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| image = William Gargan circa 1950s.JPG
| image = William Gargan circa 1950s.JPG
| caption = Gargan in c. 1950s
| caption = Gargan in c. 1950s
| birth_name = William Dennis Gargan<ref>{{Cite news|title=William Gargan dies at 73; actor and cancer crusader|author=Associated Press|date=February 19, 1979|work=Chicago Tribune|pages=13|quote=William Dennis Gargan, a tough guy actor for 36 years who achieved equal fame as a cancer crusader after he lost his voice to the disease, is dead at 73.|id={{ProQuest|171855723}}}}</ref>
| birth_name = William Dennis Gargan
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|07|17|mf=y}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|07|17|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Brooklyn]], New York, U.S.
| birth_place = [[Brooklyn]], New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|02|17|1905|07|17|mf=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|02|16|1905|07|17|mf=y}}
| death_place =
| death_place =
| resting_place = [[Holy Cross Cemetery (San Diego)|Holy Cross Cemetery]], San Diego, [[California]]
| resting_place =
| occupation = Actor
| occupation = Actor
| years_active = 1925–1958
| years_active = 1925–1958
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}}
}}


'''William Dennis Gargan''' (July 17, 1905{{spaced ndash}}February 17, 1979{{Citation needed |date=March 2023}} ) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the [[Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award]] in 1967,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sagawards.org/nominees/life-achievement-award-recipient/5th|title=5th &#124; Screen Actors Guild Awards|website=www.sagawards.org}}</ref> and in 1941, was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for his role as Joe in ''[[They Knew What They Wanted (film)|They Knew What They Wanted]]''. He acted in decades of movies including parts in ''Follow the Leader'', ''Rain'', ''Night Flight'', ''Three Sons'', ''Isle of Destiny'' and many others. The role he was best known for was that of a private detective Martin Kane in the 1949–1952 radio-television series ''[[Martin Kane, Private Eye]].'' In television, he was also in 39 episodes of ''[[The New Adventures of Martin Kane]]''.
'''William Dennis Gargan''' (July 17, 1905{{spaced ndash}}February 16, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the [[Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award]] in 1967,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sagawards.org/nominees/life-achievement-award-recipient/5th|title=5th &#124; Screen Actors Guild Awards|website=www.sagawards.org}}</ref> and in 1941, was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for his role as Joe in ''[[They Knew What They Wanted (film)|They Knew What They Wanted]]''. He acted in decades of movies including parts in ''Follow the Leader'', ''Rain'', ''Night Flight'', ''Three Sons'', ''Isle of Destiny'' and many others. The role he was best known for was that of a private detective Martin Kane in the 1949–1952 radio-television series ''[[Martin Kane, Private Eye]].'' In television, he was also in 39 episodes of ''[[The New Adventures of Martin Kane]]''.


==Early years==
==Early years==
Gargan was born on July 17, 1905, in [[Brooklyn|Brooklyn, New York]].<ref name="obit"/> His parents— Bill and Irene—had seven children, but only Gargan and his brother Ed survived infancy.<ref name=":1" />
Gargan was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a detective, and his mother was a teacher. He graduated from St. James School in Brooklyn.<ref name=at>{{cite news|title=Radio-Television|newspaper=Altoona Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2759827/altoona_tribune/|agency=Altoona Tribune|date=March 25, 1952|page=13|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 6, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>


His father was a book maker, sometime saloon owner, and gambler. His mother had been a teacher. He graduated from St. Francis Xavier grade school and went to St. James High School in Brooklyn.<ref name=":1" />
On leaving school, Gargan became a salesman of [[rum-running|bootleg]] whiskey to New York [[speakeasies]] and then joined a detective agency.

