Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Jr. (May 15, 1905 - February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair. He first gained worldwide fame in the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943), for which Cotten was also credited with the screenplay. He went on to become one of the leading Hollywood actors of the 1940s, appearing in films such as Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Love Letters (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946), Portrait of Jennie (1948), The Third Man (1949), and Niagara (1953). One of his final films was Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980).

Life and career

Joseph Cotten and Edgar Barrier during the shooting of film sequences for the stage production Too Much Johnson (1938) Joseph Cotten and Katharine Hepburn on Broadway in The Philadelphia Story (1939) Joseph Cotten is introduced in the trailer for Citizen Kane (1941) Dolores Costello, Agnes Moorehead, Anne Baxter, Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt and Ray Collins in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Joseph Cotten and Dolores del Río in Journey into Fear (1943) George (Shorty) Chirello, Joseph Cotten, assistant Eleanor Counts and Orson Welles in The Mercury Wonder Show (1943) Wedding of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, with best man Joseph Cotten (September 7, 1943) Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Members of the Independent Voters Committee of the Arts and Sciences for Roosevelt visit FDR at the White House (October 1944). From left: Van Wyck Brooks, Hannah Dorner, Jo Davidson, Jan Kiepura, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Gish, Dr. Harlow Shapley

Joseph Cotten was born in 1905 in Petersburg, Virginia, the first of three sons born to Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Sr., an assistant postmaster, and Sally Willson Cotten. He grew up in the Tidewater region and showed an aptitude for drama and a gift for storytelling. In 1923, when Cotten was 18, his family arranged for him to receive private lessons at the Hickman School of Expression in Washington, D.C., and underwrote his expenses. He earned spending money playing professional football on Sundays, for $25 a quarter. After graduation he earned enough money as a lifeguard at Wilcox Lake to pay back his family's loan, with interest.

He worked as an advertising agent, and his work as a theatre critic inspired him to become involved in theatre productions, first in Virginia, then in New York City. Cotten made his Broadway debut in 1930.

Radio and theatre

In 1934 Cotten met and became friends with Orson Welles, a fellow cast member on CBS Radio's The American School of the Air. Welles regarded Cotten as a brilliant comic actor, and gave him the starring role in his Federal Theatre Project farce, Horse Eats Hat (September 26-December 5, 1936). Cotten was sure that Horse Eats Hat won him the notice of his future Broadway costar, Katharine Hepburn.

In 1937 Cotten became an inaugural member of Welles's Mercury Theatre company, starring in its Broadway productions Caesar, The Shoemaker's Holiday and Danton's Death, and in radio dramas presented on The Mercury Theatre on the Air and The Campbell Playhouse.

Cotten made his film debut in the Welles-directed short, Too Much Johnson, a comedy that was intended to complement the aborted 1938 Mercury stage production of William Gillette's 1890 play. The film was never screened in public and was lost until 2013.

Cotten returned to Broadway in 1939, creating the role of C. K. Dexter Haven opposite Katharine Hepburn's Tracy Lord in the original production of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story. The play ran for a year at the Shubert Theatre, and in the months before its extensive national tour a film version was to be made by MGM. Cotten went to Hollywood, but discovered there that his stage success in The Philadelphia Story translated to, in the words of his agent Leland Hayward, "spending a solid year creating the Cary Grant role." Hayward suggested that they call Cotten's good pal, Orson Welles. "He's been making big waves out here," Hayward said. "Maybe nobody in Hollywood ever heard of the Shubert Theatre in New York, but everybody certainly knows about the Mercury Theatre in New York."

Citizen Kane

After the success of Welles's War of the Worlds 1938 Halloween radio broadcast, Welles gained a unique contract with RKO Pictures. The two-picture deal promised full creative control for the young director below an agreed budget limit, and Welles's intention was to feature the Mercury Players in his productions. Shooting had still not begun on a Welles film after a year, but after a meeting with writer Herman J. Mankiewicz Welles had a suitable project.

In mid-1940 filming began on Citizen Kane, portraying the life of a press magnate (played by Welles) who starts out as an idealist but eventually turns into a corrupt, lonely old man. The film featured Cotten prominently in the role of Kane's best friend Jedediah Leland, eventually a drama critic for one of Kane's papers.

