Guy Madison (January 19, 1922 – February 6, 1996) was an American film and television actor.
Early life
Born Robert Ozell Moseley in Bakersfield, California, Madison attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, for two years and then worked briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the United States Navy in 1942.
Career
In 1944, while visiting Hollywood on leave from the US Coast Guard, Madison's boyish good looks and physique caught the eye of Henry Willson, the head of talent at David O. Selznick's newly formed Vanguard Pictures. Willson was widely known for his stable of good-looking, marginally talented actors with unusual names he bestowed upon them, and he immediately cast the rechristened Madison in a bit part in Selznick's Since You Went Away. Following the film's release in 1944, the studio received thousands of letters from fans wanting to know more about him.
Madison was signed by RKO Pictures in 1946 and began appearing in romantic comedies and dramas, but his wooden acting style hurt his chances of advancing in films. In 1951, television came to the rescue of his faltering career when he was cast in The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, which ran for six years. Following his television series, he appeared in several more films before leaving for Europe, where he found greater success in spaghetti westerns.
Personal life and death
Madison was married to actresses Gail Russell (1949–1954) and Sheila Connolly (1954–1964). Both marriages ended in divorce. He had three daughters, Bridget Catherine (born April 26, 1955), Erin Patricia (born July 21, 1956), and Dolly Ann (born September 10, 1957).
Madison died from emphysema at the age of 74 and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California. For his contribution to the television industry, Guy Madison has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6331 Hollywood Boulevard.
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