Gargan got his first silent movie job at age seven for [[Vitagraph Studios]]. He was paid three dollars and eighty-five cents, which is roughly one-hundred twenty dollars in 2023.<ref name=":1" />

Both Gargan and Ed were big kids. By ten, Gargan was hanging out at his father’s bar in the [[Sunset Park, Brooklyn|Sunset Park]], Brooklyn. Gargan later said that his mother was more straight-laced, a bit of a prude on the surface, but in reality, she ran with dad all her life and his.” Both parents had good senses of humor.<ref name=":1" />

Gargan grew up going to [[Sea Gate, Brooklyn|Sea Gate]] in the summer and fighting on the side of the Irish kids from [[Bay Ridge, Brooklyn|Bay Ridge]] against the Italian kids in empty lots. He played baseball and basketball for St. Francis Xavier grade school and St. James High. He shot pool and ditched school in the spring to scale the [[Ebbets Field]] fences to watch the [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodgers]] and their stars of the 1910s — [[Zack Wheat]] and Ivan Olson.<ref name=":1" />

When he was fourteen and working as an ice brusher at the [[Prospect Park (Brooklyn)|Prospect Park]] skating rink, Gargan met a girl named Mary Elizabeth Kenny. He was so taken by her that he used his broom to knock her down! Gargan recalled that “She climbed right back up, her eyes spitting fire and her mouth not doing badly either. I knew I was in love.”<ref name=":1" />

Kenny lived in Manhattan but spent weekends in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. They hung out in [[Coney Island]] at [[Charles Feltman|Feltman’s]], at [[Lundy's Restaurant|Lundy’s]] in Sheepshead Bay, or the [[Loews Cineplex Entertainment|Loew]]’s Metropolitan and the Keith’s Prospect. They were later married in 1928.<ref name=":1" />

Although Gargan never cared much for school, he loved the theater. By high school he was playing in school productions of ''[[Hamlet]]'', ''[[Macbeth]]'', and ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. However, a teacher who’d been out to get Gargan for his comedic behavior made life so miserable during Gargan's senior year that he dropped out.<ref name=":1" />

Gargan became a message runner for a [[Broad Street (Manhattan)|Broad Street]] brokerage firm, then an investigator for a clothing store, then a private detective with a [[Wall Street]] agency until he was fired for losing a tail. He sold [[Wesson cooking oil|Wesson Oil]] to grocers in Brooklyn, making great commissions, sneaking away to watch vaudeville shows until he was fired after finding himself sitting next to his boss when the lights came on.<ref name=":1" />


==Stage==
==Stage==
Bill's brother Edward was an actor.<ref name="obit"/> While having lunch with Ed one day at the [[The Lambs|Lamb’s Club]] a man named Le Roy Clemens mentioned to Bill that a play he’d written was having tryouts. Bill read a line and was hired, beginning his career in ''Aloma of the South Seas''. They opened in [[Baltimore]] in 1924. Gargan was a quick study, learning everyone's parts as well as the stage manager's. Within a year he was directing the [[Philadelphia]] production of the play. ''Aloma of the South Seas'' ran for forty weeks.
While visiting his brother on a musical comedy stage, he was offered a stage job which he accepted. He began his stage career in ''Aloma of the South Seas''.<ref name=at/> He also appeared on stage in ''Animal Kingdom''.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=William Gargan Assumes Role of Captain Flagg |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91988048/william-gargan/ |access-date=January 6, 2022 |work=The Times |date=February 27, 1942 |location=Louisiana, Shreveport |page=10|via = [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>


==Film==
==Film==
Gargan's first film was ''Rain''.<ref name=at/> Later, he played in ''[[Misleading Lady]]'' and had character roles in many Hollywood productions, including starring in three films as detective [[Ellery Queen]].
Gargan's first film was ''Rain''.<ref name="obit"/> Later, he played in ''[[Misleading Lady]]'' and had character roles in many Hollywood productions, including starring in three films as detective [[Ellery Queen]].


He was cast in a number of stereotypical Irish parts in films playing policemen, priests, reporters, and blustering adventurers. In 1945, he played Joe Gallagher in ''[[The Bells of St. Mary's]]'', starring [[Bing Crosby]] and [[Ingrid Bergman]].
He was cast in a number of stereotypical Irish parts in films playing policemen, priests, reporters, and blustering adventurers. In 1945, he played Joe Gallagher in ''[[The Bells of St. Mary's]]'', starring [[Bing Crosby]] and [[Ingrid Bergman]].