When released on May 1, 1941, Citizen Kane — based in part on the life of William Randolph Hearst — did not do much business at theaters; Hearst owned numerous major newspapers, and forbade them to carry advertisements for the film. Nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1942, the film won only for Best Screenplay, for Mankiewicz and Welles. Citizen Kane launched the film careers of the Mercury Players, including Agnes Moorehead (who played Kane's mother), Ruth Warrick (Kane's first wife), and Ray Collins (Kane's political opponent). However, Cotten was the only one of the four to find major success as a lead in Hollywood outside of Citizen Kane; Moorehead and Collins became successful character film actors and Warrick spent decades in a career in daytime television.

Later collaborations with Welles

Cotten starred a year later in Welles's adaptation and production of The Magnificent Ambersons. After the commercial disappointment of Citizen Kane, RKO was apprehensive about the new film, and after poor preview responses, cut it by nearly an hour before its release. Though at points the film appeared disjointed, it was well received by critics. Despite the critical accolades Cotten received for his performance, he was again snubbed by the Academy.

Cotten and Welles (uncredited) wrote the Nazi-related thriller Journey into Fear (1943) based on the novel by Eric Ambler. Released by RKO, the Mercury production was directed by Norman Foster. It was a collaborative effort due to the difficulties shooting the film and the pressures related to Welles's imminent departure to South America to begin work on It's All True.

After Welles's return he and Cotten co-produced The Mercury Wonder Show for members of the U.S. armed services. Opening August 3, 1943, the all-star magic and variety show was presented in a tent at 9000 Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood. Featured were Welles (Orson the Magnificent), Cotten (Jo-Jo the Great), Rita Hayworth (forced to quit by Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn and replaced by Marlene Dietrich), Agnes Moorehead (Calliope Aggie) and others. Tickets were free to servicemen, and more than 48,000 of them had seen show by September 1943.

In late 1943 Cotten visited Welles's office and said that producer David O. Selznick wanted to make two or three films with him, but that he wanted him under contract. As he tore up Cotten's contract with Mercury Productions, Welles said, "He can do more for you than I can. Good luck!"

In film, Cotten and Welles worked together in The Third Man (1949). Cotten portrays a writer of pulp fiction who travels to postwar Vienna to meet his friend Harry Lime (Welles). When he arrives, he discovers that Lime has died, and is determined to prove to the police that it was murder, but uncovers an even darker secret.

The 1940s and 1950s

The characters that Cotten played onscreen during the 1940s ranged from a serial killer in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943) to an eager police detective in Gaslight (1944). Cotten starred with Jennifer Jones in four films for Selznick International Pictures: the wartime domestic drama Since You Went Away (1944); the romantic drama Love Letters (1945); Duel in the Sun (1946), which remains one of the top 100 highest grossing films of all time when adjusted for inflation; and the critically acclaimed Portrait of Jennie (1948), in which he played a melancholy artist who becomes obsessed with a girl who may have died many years before. As well as reuniting onscreen with Orson Welles in Carol Reed's The Third Man in 1949, he reunited with Hitchcock in Under Capricorn (1949) as an Australian landowner with a shady past.

Exhibitors voted him the 17th most popular star in the US in 1945.

Cotten's screen career cooled in the 1950s with a string of less high-profile roles in films such as the dark Civil War Western Two Flags West (1950), the Joan Fontaine romance September Affair (1950), and the Marilyn Monroe vehicle Niagara (1953), after James Mason turned down the role. His last theatrical releases in the '50s were mostly film-noir and unsuccessful character studies.

On the stage in 1953, Cotten created the role of Linus Larrabee, Jr., in the original Broadway production of Sabrina Fair, opposite Margaret Sullavan. The production ran November 11, 1953 - August 21, 1954, and was the basis of the Billy Wilder film Sabrina, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn.

In 1956, Cotten left film for years for a string of successful television ventures, such as the NBC series On Trial (renamed at mid-season The Joseph Cotten Show).

