crew

Lewis Allen - Director

Allen seems to have had a knack for making suspenseful pictures. He made a splash with his directing debut in the moody classic The Uninvited (1944) and followed it up a year later with the similar The Unseen (1945). His best known films, after Suddenly, of course, are most likely A Bullet for Joey (1955) and the 1959 Whirlpool. After that, he worked mostly in television, directing episodes of The Fugitive (1963), The Rogues (1964), Mission: Impossible (1966) and The Invaders (1967).

Born: 25 December 1905, Shropshire, England ~ Died: 3 May 2000, Santa Monica, CA

Richard Sale - Screenwriter

Sale was an all-around Hollywood talent, with acting, writing, directing and producing credits under his belt. He directed about a dozen films from the late forties through the fifties, as well as numerous television westerns, like The High Chaparral (1967). His writing credits are more extensive, covering lighthearted comedies like Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949) and Campus Honeymoon (1948), to war films like Torpedo Run (1958). As Suddenly's writer, Sale brought a wealth of experience to the story. In fact, it's reported that he was inspired by a real-life president's visit to Palm Springs, which at the time was a small, sleepy town much like his mythical Suddenly, California. Sale's final film credit dealt with a familiar theme: The Assassination (1987).

Born: 17 December 1911, New York, New York ~ Died: 4 March 1993, Los Angeles, CA

David Raksin - Musical Score

No matter how much I may enjoy Suddenly and its music, Raksin will always be remembered for composing the theme to Laura (1944) or the theme song to the TV medical show Ben Casey (1961), or the theme to the classic western Wagon Train (1957), and not for composing the bouncy theme song to Suddenly (1954). But that's not surprising, because by the time Suddenly rolled around, Raksin had already penned the score to over 110 films dating back to the 1930s. Currently an Adjunct Professor, Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television at the prestigious Thorton School of Music at the University of Southern California, Raksin began his long career when he traveled to Hollywood to score Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1935). His name can be found on more than 450 movie and television credits, as well as on numerous stage, musical theater, dance and chamber musical productions. He is also the first member of his profession to have received the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation Commission from the US Library of Congress.+ His more memorable scores include the prison film San Quentin (1937), the adventure picture The Oregon Trail (1939), Whirlpool (1949) directed by Suddenly alum Lewis Allen, The Big Combo (1955), the crime picture Al Capone (1959), and the western Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964).

Born: 4 August 1912, Philadelphia, PA

+ Information Courtesy USC Thorton School of Music

Sterling Hayden as Sheriff Tod Shaw

Real name: Sterling Relyea Walter. Actor Sterling Hayden's first love wasn't acting, but the sea. He left home at 17 to work aboard various vessels, eventually becoming a respected captain. During W.W.II he joined the precursor to the OSS to run guns to Yugoslav partisans fighting the Nazis. He briefly flirted with communism before testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare of the early 50's (which he later regretted). Tall, rugged and good-looking, he seemed to take to acting naturally, though he claimed to freeze under the camera's unblinking stare. His first two films were with Paramount: Bahama Passage and Virginia, both released in 1941. He starred mostly in westerns and crime dramas. After landing what some call his best role in The Asphalt Jungle (1950), his career suffered when his supposed communist sympathies came to light. The same year he donned the sheriff's badge in Suddenly, Hayden starred opposite Joan Crawford in the bizarre western Johnny Guitar (1954), which is now regarded as a cult classic. Afterwords, Hayden swore never to work with Crawford again. In 1956 he appeared in Stanley Kubrick's gem, The Killing, and would later be remembered to millions of fans as the fanatical "General Jack D. Ripper" in another Kubrick classic, Dr. Strangelove (1964). Slated to play the crusty shark-obsessed sea captain "Quint" in Spielberg's Jaws (1975), he was unable to commit due to financial difficulties, which is unfortunate, as it would have combined two of Sterling Hayden's most treasured talents.

