Barry Sullivan August 29 1912 June 6 1994 was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s Born in New York City Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semipro football During the later Depression years Sullivan was told that because of his 6 ft 3 in 19 m stature and rugged good looks he could make money simply standing on a Broadway stage This began a successful career on Broadway movies and television One of Sullivans most memorable roles was playing a movie director in The Bad and the Beautiful opposite Kirk Douglas Sullivan toured the US with Bette Davis in theatrical readings of the poetry of Carl Sandburg and starred opposite her in the 1951 film Payment on Demand In 1950 Sullivan appeared in the film A Life of Her Own and replaced Vincent Price in the role of Leslie Charteris Simon Templar on the NBC Radio show The Saint Unfortunately Sullivan only lasted two episodes before the show was cancelled and then resurrected five weeks later with Vincent Price once again playing the starring role Sullivans first starring TV show was a syndicated adaptation of the radio series The Man Called X for Ziv Television in 19561957 as secret agent Ken Thurston the role Herbert Marshall originally portrayed before the microphone In the 19571958 season Sullivan starred in the adventuredrama television series Harbormaster He played a commercial ships captain David Scott and Paul Burke played his partner Jeff Kittridge in five episodes of the series which aired first on CBS and then ABC under the revised title Adventure at Scott Island In 1960 Sullivan played frontier sheriff Pat Garrett opposite Clu Gulager as outlaw Billy the Kid in the western television series The Tall Man although the series ran for seventyfive halfhour episodes the one in which Garrett kills Billy was never filmed Sullivan appeared in Sam Peckinpahs Pat Garrett amp Billy the Kid 1973 as John Chisum but his scene was excised from the release print though later restored to the film He had a featured role in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man Poor Man Book II In additional to The Tall Man Sullivan also starred in the television series The Road West which aired on NBC on Monday alternating with Perry Como during the 19661967 season Sullivan played the role of family patriarch Ben Pride Sullivan guest starred in many series including The DuPont Show with June Allyson The Reporter The Love Boat Little House on the Prairie and McMillan and Wife He starred in many Hallmark Hall of Fame specials including a highly acclaimed production of The Price opposite George C Scott Sullivan was consistently in demand for the entirety of his career His acting career spanned romantic leading man roles to villains and finally to character roles In his later years Sullivan had roles in the films Oh God with George Burns and Earthquake where he shared scenes with Ava Gardner Sullivan has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame one at 1500 Vine St for his work in television and another at 6160 Hollywood Blvd for motion pictures
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