN CASEY, THE REPORTER, PERRY MASON, THE LONER, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH, INTIMACY aka THE DECIEVERS, THE LONER, HARLOW, BONANZA, THE VIRGINIAN, HOUSE ON GREENAPPLE ROAD, IT TAKES A THIEF, THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, THE IMMORTAL, DAN AUGUST, YUMA, the pilot film for CANNON with pal William Conrad, McCLOUD, HAWAII FIVE-O, MANNIX, LONGSTREET, NIGHT GALLERY, COOL MILLION, INSIGHT, SAVAGE, the pilot for KUNG FU, HARRY O, LETTERS FROM THREE LOVES, HURRICANE, McMILLAN & WIFE, LUCAS TANNER, BARNABY JONES, THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, THE WASHINGTON AFFAIR, POLICE STORY, SURVIVAL, GRAND JURY, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, THE LOVE BOAT, NO ROOM TO RUN, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, FANTASY ISLAND, THE IMMIGRANTS, VEGA$, CASINO, JUDGEMENT DAY, THE BASTARD, FANTASY ISLAND and many more.