Robert George Young February 22 1907 July 21 1998 was an American television film and radio actor best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson the father of Father Knows Best NBC and then CBS and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby MD ABC Young appeared in over 100 films between 1931 and 1952 After appearing on stage Young was signed with MetroGoldwynMayer and in spite of having a tier B status he costarred with some of the studios most illustrious actresses such as Katharine Hepburn Margaret Sullavan Norma Shearer Joan Crawford Helen Hayes Luise Rainer Hedy Lamarr and Helen Twelvetrees Yet most of his assignments consisted of B movies also known as programmers which required two to three weeks of shooting considered very brief shooting periods at the time Actors who were relegated to such a hectic schedule appeared as Young did in some six to eight movies per year As an MGM contract player Young was resigned to the fate of most of his colleaguesto accept any film assigned to him or risk being placed on suspensionand many actors on suspension were prohibited from earning a salary from any endeavor at all even those unrelated to the film industry In 1936 MGM summarily loaned Young to Gaumont British for two films the first was directed by Alfred Hitchcock with the other costarring Jessie Matthews While there he surmised that his employers intended to terminate his contract but he was mistaken He unexpectedly received one of his most rewarding roles late in his MGM career in HM Pulham Esq featuring one of Hedy Lamarrs most effective performances He once remarked that he was assigned only those roles which Robert Montgomery and other Alist actors had rejected After his contract ended at MGM Young starred in light comedies as well as in trenchant dramas for studios such as 20th Century Fox United Artists and RKO Radio Pictures From 1943 Young assayed more challenging roles in films like Claudia The Enchanted Cottage They Wont Believe Me The Second Woman and Crossfire His portrayal of unsympathetic characters in several of these later filmswhich was seldom the case in his MGM pictureswas applauded by numerous reviewers Youngs career began an incremental and imperceptible decline despite a propitious beginning as a freelance actor without the nurturing of a major studio He continued starring as a leading man in the late 1940s and early 1950s but only in mediocre films then he subsequently disappeared from the silver screen only to reappear several years later on a much smaller one Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Young actor licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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