Tristram Coffin

'Tristram Coffin' (qv) was born in a Utah mining community, grew up in Salt Lake City, and started acting while in high school. He later continued acting with traveling stock companies. Having earned a degree in speech at the University of Washington, he worked as a news analyst and sportscaster until a Hollywood talent scout approached him with the idea of putting him in films. Coffin's sinister looks served him well in the roles he played in serials like _Perils of Nyoka (1942)_ (qv) and _Spy Smasher (1942)_ (qv), but there were occasional hero roles, too, as in the feature _The Corpse Vanishes (1942)_ (qv) with 'Bela Lugosi' (qv). He donned the bullet helmet and gadget-laden leather jacket of Rocket Man in the 1949 serial _King of the Rocket Men (1949)_ (qv). Baby boomers might remember Coffin best as the Arizona Ranger Captain in the 1950s Western series _26 Men (1957)_ (qv).::Tom Weaver <[email protected]>