Born: 26 March 1916, Upper Montclair, NJ~ Died: 23 May 1986, Sausalito, CA

Nancy Gates as Ellen Benson

Gates signed on with RKO when she was only 15 and made her first film in 1942, Hilter's Children. After several busy years she took a break from acting before finally landing a role in Target Hong Kong (1952). This was followed by five more films, including Suddenly (1954), definitely her greatest role. After Commanche Station (1960), Gates retired from films to spend more time with her family. Some of her other films include The Master Race (1944), Some Came Running (1958), The Bottom of the Bottle (1956), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959).

Born: 1 February 1926, Dallas, TX

James Gleason as Peter "Pop" Benson

Gleason died at the age of 72 from asthma just five years after making Suddenly (1954), bringing an end to a long and successful acting career stretching nearly back to the dawn of the talkies. Gleason began his career on the stage, playing in a small theater owned by his parents. Finally appearing on Broadway in the late 1920's, he wrote several other shows and became known in Hollywood as a script doctor before landing a variety of character roles. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1941 for his portrayal of the nervous trainer in Here Comes Mr. Jordan. His first film was the forgettable Polly Of The Follies (1930) but he went on to appear in such memorable films as Meet John Doe (1942), Arsenic And Old Lace (1945), and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (1946). Fittingly enough, his last movie was The Last Hurrah (1958). However, no matter what film I see James Gleason in, I'll always think of him as Suddenly's crusty old "Pop" Benson.

Born: 23 May 1886 New York, NY~ Died: 12 April 1959, Woodland Hills, CA

Paul Frees as Benny Conklin

I grew up knowing Paul Frees from his great voice work on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and from his innumerable commercial, television and film appearances, both credited and uncredited. There was no mistaking that voice. Born B. Soloman Hersh, Frees grew up in Chicago where he started working the nightclubs. He later fought in W.W.II, and received a Purple Heart. Frees' career stretched over five decades and contains over 220 entries. It was impossible to grow up in the fifties or sixties and not hear Frees in something, usually a cartoon or a perennial Christmas special. Whether it was the voice of "The Rings" in George Pal's production of The Time Machine (1960), The Manchurian Candidate with Suddenly sidekick Frank Sinatra (1962), The Dudley Do-Right Show (1969) or even voicing "The Pillsbury Doughboy" in The Puppetoon Movie (1987), Frees has just about done it all. In Suddenly (1954), after Jud fixes the TV, Frees' voice is used for the baseball announcer. What makes this a little creepy is that this takes place after Benny Conklin is flattened by a machine-gun wielding cop. Using an actor already in the movie for voice-over work in the same film no doubt helped keep production costs down, but when that voice belongs to Paul Frees, it's too obvious to go unnoticed.

Born: 22 June 1920, Chicago, IL ~ Died: 2 November 1986, Tiburon, CA

Paul Wexler as Deputy "Slim" Adams

Slim Adams was named right -- if he turned sideways he might disappear. Handling the subdued but unmistakable comedy relief role in Suddenly fell to the bemused, bucolic Paul Wexler, whose string of endearing country rube roles started back in 1952 with the appropriately titled Feudin' Fools. That was followed by Bloodhounds of Broadway the same year and The Silver Whip in 1953. Wexler played a butler in The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954) before putting on the khaki to help Tod clean up the streets in Suddenly. Other notable films were The Kentuckian (1955), The Buccaneer (1958), The Way West (1967) and voice-over work for the Disney classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).

Born: 23 May 1929, Oregon, USA ~ Died: 21 November 1979, Los Angeles, CA

Charles Smith as Baggage Handler "Bebop"

It's funny, but you think of Charles Smith as almost being a kid and then you realize that he was nearly thirty-four years old when he made Suddenly. What's stranger still, is that he was just about at the end of a very long film career. I guess that's what happens when you're a rapidly aging child star; very few actors can make the transition. Best known for playing "Dizzy Stevens" in the old Henry Aldrich films of the 1940s -- from Henry Aldrich for President (1941) to Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid (1944) -- Smith appeared in hundreds of films and TV shows. Usually playing an affable country-bumpkin type, Smith also played a wounded soldier in the gritty 1949 war film Battleground. His later films include Johnny Tremain (1957), Good Times (1967) and The Gnome-Mobile (1967) before going off to a well-deserved retirement.