[[File:William Gargan in Black Fury trailer.jpg|thumb|right|[[Film frame|Frame]] from [[Trailer (promotion)|trailer]] for ''[[Black Fury (film)|Black Fury]]'' (1935)]]
[[File:William Gargan in Black Fury trailer.jpg|thumb|right|[[Film frame|Frame]] from [[Trailer (promotion)|trailer]] for ''[[Black Fury (film)|Black Fury]]'' (1935)]]
In 1935, Gargan went to England and made several films.<ref name=at/>
In 1935, Gargan went to England and made several films.


In 1940, Gargan was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for his role as Joe, the foreman, in ''[[They Knew What They Wanted (film)|They Knew What They Wanted]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=William Gargan|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1436185808551|website=oscars.org|access-date=7 July 2015}}</ref>
In 1940, Gargan was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] for his role as Joe, the foreman, in ''[[They Knew What They Wanted (film)|They Knew What They Wanted]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=William Gargan|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1436185808551|website=oscars.org|access-date=7 July 2015}}</ref>
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==Radio and television==
==Radio and television==
[[File:Wgargan.jpg|right|thumb|Publicity photo of Gargan for the radio series ''[[Martin Kane, Private Eye]]'', 1949–1952]]
[[File:Wgargan.jpg|right|thumb|Publicity photo of Gargan for the radio series ''[[Martin Kane, Private Eye]]'', 1949–1952]]
Gargan's first regular radio role was Captain Flagg on ''[[Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt]]'', beginning in February 1942.<ref name=":0" /> He portrayed private detective Martin Kane in the 1949–1952 radio-television series ''[[Martin Kane, Private Eye]]'',{{r|rp|page1=219}} sponsored by U.S. Tobacco. He also appeared in the title role as a private detective in the NBC radio show ''[[Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator]]'', which ran from 1951 to 1955.<ref name="rp">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows|date=1999|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0786445134|pages=33–34}}</ref> He also portrayed Ross Dolan in ''[[I Deal in Crime]]'',{{r|rp|page1=159}} and Inspector Burke in ''Murder Will Out'',{{r|rp|page1=214–242}} and was host of ''G. I. Laffs''<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book|last1=Dunning|first1=John|title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0195076783|page=282|edition=Revised}}</ref>
Gargan's first regular radio role was Captain Flagg on ''[[Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt]]'', beginning in February 1942.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=February 27, 1942 |title=William Gargan Assumes Role of Captain Flagg |page=10 |work=The Times |location=Louisiana, Shreveport |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91988048/william-gargan/ |access-date=January 6, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He also portrayed Ross Dolan in ''[[I Deal in Crime]]'',{{r|rp|page1=159}} and Inspector Burke in ''Murder Will Out'',{{r|rp|page1=214–242}} and was host of ''G. I. Laffs''<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |last1=Dunning |first1=John |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195076783 |edition=Revised |location=New York |page=282}}</ref>


In 1949 Gargan was in New York City when he phoned acquaintance [[Franklin Folsom|Frank Folsom]] of RCA. Folsom invited Gargan for lunch. He went to the fifty-third floor of 30 Rockefeller Center. Inside were executives from [[BBDO|BBD&O]], The [[New York Stock Exchange]], and others. During lunch Gargan mentioned that he was looking for a job in TV.<ref name=":1" />
On television, Gargan starred in 39 episodes of ''Martin Kane, Private Eye'', which ran on NBC from 1949 to 1954 and was syndicated in 1957–1958<ref name="etvs">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0786464777|pages=659–660|edition=2nd}}</ref> and on ''The New Adventures of Martin Kane'', which ran on NBC in 1953–54.{{r|etvs|page1=751}}