Cotten was featured in Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Ronald Reagan's General Electric Theater. He appeared on May 2, 1957, on NBC's comedy variety series, The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. Near the end of the decade, he made a cameo appearance in Welles'sTouch of Evil (1958) and a starring role in the film adaptation of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (also 1958). He also appeared as Dick Burlingame and Charles Lawrence in the 1960 episodes "The Blue Goose" and "Dark Fear" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He also appeared on NBC's anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show.

The 1960s and 1970s

In 1960 Cotten married British actress Patricia Medina after his first wife, Lenore Kipp, died of leukemia earlier in the year. After some time away from film, Cotten returned in the horror classic Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), with Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland and Agnes Moorehead. The rest of the decade found Cotten in a number of European and Japanese productions, B-movies and made for television movies. He made multiple guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1967, he joined Karl Swenson, Pat Conway, and Dick Foran in the nostalgic western dramatic film Brighty of the Grand Canyon, about a burro who lived in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River from about 1892-1922. On television, he narrated David L. Wolper's documentary Hollywood and the Stars (1963-64). In 1968 he made a guest appearance in a two-part episode of the series Ironside ("Split Second to an Epitaph").

In the early 1970s, Cotten followed a supporting role in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) with several horror features: The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) with Vincent Price, and Soylent Green (1973), the last film featuring Edward G. Robinson. Later in the decade, Cotten was in several all-star disaster films, including Airport '77 (1977) with James Stewart and again with Olivia de Havilland, and the nuclear thriller Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977). On television, he did guest spots on The Rockford Files ("This Case Is Closed", 1974) and "The Love Boat".

Last years

One of Cotten's last films was the box-office bomb Heaven's Gate (1980), at the time critically mauled in the United States but well received abroad. The film was positively reevaluated early in the 21st century, receiving a Criterion Collection release in 2013.

He appeared in two episodes of a twist-in-the-tale episode of the British TV series Tales of the Unexpected, with Wendy Hiller (1979), and Gloria Grahame (1980). He also appeared in three horror films, The Hearse (1980), Delusion (also known as The House Where Death Lives) (1980), and the Australian film The Survivor (1981). Cotten suffered a stroke in 1981 which caused him to temporarily lose his voice.

Illness and death

On June 8, 1981, Cotten had a heart attack followed by a stroke that affected his speech center. He began years of therapy which in time made it possible for him to speak again. As he began to recover, he and Orson Welles talked on the phone each week for a couple of hours: "He was strong and supportive," Cotten wrote, "and whenever I used the wrong word (which was frequently) he would say, 'That's a much better word, Jo, I'm going to use it.'" He and Welles would meet for lunch and reminisce, and when Cotten said he had written a book Welles asked for the manuscript and read it that same night. In a phone conversation on October 9, 1985, Welles told his friend and mentor Roger Hill that Cotten had written a book, and Hill asked how it read. "Gentle, witty, and self-effacing, just like Jo," Welles replied. "My only complaint is that it's too brief." Welles died the following day. "Somewhere among his possessions is a manuscript of this book," Cotten wrote on the last page of his autobiography, published in 1987 under the title Vanity Will Get You Somewhere.

In 1990, Cotten's larynx was removed due to cancer. He died on February 6, 1994, of pneumonia, at the age of 88. He was buried at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.

Accolades

Joseph Cotten received a Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his work in Portrait of Jennie.

Cultural references

In the 2008 film, Me and Orson Welles, Cotten is portrayed by James Tupper.

Theatre credits

Date	Title	Role	Notes
October 17, 1932-January 1933	Absent Father	Larry	Vanderbilt Theatre, New York
December 19, 1933-January 1934	Jezebel	Dick Ashley	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York
February 4-February 1934	Loose Moments	Ralph Merkes	Vanderbilt Theatre, New York
September 26-December 5, 1936	Horse Eats Hat	Freddy	Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York
January 8-April 1, 1937	Faustus	2nd Scholar	Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York
April 21-23, 1937	The Second Hurricane	Airplane pilot	Henry Street Settlement, New York City
November 11, 1937 - May 28, 1938	Caesar	Publius	Mercury Theatre, New York Moved to the larger National Theatre January 24, 1938
December 25, 1937	The Shoemaker's Holiday	Rowland Lacy	Mercury Theatre, New York Surprise preview performance immediately following Caesar
January 1-April 28, 1938	The Shoemaker's Holiday	Rowland Lacy	Mercury Theatre, New York Moved to the National Theatre January 26, 1938
August 16-29, 1938	Too Much Johnson	Augustus Billings	Stony Creek Theatre, Stony Creek, Connecticut
November 2-19, 1938	Danton's Death	Barrere	Mercury Theatre, New York
March 28, 1939 - March 30, 1940	The Philadelphia Story	C. K. Dexter Haven	Shubert Theatre, New York
November 11, 1953 - August 21, 1954	Sabrina Fair	Linus Larrabee, Jr.	National Theatre, New York Moved to the Royale Theatre May 17, 1954