Born:12 September 1920, Flint, Michigan~ Died: 26 December 1988, Burbank, CA

Clark Howat as Agent Haggerty

Suddenly stands as a familiar place for Clark Howat. As the Secret Service Agent who talks to Ellen Benson while killer John Baron crouches behind the door, Howat brings a mix of kindness and authority to his roles which served him well throughout his career, playing an endless string of agents, inspectors, and policemen. He appeared as an uncredited intern in his first film, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950), and as "Agent Roy Philips" in Customs Agent, released the same year. He also appeared in The Sniper (1952), in the great noir classic, The City That Never Sleeps (1953), in The Glass Web (1953), and the gritty Korean War picture Battle Cry (1955). Two sci-fi films followed: the pretty decent Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) and the merely hokey The Giant Claw (1957). Two seventies classics also appear on Howat's resume: Airport (1970), and Billy Jack (1971) in which he played "Sheriff Cole." TV appearances include a lot of Perry Masons, a lot of Dragnets, and one T.J. Hooker (1982).

Born: Unknown ~ Died: Unknown

Ken Dibbs as Agent Wilson

You would think that after Suddenly, Ken Dibbs' career would have taken off, but alas, such was not the case. I thought he was good as Agent Wilson, barking orders into a microphone, but I guess that kind of talent only takes you so far. Dibbs' first film was The Bigamist in (1953), after appearing on TV as "Captain Geral" in Captain Video and His Video Rangers in 1949. After donning a spacesuit again in Riders to the Stars (1954) he embarked on a Dangerous Mission that same year. He appeared in the bloated Cecil B. DeMille three hour advertisement for Old Testament testosterone, The Ten Commandments (1956), but then again, everyone was in that one. After a couple of runs through the woods in Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer (1956), and Spoilers of the Forest (1957), he appeared as "Private Lejeune" in the Kubrick antiwar classic Paths of Glory (1957). Finally, a decent picture. Apparently hankering for those old days in orbit, he signed on as one of the brave Men Into Space (1959-60), playing "Captain Harvey Sparkman." Another alum of the Suddenly Reunion Movie (How the West Was Won, 1962), Dibbs' last film was Fate is the Hunter (1964), where, fittingly enough, he played an FBI Agent.

Born: 12 August, 1917 ~ Died: 28 March, 1996, Rancho Mirage, California

Agents Schultz and Kelly

Look at these guys. These are agents Schultz and Kelly standing behind the Chief. They all just got off the train in Suddenly and they flash their IDs and walk around a little and that's about it - no lines, no gestures, nothing to do but just stand there. To tell the truth, I'm not even sure which one is which. I'm not even sure they knew which one was which. The guy on the right, Schultz, I think, looks a bit like "Perry White" on the old Superman TV series, but he's a bit too dapper to pull it off. The guy on the left, Kelly, looks familiar, too, like he's played a neighbor or something in another film. I know I've seen them both before, but I just don't know where. Don't you hate that? Well, I can tell this is going to really bug me.

Born: Unknown ~ Died: Unknown

Richard Collier as Clerk Ed Hawkins

Collier plays the Suddenly stationmaster so well that you can really believe that he's done nothing else all these years but wait around for one more important message to disturb his quiet routine. Suddenly was the first of many clerk roles for Collier, whose career spanned the next 5 decades. He played a barber in Hello, Dolly! (1969), "Mr. Kagle" in Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962), "Bronco Andy" in the much better then it had to be TV-movie Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill (1979), and "Dr. Sam Johnson" in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy western Blazing Saddles. Collier's TV credits include Batman (1966), Mayberry, R.F.D. (1968), Petticoat Junction (1963), and the creepy classic Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955).

Born: 13 June 1919, Boston, MASS ~ Died: 11 March 2000, Calabasas, Los Angeles, CA

John Beradino as a State Trooper

This guy has an interesting story. He was a major league baseball player before catching the acting bug. Maybe that's why he looks so comfortable wearing a uniform and swinging a machine gun. Beradino played professional ball from 1939 to 1952 before age and injuries forced him to put down his glove. Besides Suddenly, he appeared in The Naked and the Dead, Wild Heritage and The World Was His Jury.