Folsom phoned Norm Blackburn, VP of TV and Radio at NBC and a good friend of Gargan’s. Gargan was asked if he’d be interested in playing a pipe-smoking detective, sponsored by the [[U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company|U.S. Tobacco Company]]. The show became ''[[Martin Kane, Private Eye]].'' It would be shot for TV and separately done for radio as well. [[Mutual Broadcasting System|Mutual Broadcasting]] carried the radio series. It debuted on Sunday August 7, 1949 at 4:30PM eastern time. Meanwhile, the TV version aired on NBC Thursdays at 10PM.<ref name=":1" />

It was live, and the first detective series on network TV with an enormous following. Gargan realized early on that there was only so much you could do with a plot in a half-hour, so he made the series a showcase for himself. He developed a tongue-in-cheek style. ''Kane'''s 37.8 TV rating for the 1950-51 season was [[1951 in television|twelfth overall]].<ref name=":1" />

Gargan later said in his autobiography, "This was TV's early era, but a few people tried to make the casual intimacy of TV a sexual intimacy. The sight of pretty women, a touch of deep cleavage, a show of thigh became—to these producers—more important than the content of the show. The result was we often had pretty, empty headed girls blowing their lines all over the lot. In Desperation, I began to mug for the camera more and the script writers began to write more blatantly. You get into a terrible rut this way. Everybody works harder to undo the damage, and the result is more screeching, overacting, and overwriting. It drives the viewers away, and to get them back you come up with more and more desperate gimmickry. What was worse, to me, was the embarrassment. I’m no prude. Probably the best part I ever did on film was that of Joe in ''The Knew What They Wanted'', a wife-stealer. But this was just sleazy."<ref name=":1" />

The next season the show’s rating fell out of the top thirty. By then, Gargan was friends with New York’s Cardinal Spellman. A friend of Gargan’s mentioned that the Cardinal watched the show. Gargan went to the studio execs and told them to write better scripts or get another star. They got another star — Lloyd Nolan. After eighty-five weeks, Bill Gargan was no longer Martin Kane. Shortly after, Gargan signed a deal with Sonny Werblin, then of MCA, to do a new private eye show for NBC. The show would eventually be called ''[[Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator]]'', which ran from 1951 to 1955.<ref name="rp">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows|date=1999|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0786445134|pages=33–34}}</ref> On television, Gargan starred in 39 episodes of ''Martin Kane, Private Eye'', which ran on NBC from 1949 to 1954<ref name="etvs">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0786464777|pages=659–660|edition=2nd}}</ref> and on the syndicated ''New Adventures of Martin Kane'', which ran on NBC in 1957–58.{{r|etvs|page1=751}}


==Later years==
==Later years==
In 1960 Randy Hale was set to cast Gargan on stage again in ''[[The Best Man (play)|The Best Man]]''. He was to play a dying ex-president, but a bout with laryngitis forced Gargan to get some tests on his throat done. It was throat cancer. Doctors were forced to remove his larynx on November 10, 1960. A breathing [[stoma]] was cut into the bottom of his throat so he could breathe. For a time he was depressed, but his friends visited often. [[Bing Crosby]], [[Dennis Day]], [[Phil Harris]], [[Alice Faye]], and many others came by. It helped, and so did his self-professed vanity. Gargan couldn’t bear the thought of not speaking again. He made his first vocal lesson through The [[American Cancer Society]] in January 1961.<ref name=":1" />
Gargan's acting career came to an end in 1958 when he developed throat cancer, and doctors were forced to remove his larynx in 1960.<ref>{{cite news|title=Cancer Society to Hear Actor William Gargan|newspaper=The Bakersfield Californian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2760389/the_bakersfield_californian/|agency=The Bakersfield Californian|date=September 11, 1962|page=36|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 6, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> Speaking through an [[artificial voice|artificial voice box]], Gargan became an activist and spokesman for the [[American Cancer Society]], often warning about the dangers of smoking.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5uzfQjhlUXoC&pg=PA107 | title=The A to Z of Old Time Radio | publisher=Scarecrow Press |author1=Reinehr, Robert C. |author2=Swartz, Jon D. |name-list-style=amp | year=2010 | page=107| isbn=978-1461672074 }}</ref> In 1965, [[Mutual of Omaha]] presented its annual Criss Award to Gargan for "his inspirational self-rehabilitation efforts and his outstanding contributions to established rehabilitation programs."<ref>{{cite news|title=William Gargan, Actor, Will Get 8th Criss Award|newspaper=The Lincoln Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2760220/the_lincoln_star/|agency=The Lincoln Star|date=September 14, 1965|page=3|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 7, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>