Radio credits

Date	Title	Role	Notes
1934	The American School of the Air	Repertory cast
July 14-September 22, 1935	America's Hour	Repertory cast
1935	Farm Tenancy		Resettlement Administration drama
November 14, 1936	Columbia Workshop		"Hamlet"
May 9, 1937	The Second Hurricane	Airplane pilot	One-hour broadcast on CBS Radio
September 5, 1938	The Mercury Theatre on the Air	Dr. Bull	"The Man Who Was Thursday"
October 9, 1938	The Mercury Theatre on the Air		"Hell on Ice"
October 16, 1938	The Mercury Theatre on the Air	Genesis	"Seventeen"
December 3, 1938	The Campbell Playhouse	Fred	"A Christmas Carol"
January 6, 1939	The Campbell Playhouse		"Counsellor-at-Law"
January 13, 1939	The Campbell Playhouse	Fletcher Christian	"Mutiny on the Bounty"
January 20, 1939	The Campbell Playhouse		"The Chicken Wagon Family"
January 27, 1939	The Campbell Playhouse	Riley	"I Lost My Girlish Laughter"
September 17, 1939	The Campbell Playhouse		"Ah, Wilderness!"
October 22, 1939	The Campbell Playhouse	The Cashier	"Liliom"
1939-40	The Career of Alice Blair	Male lead
February 11, 1940	The Campbell Playhouse		"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"
September 22, 1941	Lux Radio Theatre	Michael Fitzpatrick	"Lydia"
October 6, 1941	Orson Welles Show
October 13, 1941	Orson Welles Show
October 20, 1941	Orson Welles Show
November 10, 1941	Orson Welles Show
December 1, 1941	Orson Welles Show
December 7, 1941	Orson Welles Show
December 22, 1941	Orson Welles Show
December 29, 1941	Orson Welles Show
March 22, 1942	The Silver Theatre	Jim Emerson	"Only Yesterday"
November 23, 1942	Ceiling Unlimited		"The Navigator"
December 21, 1942	Ceiling Unlimited		"Gremlins"
December 28, 1942	Ceiling Unlimited		"Pan American Airlines"
January 17, 1943	Hello Americans		"Feed the World"
February 1, 1943	Cavalcade of America		"To the Shores of Tripoli"
May 24, 1943	The Screen Guild Theater	Uncle Charlie	"Shadow of a Doubt"
June 28, 1943	Lux Radio Theatre		"The Great Man's Lady"
August 8, 1943 - April 30, 1944	America — Ceiling Unlimited	Host	Weekly half-hour variety series
December 6, 1943	The Screen Guild Theater	Jim Emerson	"Only Yesterday"
March 23, 1944	Suspense		"Sneak Preview"
May 8, 1944	Lux Radio Theatre	Roger Adams	"Penny Serenade"
June 5, 1944	Cavalcade of America		"Treason"
September 14, 1944	Suspense		"You'll Never See Me Again"
November 6, 1944	Democratic National Committee Program		Election-eve political broadcast
November 13, 1944	The Screen Guild Theater	Johnny Case	"Holiday"
November 26, 1944	The Harold Lloyd Comedy Theatre		"Clarence"
February 1, 1945	Suspense		"The Most Dangerous Game"
February 6, 1945	A Date with Judy	Guest	"The Strange Case of Joseph Cotten"
April 30, 1945	The Screen Guild Theater	Alessandro	"Ramona"
June 4, 1945	Lux Radio Theatre	Holger Brandt	"Intermezzo"
June 15, 1945	Weapon for Tomorrow		"Freedom of Information"
September 18, 1945	Theater of Romance	Nathan Hale	"One Life to Lose"
September 20, 1945	The Birdseye Open House	Guest
September 27, 1945	Suspense		"The Earth Is Made of Glass"
October 11, 1945	Suspense		"Beyond Good and Evil"
November 26, 1945	The Screen Guild Theater	Richard Kurt	"Biography of a Bachelor Girl"
December 24, 1945	Lux Radio Theatre	Zachary Morgan	"I'll Be Seeing You"
January 17, 1946	Suspense		"The Pasteboard Box"
February 10, 1946	The Radio Reader's Digest		"Ultimate Security"
April 22, 1946	Lux Radio Theatre	Alan Quinton	"Love Letters"
May 2, 1946	Suspense		"Crime Without Passion"
July 24, 1946	Academy Award Theatre		"Foreign Correspondent"
September 11, 1946	Academy Award Theatre		"Shadow of a Doubt"
September 24, 1946	The Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players	Lou Gehrig	"The Pride of the Yankees"
October 1, 1946	The Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players	Max de Winter	"Rebecca"
November 4, 1946	Lux Radio Theatre		"I've Always Loved You"