Born:1 May 1917, Los Angeles, CA ~ Died: 19 May 1996, Beverly Hills, California

Roy Engel as Mystery Driver#1

This is the man who gets the entire story going with his innocent question "What town is this?" You'd think that at least he would have made the credits; but no, he drives away in total obscurity. Or almost total, anyway. It turns out that Engel played more cops, police sergeants, and plainclothes inspectors in his long career than appear in the entire town of Suddenly. He could have caught John Baron single-handed if only he'd stuck around. Other film appearances include Viva Las Vegas, The Naked Dawn, Some Came Running (1958), and the 1963 all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. One curious entry: Hollywood.com has a credit for Engel as Joyride (2001), even though the Internet Movie Database lists his death as occurring in 1980. A pretty neat trick if true. Third opinion, anyone?

Born: 13 September 1913 ~ Died: 29 December 1980, Burbank, CA

Ted Stanhope as Mystery Driver #2

Is it just me, or does this guy look like he's wearing his wife's sunglasses? The second bookend in Suddenly had a short career according to his listed filmographies, so I wonder what else he did for all those years? Maybe he just drove through small towns asking what they were called. Nah, probably not. Stanhope didn't appear in many movies, but he did snag some airtime in some real doozies: The Big Heat (1953), High Noon (1951), and A Gathering of Eagles. Not bad for a lost tourist.

Born: 30 January 1902, New York ~ Died: 10 July 1977, Los Angeles County, CA

Dan White as Burg the Desk Cop

Ah, the uncreditied actor's uncredited actor. Suddenly's deskbound Dan White has three expressions: concerned, very concerned and very extremely concerned. You decide which one this is. Actually, Dan had a very long and successful uncreditied acting career and even if nobody ever knew his name, doesn't that make it all the more impressive? His film and TV appearances top the 200 mark so he must have been doing something right. Between an uncredited role in Everybody's Old Man (1936) and an uncreditied role in Apache Uprising (1966), he appeared in such movie milestones as Duel in the Sun (1946), the great John Wayne westerns Red River (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Red Badge of Courage (1951) with Audie Murphy, Giant (1956) with James Dean, the Elvis version of hard time, Jailhouse Rock (1957), the great Civil War western Quantrill's Raiders (1958) with Suddenly alum Kim Charney, the Orson Welle's masterpiece Touch of Evil (1958), and one of the best book adaptations to film ever, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). All great films, and all uncreditied appearances. Of course, let's not forget his credited roles, like "Slim Reed" in Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) or "Pete Ketchum" in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966). Hmmm. On second thought, I'm beginning to see where being uncredited definitely has its advantages.

Born: 25 March 1908, Falmouth, Florida ~ Died: 7 July 1980, Tampa, Florida

Charles Waggenheim as Is Kaplan the Gas Attendant

What can you say about this guy? His film credits are Suddenly and Beauty and the Beast, although I don't know which version. I swore he was at least Italian, but with a name like Waggenheim, that doesn't sound like a good bet. I haven't checked out Beauty and the Beast to see what he plays, but it's probably not a gas station attendant. One of the wonderfully obscure characters that makes Suddenly such an enjoyable film to watch.

Born: Unknown ~ Died: Unknown

The 1954 Nash Statesman

No film credit page would be complete without a tip of the hat to the '54 Nash. Look at those sleek, aerodynamic lines. Doesn't it just scream film noir? And, no, that isn't French for "lousy gas mileage." These monsters ruled the roads of postwar America at a time when gas was cheap and the future was one uninterrupted concrete highway. I remember the first time I saw one of these beauties on film, in the 1951 Dick Powell actioner Cry Danger, (well worth checking out) in which he tooled around Los Angeles (naturally) looking for the mugs who sent him up the river. The first of the postwar cars with an eye toward airplane-like aerodynamics, the 1949 Nash Airflyte (as the design was called) did remarkably well in wind tunnel tests and speed trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The bathtub styling introduced that year was a hit with the public as well, and Nash sold more cars in the early fifties than in any previous time period. The 1954 model that Tod Shaw drives in Suddenly can trace its roots back to that proud heritage. This old Nash is truly a classic. In fact, I have a theory: in order to be considered a genuine film noir, a movie's got to feature a crook, a cop, and at least one cool, old car.