In 1963, he met President Kennedy. He had a meeting set with the President for November 23, 1963. It was one that President Kennedy never made it to. By then his brother Ed was ill with diabetes and emphysema, and died in 1964. That year, Gargan was hired by the ACS for their full-time national staff.<ref name=":1" />

Within three years, Gargan mastered esophageal speech to the point that people felt that he had regained virtually all of his speaking ability, and sounded much like he had before his laryngectomy. He refused to use a vocal amplifier and worked tirelessly to be able to speak in both low and high tones.<ref name=":1" />

In 1965, [[Mutual of Omaha]] presented its annual Criss Award to Gargan for "his inspirational self-rehabilitation efforts and his outstanding contributions to established rehabilitation programs."<ref>{{cite news|title=William Gargan, Actor, Will Get 8th Criss Award|newspaper=The Lincoln Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2760220/the_lincoln_star/|agency=The Lincoln Star|date=September 14, 1965|page=3|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 7, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>


No longer able to act, he formed William Gargan Productions, making traditional films and [[television film]]s in Hollywood.<ref name=ahh>{{cite news|last1=Swinford|first1=T. William|title=Suburbs Beat Hollywood – for Family Life|newspaper=Arlington Heights Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2760263/arlington_heights_herald/|agency=Arlington Heights Herald|date=March 12, 1964|page=19|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 6, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>
No longer able to act, he formed William Gargan Productions, making traditional films and [[television film]]s in Hollywood.<ref name=ahh>{{cite news|last1=Swinford|first1=T. William|title=Suburbs Beat Hollywood – for Family Life|newspaper=Arlington Heights Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2760263/arlington_heights_herald/|agency=Arlington Heights Herald|date=March 12, 1964|page=19|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 6, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>


==Family==
==Personal life==
Gargan and his wife, Mary, had two sons, Leslie and Barrie.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gargan's Family Ill|newspaper=The Bakersfield Californian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2760389/the_bakersfield_californian/|agency=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=September 21, 1938|page=36|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 6, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Gargan married his wife Mary in Baltimore on January 19, 1928. They had two sons. Bill (nicknamed Barrie) was born on February 25, 1929. Leslie (named after friend [[Leslie Howard]]) was born on June 28, 1933.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Gargan's Family Ill|newspaper=The Bakersfield Californian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2760389/the_bakersfield_californian/|agency=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=September 21, 1938|page=36|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 6, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>

On February 16, 1979, while on a flight between New York City and San Diego following a tour lecturing for the American Cancer Society, Gargan suffered a heart attack. Upon arrival at San Diego Center City Hospital, he was pronounced dead. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in San Diego, California. Gargan was survived by his wife, two sons and three grandchildren.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-obituary-for-william-dennis/127464376/ |title=Actor William Gargan, 73, dies of heart attack |newspaper=Star Tribune |page=21 |date=February 19, 1979}}</ref>