December 5, 1946	The Radio Reader's Digest		"The Hard-Boiled Reporter and the Miracle"
December 16, 1946	The Screen Guild Theater	Michael	"This Love of Ours"
December 19, 1946	Suspense		"The Thing in the Window"
December 25, 1946	The Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players		"All Through the House"
January 27, 1947	The Screen Guild Theater		"Swell Guy"
March 5, 1947	The Eagle's Brood		Documentary on juvenile delinquency
May 15, 1947	The Radio Reader's Digest		"Halfway to Reno"
May 19, 1947	Cavalcade of America		"Witness by Moonlight"
September 15, 1947	Lux Radio Theatre	Nicholas	"The Seventh Veil"
October 26, 1947	Hollywood Fights Back
January 5, 1948	Lux Radio Theatre	Glenn Morley	"The Farmer's Daughter"
January 26, 1948	Lux Radio Theatre	Devlin	"Notorious"
February 12, 1948	The Radio Reader's Digest		"The Baron of Arizona"
March 8, 1948	Lux Radio Theatre	John Ballantyne	"Spellbound"
April 11, 1948	The Eternal Light		"The Man Who Remembered Lincoln"
June 21, 1948	The Screen Guild Theater	Uncle Charlie	"Shadow of a Doubt"
May 9, 1949	Lux Radio Theatre	Anthony Keane	"The Paradine Case"
May 15, 1949	The Prudential Family Hour of Stars		"Breakdown"
June 30, 1949	Suspense		"The Day I Died"
October 24, 1946	Screen Directors Playhouse	Alan Quinton	"Love Letters"
October 31, 1949	Lux Radio Theatre	Eben Adams	"Portrait of Jennie"
March 10, 1950	Screen Directors Playhouse	Eben Adams	"Portrait of Jennie"
March 15, 1950	Family Theater		"Germelshausen"
March 30, 1950	Suspense		"Blood Sacrifice"
June 11, 1950	Guest Star		"Portrait of a Small Gentleman"
September 28, 1950	Suspense		"Fly by Night"
October 9, 1950	Hollywood Star Playhouse		"Of Night and the River"
November 30, 1950	Screen Directors Playhouse		"Mrs. Mike"
January 2, 1951	Cavalcade of America		"An American from France"
January 7, 1951	Theatre Guild on the Air	Holly Martins	"The Third Man"
January 25, 1951	Screen Directors Playhouse		"Spellbound"
February 15, 1951	Hallmark Playhouse		"A Man for All Ages"
April 9, 1951	Lux Radio Theatre	Holly Martins	"The Third Man"
September 30, 1951	Theatre Guild on the Air		"Main Street"
October 2, 1951	Philip Morris Playhouse on Broadway		"Angel Street"
October 18, 1951	Hallmark Playhouse		"Cashel Byron's Profession"
November 5, 1951	Suspense		"The Trials of Thomas Shaw"
January 24, 1952	Stars in the Air		"Enchantment"
January 28, 1952	Suspense		"Carnival"
January 31, 1952	Hallmark Playhouse		"Westward Ho"
March 6, 1952	Hallmark Playhouse		"Man Without a Home"
March 10, 1952	Suspense		"A Watery Grave"
March 16, 1952	Philip Morris Playhouse on Broadway		"In a Lonely Place"
March 27, 1952	The Screen Guild Theater		"Night Must Fall"
September 7, 1952	Hollywood Star Playhouse		"The Tenth Planet"
September 14, 1952	Theatre Guild On the Air		"The Wisteria Tree"
October 12, 1952	Hallmark Playhouse		"Young Mr. Disraeli"
December 22, 1952	Suspense		"Arctic Rescue"
December 28, 1952	Hallmark Playhouse		"A Man Called Peter"
January 11, 1953	Theatre Guild On the Air		"Jane"
January 14, 1953	Philip Morris Playhouse on Broadway		"Hold Back the Dawn"
January 18, 1953	Theatre Guild on the Air		"Trial by Forgery"
January 26, 1953	Lux Radio Theatre	David Lawrence	"September Affair"
March 1, 1953	The Bakers' Theater of Stars		"The Mango Tree"
March 30, 1953	Suspense		"Tom Dooley"
June 16, 1953	The Martin and Lewis Show	Guest
July 6, 1953	Lux Radio Theatre	Jim Warlock	"Cynara"
August 3, 1953	Lux Radio Theatre		"Romance to a Degree"
August 26, 1953	Philip Morris Playhouse on Broadway		"Love Letters"
September 14, 1953	Lux Radio Theatre	Jim Osborne	"The Steel Trap"
October 14, 1953	Radio Playhouse	Narrator	"Routine Assignment"
October 24, 1953	The Grand Alliance		United Nations Day broadcast
May 15, 1954	Salute to Eugene O'Neill	Narrator	All-star benefit for cerebral palsy
December 15, 1957	Suspense		"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
August 2, 1959	Suspense		"Red Cloud Mesa"

