Ron Randell

The son of an accountant and the youngest of three boys, Ronald Egan Randell (pronounced Randall, not Ran-DELL) was born in Sydney on October 8, 1918, and began his six-decade-long career as a young teen on radio for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He promptly moved to the stage and made his debut in the 1937 production of "Quiet Wedding" with the Minerva Theatre Group. He stayed with the company for several years while appearing intermittently in war propaganda short films.Diagnosed with tuberculosis, Ron took a necessary trip to the United States and the Mayo Clinic for treatment. While there he found some work on both the stage and in radio and earned an unbilled bit part in the film noir classic _To Have and Have Not (1944)_ (qv). Eventually returning to his native Australia, Ron won a starring role in the biopic _Pacific Adventure (1946)_ (qv) as aviator Charles "Smithy" Kingsford-Smith which led to a Hollywood contract and transatlantic move back to the States. He made a strong impression in the film _It Had to Be You (1947)_ (qv) in support of 'Ginger Rogers' (qv) and 'Cornel Wilde' (qv) and went on to play both hero and villain in both leading and supporting capacities.Randell had a short span of two runs starring as super-sleuth "Bulldog Drummond" in _Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1947)_ (qv) and _Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1947)_ (qv) and was handed a one-picture offer as the reformed title jewel thief in _The Lone Wolf and His Lady (1949)_ (qv). As a top support, he played a doctor in the melodrama _The Sign of the Ram (1948)_ (qv) starring real-life wheelchair-bound actress 'Susan Peters' (qv) and competed with 'Glenn Ford' (qv) and 'Willard Parker' (qv) over 'Joe Keyes' (qv) in the enjoyable comedy 'David Atkins' (qv).Ron's quality of pictures lessened into the early 1950's. In the U.S. he appeared in such forgettable "B" films as _Make Believe Ballroom (1949)_ (qv), _Omoo-Omoo the Shark God (1949)_ (qv), _Tyrant of the Sea (1950)_ (qv), _Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard (1950)_ (qv), _Lorna Doone (1951)_ (qv), _China Corsair (1951)_ (qv), _The Brigand (1952)_ (qv), _Captive Women (1952)_ (qv), _The Mississippi Gambler (1953)_ (qv), _Desert Sands (1955)_ (qv), _Quincannon, Frontier Scout (1956)_ (qv) and _The She-Creature (1956)_ (qv). He also played a minor role as composer 'Cole Porter' (qv) in the musical _Kiss Me Kate (1953)_ (qv). Maintaining a transatlantic career as well, he appeared vied with 'Laurence Harvey' (qv)'s Christopher Isherwood over 'Julie Harris' (qv)' Sally Bowles in the British drama _I Am a Camera (1955)_ (qv), a precursor to the musical "Cabaret." On TV, Ron was given the lead as a captain in the British war adventure series _O.S.S. (1957)_ (qv).Into the next decade, the actor was handed the gangster-turned-mutant lead in the sci-fi flick _Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961)_ (qv) and took on the supporting role of Lucius, the Centurion who tries to save Jesus at his trial in _King of Kings (1961)_ (qv). On TV, he guest starred as a number of suave, sometimes shady but cultivated gents in such series as "Checkmate," "Tales of Wells Fargo," "Perry Mason," "The Outer Limits," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," "The Farmer's Daughter," "The Wild, Wild West," "Bewitched," "Rawhide," "Bonanza," "Mission: Impossible," "The Mod Squad," "Mannix" and "The F.B.I."As for the Broadway stage, Ron would enjoy a number of healthy successes with "The Browning Version" (1949), a revival of "Candida" (1952), "The World of Suzie Wong" (1958), "Butley" (1972), "Sherlock Holmes" (1975), "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1976) and "Bent" (1979). He continued his stage career, in fact, well into the 1990s, including a stint with the late 'Tony Randall' (qv)'s National Actors Theater (NAT). This included playing Rowley opposite Randall's Sir Peter Teazle in "The School for Scandal" (1995) at the Lyceum Theatre.Randell died following complications of a stroke in a Los Angeles assisted facility at age 86 on June 11, 2005. He was survived by his longtime third wife, exotic-looking actress 'Laya Raki' (qv), once billed as "the black-haired volcano." He had no children from his three marriages.::Gary Brumburgh / [email protected]