==Partial filmography==
==Partial filmography==
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* ''[[Rain (1932 film)|Rain]]'' (1932) – Sergeant O'Hara
* ''[[Rain (1932 film)|Rain]]'' (1932) – Sergeant O'Hara
* ''[[The Sport Parade]]'' (1932) – Johnny Baker
* ''[[The Sport Parade]]'' (1932) – Johnny Baker
* ''[[The Animal Kingdom]]'' (1932) – 'Red' Regan
* ''[[The Animal Kingdom (1932 film)|The Animal Kingdom]]'' (1932) – 'Red' Regan
* ''[[Lucky Devils (1933 film)|Lucky Devils]]'' (1933) – Bob Hughes
* ''[[Lucky Devils (1933 film)|Lucky Devils]]'' (1933) – Bob Hughes
* ''[[Sweepings]]'' (1933) – Gene Pardway
* ''[[Sweepings]]'' (1933) – Gene Pardway
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* ''[[Waterfront at Midnight]]'' (1948) – Mike Hanrohan
* ''[[Waterfront at Midnight]]'' (1948) – Mike Hanrohan
* ''[[Dynamite (1949 film)|Dynamite]]'' (1949) – 'Gunner' Peterson
* ''[[Dynamite (1949 film)|Dynamite]]'' (1949) – 'Gunner' Peterson
* ''[[Miracle in the Rain]]'' (1956) – Harry Wood
* ''[[Miracle in the Rain (film)|Miracle in the Rain]]'' (1956) – Harry Wood
* ''[[The Rawhide Years]]'' (1956) – Marshal Sommers
* ''[[The Rawhide Years]]'' (1956) – Marshal Sommers
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}
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! Year !! Program !! Episode/source
! Year !! Program !! Episode/source
|-
|-
| 1943|| ''[[Philip Morris Playhouse]]'' || ''[[Roberta]]''<ref>{{cite news|title=Air Ya Listenin?|newspaper=Globe-Gazette |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2856125/the_mason_city_globegazette/|agency=The Mason City Globe-Gazette|date=May 14, 1943|page=2|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 21, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>
| 1943|| ''[[Philip Morris Playhouse]]'' || ''[[Roberta (musical)|Roberta]]''<ref>{{cite news|title=Air Ya Listenin?|newspaper=Globe-Gazette |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2856125/the_mason_city_globegazette/|agency=The Mason City Globe-Gazette|date=May 14, 1943|page=2|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 21, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>
|}
|}


==Book==
==Book==
Gargan's autobiography ''Why Me?'' was published by Doubleday in 1969.<ref>{{cite book|title=Why me?; an autobiography.|oclc=794|last1=Gargan|first1=William|year=1969}}</ref> A reviewer described the book as "a compelling story of the life, faith and courage of a man who as an actor was a notable success."<ref>{{cite news|last1=McLeod|first1=Edyth Thornton|title=Beauty After Forty|newspaper=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2761826/lubbock_avalanchejournal/|agency=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|date=June 10, 1969|page=25|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 7, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Gargan's autobiography ''Why Me?'' was published by Doubleday in 1969.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|title=Why me?; an autobiography.|oclc=794|last1=Gargan|first1=William|year=1969}}</ref> A reviewer described the book as "a compelling story of the life, faith and courage of a man who as an actor was a notable success."<ref>{{cite news|last1=McLeod|first1=Edyth Thornton|title=Beauty After Forty|newspaper=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2761826/lubbock_avalanchejournal/|agency=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|date=June 10, 1969|page=25|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = July 7, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
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* {{IMDb name|id=0307326}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0307326}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW8iAdyORD8 William Gargan and Carole Landis in ''Behind Green Lights'' from YouTube]
* William Gargan and [[Carole Landis]] in {{Internet Archive film|id=behind_green_lights|name=Behind Green Lights}}
* {{findagrave|8568}}
* {{find a Grave|8568}}


{{ScreenActorsGuildAward LifeAchievement 1960–1979}}
{{ScreenActorsGuildAward LifeAchievement 1960–1979}}
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[[Category:American male stage actors]]
[[Category:American male stage actors]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:People from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Male actors from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Male actors from New York City]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award]]
[[Category:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award]]

Latest revision as of 12:30, 1 November 2024

William Gargan
Gargan in c. 1950s
Born
William Dennis Gargan[1]

(1905-07-17)July 17, 1905
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 16, 1979(1979-02-16) (aged 73)
OccupationActor
Years active1925–1958
Spouse
Mary Kenny
​
(m. 1928)​
Children2

William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905 – February 16, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967,[2] and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Joe in They Knew What They Wanted. He acted in decades of movies including parts in Follow the Leader, Rain, Night Flight, Three Sons, Isle of Destiny and many others. The role he was best known for was that of a private detective Martin Kane in the 1949–1952 radio-television series Martin Kane, Private Eye. In television, he was also in 39 episodes of The New Adventures of Martin Kane.