Film and television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1938	Too Much Johnson	Augustus Billings	Short
1940	Citizen Kane trailer	Himself, Jedediah "Jed" Leland	Short
1941	Citizen Kane	Jed Leland
1941	Lydia	Michael Fitzpatrick
1942	Magnificent Ambersons, TheThe Magnificent Ambersons	Eugene Morgan
1943	Shadow of a Doubt	Charles Oakley
1943	Journey into Fear	Howard Graham	Screenplay (with uncredited Orson Welles)
1943	Hers to Hold	Bill Morley
1944	Gaslight	Brian Cameron
1944	Since You Went Away	Lieutenant Tony Willett
1945	I'll Be Seeing You	Zachary Morgan
1945	Love Letters	Alan Quinton
1946	Duel in the Sun	Jesse McCanles
1947	Farmer's Daughter, TheThe Farmer's Daughter	Glenn Morley
1948	Portrait of Jennie	Eben Adams	Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor
1949	Third Man, TheThe Third Man	Holly Martins
1949	Under Capricorn	Sam Flusky
1949	Beyond the Forest	Dr. Lewis Moline
1950	Two Flags West	Col. Clay Tucker
1950	Walk Softly, Stranger	Chris Hale	Shot in 1948
1950	September Affair	David Lawrence
1951	Half Angel	John Raymond, Jr.
1951	Peking Express	Michael Bachlin
1951	Man with a Cloak, TheThe Man with a Cloak	Dupin
1952	Othello	Venetian senator (uncredited)
1952	Wild Heart, TheThe Wild Heart	Narrator
1952	Untamed Frontier	Kirk Denbow
1952	Steel Trap, TheThe Steel Trap	James Osborne
1953	Egypt by Three	Narrator
1953	Niagara	George Loomis
1953	Blueprint for Murder, AA Blueprint for Murder	Whitney Cameron
1954	Light's Diamond Jubilee (TV)	Himself	Broadcast on all four U.S. TV networks
1954	Producers' Showcase (TV)	Grant Matthews	"State of the Union"
1954	General Electric Theater (TV)	Hanley	"The High Green Wall"
1955	Special Delivery	John Adams
1955	Best of Broadway, TheThe Best of Broadway (TV)	Dan McCorn	"Broadway"
1955	Celebrity Playhouse (TV)	Marshal Fenton Lockhart	"Showdown at San Pablo"
1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV)	William Callew	"Breakdown"
1955-1956	Star Stage (TV)	Narrator Alexander Holmes	"The Man in the Black Robe" "The U.S. vs. Alexander Holmes"
1956	Bottom of the Bottle, TheThe Bottom of the Bottle	P.M. Martin
1956	Ford Television Theatre, TheThe Ford Television Theatre (TV)	John Ashburn	"Man Without a Fear"
1956	Killer Is Loose, TheThe Killer Is Loose	Sam Wagner
1956	General Electric Theater (TV)	Captain Private Harris	"H.M.S. Marlborough Will Enter Port" "The Enemies"
1956-1959	Joseph Cotten Show, TheThe Joseph Cotten Show (TV)	Various roles
1957	Halliday Brand, TheThe Halliday Brand	Daniel Halliday
1957	Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theater (TV)	Bruce Malone	"Contact"
1957	Telephone Time (TV)	Lt. Cmdr. Joseph P. Fyffe	"The Man the Navy Couldn't Sink"
1957	Playhouse 90 (TV)	Robert Rainey	"The Edge of Innocence"
