Lyle Talbot, who appeared in scores of movies from leads in Warner Bros.' "B" pictures to supporting roles in 'Edward D. Wood Jr. 's "The Matchmaker." Lyle Talbot died of natural causes on March 3, 1996, in his home in San Francisco, California, at the age of 94, the last of the SAG founders to shuffle off this mortal coil.
Father of journalist David Talbot , founding editor of Salon.com.
Father of public television producer Stephen Talbot , a former child actor who was best known as Beavers friend Gilbert on "Leave It to Beaver" .
He was the last of the surviving original members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He was also the first Warner Brothers contract player to join SAG.
Between 1932 and 1934 he appeared in 28 films, mostly for Warner Bros.
Founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, which angered many studio heads but did not result in a loss of work.
Was working on his memoirs when he died in 1996 at the age of 94.
In the span of two years (1950-1951), he appeared in 29 films.
Played Commissioner Gordon in the 1949 Batman serial ( Batman and Robin ), before becoming a staple in the films of Edward D. Wood Jr. Director Tim Burton later did his own version of "Batman" ( Batman ) and a biopic of Wood ( Ed Wood ).
Was the first actor to play Commissioner Gordon from Batman, and the first actor to play Lex Luthor from Superman.
Two pairs of his successors in his DC Comics roles have worked together in two separate movies. Pat Hingle and Gene Hackman appear together in The Quick and the Dead . Gary Oldman and Kevin Spacey appear together in Henry & June .
During a busy stretch of work in movie serials and live television in the early-1950s, he lived at the Highland Towers Apartments at 1922 N. Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA. The building is a registered landmark today. From 1955-1989 Talbot and his family lived at 3942 Goodland Avenue in Studio City, CA. where he was the towns "honorary mayor" in the 1960s.
Lyles granddaughter, Caitlin Talbot, studied acting in the Masters program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she starred in the play, "Orlando.".
Pulled double duty doing voice over work for Warner Brothers coming attractions in the early 1930s. Thats Talbots voice on the Jewel Robbery (1932) coming attraction reel.
In the mid to late 1950s he was featured in two TV series at the same time, playing the recurring roles of the stars "best friend" on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" (1952) and "The Bob Cummings Show" .
He may be the only actor to have starred in both leading roles in major productions of Neil Simon s play, "The Odd Couple," appearing in different national road company tours in the 1960s as Felix Unger (the Jack Lemmon role) and Oscar Madison.
Lyle Talbots youngest daughter, Margaret Talbot, a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, has written a new book about her late father, "The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Fathers Twentieth Century" (Riverhead Books, New York) to be published in November 2012.
Took part in one of Hollywoods most elaborate and extravagant publicity junkets: traveling on board a Warner Bros./General Electric "42nd Street Special" train, barnstorming across the country, stopping in dozens of cities to promote the Busby Berkeley musical, and ending up in Washington, DC to support Franklin Roosevelt at his first inauguration as president in March 1933. Talbot was billed as the "Romeo" on the train in a group that included Bette Davis, Glenda Farrell, Leo J. Carillo, Preston Foster, comedian Joe E. Brown, Olympic gold medal swimmer Eleanor Holm, cowboy star Tom Mix (and his horse!) and "42nd Street" chorus girls.
You kids think you invented free love in the Sixties. You have no idea,what it was like to be young and beautiful in the Thirties in,Hollywood. Everyone was sleeping with everyone.