Early years

[edit]

Gargan was born on July 17, 1905, in Brooklyn, New York.[3] His parents— Bill and Irene—had seven children, but only Gargan and his brother Ed survived infancy.[4]

His father was a book maker, sometime saloon owner, and gambler. His mother had been a teacher. He graduated from St. Francis Xavier grade school and went to St. James High School in Brooklyn.[4]

Gargan got his first silent movie job at age seven for Vitagraph Studios. He was paid three dollars and eighty-five cents, which is roughly one-hundred twenty dollars in 2023.[4]

Both Gargan and Ed were big kids. By ten, Gargan was hanging out at his father’s bar in the Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Gargan later said that his mother was more straight-laced, a bit of a prude on the surface, but in reality, she ran with dad all her life and his.” Both parents had good senses of humor.[4]

Gargan grew up going to Sea Gate in the summer and fighting on the side of the Irish kids from Bay Ridge against the Italian kids in empty lots. He played baseball and basketball for St. Francis Xavier grade school and St. James High. He shot pool and ditched school in the spring to scale the Ebbets Field fences to watch the Dodgers and their stars of the 1910s — Zack Wheat and Ivan Olson.[4]

When he was fourteen and working as an ice brusher at the Prospect Park skating rink, Gargan met a girl named Mary Elizabeth Kenny. He was so taken by her that he used his broom to knock her down! Gargan recalled that “She climbed right back up, her eyes spitting fire and her mouth not doing badly either. I knew I was in love.”[4]

Kenny lived in Manhattan but spent weekends in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. They hung out in Coney Island at Feltman’s, at Lundy’s in Sheepshead Bay, or the Loew’s Metropolitan and the Keith’s Prospect. They were later married in 1928.[4]

Although Gargan never cared much for school, he loved the theater. By high school he was playing in school productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. However, a teacher who’d been out to get Gargan for his comedic behavior made life so miserable during Gargan's senior year that he dropped out.[4]

Gargan became a message runner for a Broad Street brokerage firm, then an investigator for a clothing store, then a private detective with a Wall Street agency until he was fired for losing a tail. He sold Wesson Oil to grocers in Brooklyn, making great commissions, sneaking away to watch vaudeville shows until he was fired after finding himself sitting next to his boss when the lights came on.[4]

Stage

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Bill's brother Edward was an actor.[3] While having lunch with Ed one day at the Lamb’s Club a man named Le Roy Clemens mentioned to Bill that a play he’d written was having tryouts. Bill read a line and was hired, beginning his career in Aloma of the South Seas. They opened in Baltimore in 1924. Gargan was a quick study, learning everyone's parts as well as the stage manager's. Within a year he was directing the Philadelphia production of the play. Aloma of the South Seas ran for forty weeks.

Film

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Gargan's first film was Rain.[3] Later, he played in Misleading Lady and had character roles in many Hollywood productions, including starring in three films as detective Ellery Queen.

He was cast in a number of stereotypical Irish parts in films playing policemen, priests, reporters, and blustering adventurers. In 1945, he played Joe Gallagher in The Bells of St. Mary's, starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman.

Frame from trailer for Black Fury (1935)

In 1935, Gargan went to England and made several films.