1957	Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, TheThe Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (TV)
1957	Schlitz Playhouse (TV)		"Neighbors"
1958	Zane Grey Theatre (TV)	Ben Harper	"Man Unforgiving"
1958	Suspicion (TV)	Gregg Carey	"The Eye of Truth"
1958	Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV)	Tony Gould	"Together"
1958	Touch of Evil	Coroner
1958	From the Earth to the Moon	Victor Barbicane
1959	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (TV)	Black McSween	"The Day the Town Stood Up"
1959	Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV)	Courtney Masterson	"Dead Weight"
1960	Angel Wore Red, TheThe Angel Wore Red	Hawthorne
1960	DuPont Show with June Allyson, TheThe DuPont Show with June Allyson (TV)	Dick Burlingame Charles Lawrence	"The Blue Goose" "Dark Fear"
1960	Checkmate (TV)	Dr. George Mallinson	"Face in the Window"
1961	Barbara Stanwyck Show, TheThe Barbara Stanwyck Show (TV)	Mac McClay	"The Hitch-Hiker"
1961	Last Sunset, TheThe Last Sunset	John Breckenridge
1961	Bus Stop (TV)	Professor Wheelright	"Cherie"
1961	Theatre '62 (TV)	Alex Sebastian	"Notorious"
1961	Wagon Train (TV)	Captain Dan Brady	"The Captain Dan Brady Story"
1962	Dr. Kildare (TV)	Charles Ladovan	"The Administrator"
1962	Saints and Sinners (TV)	Preston Cooper	"The Man on the Rim"
1961	Wagon Train (TV)	John Augustus	"The John Augustus Story"
1963	Great Adventure, TheThe Great Adventure (TV)	Captain Meehan	"The Death of Sitting Bull" "The Massacre at Wounded Knee"
1963	77 Sunset Strip (TV)	Arnold Buhler	"By His Own Verdict"
1963-1964	Hollywood and the Stars (TV)	Narrator
1964	Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte	Dr. Drew Bayliss
1965	Great Sioux Massacre, TheThe Great Sioux Massacre	Major Reno
1965	Money Trap, TheThe Money Trap	Dr. Horace Van Tilden
1965	Tramplers, TheThe Tramplers	Temple Cordeen
1966	Oscar, TheThe Oscar	Kenneth H. Regan
1966	Hellbenders, TheThe Hellbenders	Jonas
1967	Brighty of the Grand Canyon	Jim Owen
1967	Cimarron Strip (TV)	Nathan Tio	"The Search"
1967	Jack of Diamonds	Ace of Diamonds
1967	Some May Live	Col. Woodward
1968	Alexander the Great (TV)	Antigonus
1968	Days of Fire	Destil
1968	Petulia	Mr. Danner
1968	Ironside (TV)	Dr. Benjamin Stern	"Split Second to an Epitaph"
1968	Journey to the Unknown (TV)	Jeff Wheeler	"Do Me a Favor and Kill Me"
1968	White Comanche	Sheriff Logan
1968	It Takes a Thief (TV)	Col. Heinrich	"Hans Across the Border"
1969	Latitude Zero	Capt. Craig McKenzie
1969	Lonely Profession, TheThe Lonely Profession (TV)	Martin Bannister
1969-1970	It Takes a Thief (TV)	Mr. Jack	"To Lure a Man" "To Sing a Song of Murder" "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt"
