Much of the country right now is infused with passion for justice and social change after the on-screen killing of African-American citizen George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer. Among the many heightened thoughts this outrage put into my mind, I – being cinema and TV oriented – flashed on the depiction of police in films of the 30s, 40s and 50s. If you are a fan of film noir, you’re probably aware that the cops used to slap suspects around routinely if they wanted to, even just some person-of-interest whose home they were visiting for questioning. I’m sure the depiction was true-to-life. Before Miranda Rights, law enforcement was essentially unbridled. Police brutality, against any powerless common citizen suspected of anything, seems to have been taken for granted (though officials did make some effort to avoid censure – the stereotypical use of the “rubber hose,” for example, to beat information and “confessions” out of people in custody without leaving tell-tale scars). And as for people of color…fuggedaboutit! The black poulation barely existed cinematically before the 1960s; ever seen black extras in random crowd scenes in films made in the first half of the twentieth century?

Pictured above is an unfortunate John Payne in Kansas City Confidential (1952), suspected of robbery and being roughed up by an uncredited actor. Could be Brick Sullivan, Tom Greenway, Jack Shea, George Dockstader, or Tom Dillon, all of whom were active bit players in film and TV (or even Don House, whose career was pretty much limited to movies). Maybe I’ll take the time to do deeper research to find out who it is.

Maybe I will do that – after we have all taken some time to contribute whatever we each can to free ourselves from the pollution of racism, and the facilitation of racism, that still has a choke-hold on our society. ~FW

The nation is in a somewhat limbo-like state, morphing into what we hope will be a more relaxed phase of the COVID-19 crisis/lockdown/quarantine/ordeal/adventure. In my attempt to be clever, I’m considering the preparations for the relaunch of Supporting TV Cast to be part of my COV-ego. The pun is a little forced but…you get it.

For now, I am referring to the actor pictured here as the Mystery Lady. I’ve drawn a mask on her, not as part of her mystery but as the first and, perhaps only, time-capsule image on this site of our world’s current moment. If things go as planned (God is probably laughing right now) she will be the next profile in STVC’s collection. Stay healthy and stay tuned…  ~FW

I posted  on Twitter today. None of the actors pictured in the tweet have been profiled here at STVC but their careers fit, or more or less fit, the STVC mold. The dude on the left fits perfectly; the woman in the middle is more beautiful than typical for a character actor but she’s done her share of supporting roles on TV; the actor on the right is a bit of a squeeze but his body of work is building. What makes them a nice group is their names – all gender-unspecific and therefore good for a guessing game.

The answer to the Twitter Mini Quiz is: (left) Chris Owen (middle) Dee Hartford (right) Parker Sawyers.

Remember Chris from the State Farm commercial where he pulls up next to a guy in a car and tries to tempt him to drag race with an aggressive, “Wanna go, Bro?” This actor with a youthful face has worked in films and had guest roles in television all the way back to the Picket Fences TV series of the 90s. Dee is probably most memorable as an unfulfilled, and disagreeable, wife and mother in the Bewitchin’ Pool episode on the originalTwilight Zone. Parker had a recurring role on the obscure TV series Deep State and was a regular on the short-lived thriller series Cheat. (He has the romantic male lead in the 2016 motion picture Southside With You, portraying Barak Obama.)

Gotta love ‘em.  ~FW

I don’t usually do memorial notices but…William Schallert! WILLIAM SCHALLERT (that is an anguished shout). I hate it when the world has to go on without someone so rich in spirit and artistic contributions as William Schallert (1922 – 2016). But we must.~FW

This past weekend, I attended the first day of the third annual Robercon – the heartwarming science fiction convention at the Roberson Museum in Binghamton, NY. “Let Your Geek Flag Fly” is their motto, and people do. And that’s heartwarming.

I sat in the audience of a panel discussion of “The Masks” episode of The Twilight Zone. The moderator screened the segment but turned the show off just before the closing credits – always, for me, one of the best parts of any production! The discussion was of Rod Serling and his writing but the panel did reveal a couple of wonderful facts about the cast that I didn’t know (or had forgotten): The lead actor, Robert Keith, is actor Brian Keith’s father; the hypochondriac daughter, actress Virginia Gregg, was the voice of Norman Bates’ mother.

Had they run the closing credits I would have pointed out for discussion that Bill Walker – who had a substantial role in the small cast as the butler and whose body of work is enormous – wasn’t even credited. Nor was Maidie Norman whose role in the tight cast was much smaller but whose body of work is large and widely encompassing. They are two of the most familiar faces in vintage TV and filmdom – and no credit this time. This is probably due to two factors.

Factor 1: The closing credits of TV shows used to give much more screen time to the names than is given in current times when each name may receive less than a full second of exposure! But they credited far fewer production members.

Factor 2: Maybe a little racism? Maybe just a little?
Highly principled Rod Serling would have hated factor two. I wonder if he, as executive producer of the show, knew? But, guess what – Virginia Gregg was also uncredited in Psycho as the voice of Mrs. Bates. I think it was jazzman Fats Waller who said, “See how they do you?”.~FW

I was never particularly a James Dean fan until I researched him for an article in 2012 and read the note he wrote as he left for the trip on which, as it turned out, he died. It was instructions for feeding his cat. For the first time, I really saw his tender beauty; my heart broke and my tears flowed 57 years after his death.

Clearly a mega-star, James Dean may not seem to fit here. But beyond his three break-out movies, you probably know that he did a lot of television in the early days and appeared with some of the most prolific of supporting players. I invite you to read about the annual September celebration of James Dean in his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana in a post I made to HubPages. The details are from the 2012 festival but the event has a basic annual structure and there are links to the 2015 updates. (There’s still time to plan a late September road trip to Fairmount!)

And there’s always time to catch Dean’s television performances amongst some of TV’s most familiar faces such as the omnipresent William Schallert; serious brunette Catherine McLeod; the stoic, weathered Vaughn Taylor; mousy, demure Virginia Vincent, and many more on the 2009 2-disc collection James Dean: The Fast Lane. Rentable from Netflix. ~FW