1970	Cutter's Trail (TV)	General Spalding
1970	Name of the Game, TheThe Name of the Game (TV)	Henry Worthington Rayner	"The King of Denmark"
1970	Grasshopper, TheThe Grasshopper	Richard Morgan
1970	Tora! Tora! Tora!	Henry L. Stimson
1970	Virginian, TheThe Virginian (TV)	Judge Will McMasters Judge Hobbs	"A Time of Terror" "Gun Quest"
1971	Assault on the Wayne (TV)	Admiral
1971	Do You Take This Stranger? (TV)	Dr. Robert Carson
1971	City Beneath the Sea (TV)	Dr. Ziegler
1971	NET Playhouse (TV)	Narrator	"Trail of Tears"
1971	Abominable Dr. Phibes, TheThe Abominable Dr. Phibes	Dr. Vesalius
1971	Lady Frankenstein	Dr. Frankenstein
1972	Screaming Woman, TheThe Screaming Woman (TV)	George Tresvant
1972	Doomsday Voyage	Captain Jason
1972	Baron Blood	Baron Otto von Kleist / Alfred Becker
1972	Scientific Cardplayer, TheThe Scientific Cardplayer	George
1973	Devil's Daughter, TheThe Devil's Daughter (TV)	Judge Weatherby
1973	Streets of San Francisco, TheThe Streets of San Francisco (TV)	John R. James	"A Collection of Eagles"
1973	Soylent Green	William R. Simonson
1973	Delicate Balance, AA Delicate Balance	Harry
1973	F for Fake	Special Participant
1974	Rockford Files, TheThe Rockford Files (TV)	Warner Jameson	"This Case is Closed"
1975	Syndicate Sadists	Paternò
1975	Timber Tramps	Greedy sawmill mogul
1976	Freedom Is (TV)	Voice
1976	Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, TheThe Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (TV)	Dr. Condon
1976	Whisper in the Dark, AA Whisper in the Dark	The Professor
1976	Origins of the Mafia (TV)	The Envoy	"Gli antenati"
1977	Twilight's Last Gleaming	Secretary of State Arthur Renfrew
1977	Airport '77	Nicholas St. Downs III
1977	Aspen (TV)	Horton Paine
1978	Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, TheThe Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (TV)	Weldon Rathbone	"Arson and Old Lace"
1978	Last In, First Out	Foster Johnson
1978	Caravans	Ambassador
1978	Perfect Crime, TheThe Perfect Crime	Sir Arthur Dundee
1978	Fantasy Island (TV)	Simon Grant	"Return to Fantasy Island"
1979	Island of the Fishmen	Prof. Ernest Marvin
1979	Concorde Affair, TheThe Concorde Affair	Milland
1979	Guyana: Crime of the Century	Richard Gable
1979	Fantasy Island (TV)	Thomas Cummings	"The Wedding"
1979-1980	Tales of the Unexpected (TV)	Edward Lionel	"Edward the Conqueror" "Depart in Peace"
1980	Hearse, TheThe Hearse	Walter Pritchard
1980	Casino (TV)	Ed Booker
1980	Heaven's Gate	The Reverend Doctor
1980	Delusion	Ivar Langrock
1981	Churchill and the Generals (TV)	General George Marshall
1981	Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat (TV)	Col. van Ryker	"The Duel" Two for Julie" "Aunt Hilly"
1981	Survivor, TheThe Survivor	Priest

[ Source: Wikipedia ]