In 1940, Gargan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Joe, the foreman, in They Knew What They Wanted.[5]

Radio and television

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Publicity photo of Gargan for the radio series Martin Kane, Private Eye, 1949–1952

Gargan's first regular radio role was Captain Flagg on Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt, beginning in February 1942.[6] He also portrayed Ross Dolan in I Deal in Crime,[7]: 159  and Inspector Burke in Murder Will Out,[7]: 214–242  and was host of G. I. Laffs[8]

In 1949 Gargan was in New York City when he phoned acquaintance Frank Folsom of RCA. Folsom invited Gargan for lunch. He went to the fifty-third floor of 30 Rockefeller Center. Inside were executives from BBD&O, The New York Stock Exchange, and others. During lunch Gargan mentioned that he was looking for a job in TV.[4]

Folsom phoned Norm Blackburn, VP of TV and Radio at NBC and a good friend of Gargan’s. Gargan was asked if he’d be interested in playing a pipe-smoking detective, sponsored by the U.S. Tobacco Company. The show became Martin Kane, Private Eye. It would be shot for TV and separately done for radio as well. Mutual Broadcasting carried the radio series. It debuted on Sunday August 7, 1949 at 4:30PM eastern time. Meanwhile, the TV version aired on NBC Thursdays at 10PM.[4]

It was live, and the first detective series on network TV with an enormous following. Gargan realized early on that there was only so much you could do with a plot in a half-hour, so he made the series a showcase for himself. He developed a tongue-in-cheek style. Kane's 37.8 TV rating for the 1950-51 season was twelfth overall.[4]

Gargan later said in his autobiography, "This was TV's early era, but a few people tried to make the casual intimacy of TV a sexual intimacy. The sight of pretty women, a touch of deep cleavage, a show of thigh became—to these producers—more important than the content of the show. The result was we often had pretty, empty headed girls blowing their lines all over the lot. In Desperation, I began to mug for the camera more and the script writers began to write more blatantly. You get into a terrible rut this way. Everybody works harder to undo the damage, and the result is more screeching, overacting, and overwriting. It drives the viewers away, and to get them back you come up with more and more desperate gimmickry. What was worse, to me, was the embarrassment. I’m no prude. Probably the best part I ever did on film was that of Joe in The Knew What They Wanted, a wife-stealer. But this was just sleazy."[4]

The next season the show’s rating fell out of the top thirty. By then, Gargan was friends with New York’s Cardinal Spellman. A friend of Gargan’s mentioned that the Cardinal watched the show. Gargan went to the studio execs and told them to write better scripts or get another star. They got another star — Lloyd Nolan. After eighty-five weeks, Bill Gargan was no longer Martin Kane. Shortly after, Gargan signed a deal with Sonny Werblin, then of MCA, to do a new private eye show for NBC. The show would eventually be called Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator, which ran from 1951 to 1955.[7] On television, Gargan starred in 39 episodes of Martin Kane, Private Eye, which ran on NBC from 1949 to 1954[9] and on the syndicated New Adventures of Martin Kane, which ran on NBC in 1957–58.[9]: 751 

Later years

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In 1960 Randy Hale was set to cast Gargan on stage again in The Best Man. He was to play a dying ex-president, but a bout with laryngitis forced Gargan to get some tests on his throat done. It was throat cancer. Doctors were forced to remove his larynx on November 10, 1960. A breathing stoma was cut into the bottom of his throat so he could breathe. For a time he was depressed, but his friends visited often. Bing Crosby, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Alice Faye, and many others came by. It helped, and so did his self-professed vanity. Gargan couldn’t bear the thought of not speaking again. He made his first vocal lesson through The American Cancer Society in January 1961.[4]

In 1963, he met President Kennedy. He had a meeting set with the President for November 23, 1963. It was one that President Kennedy never made it to. By then his brother Ed was ill with diabetes and emphysema, and died in 1964. That year, Gargan was hired by the ACS for their full-time national staff.[4]

Within three years, Gargan mastered esophageal speech to the point that people felt that he had regained virtually all of his speaking ability, and sounded much like he had before his laryngectomy. He refused to use a vocal amplifier and worked tirelessly to be able to speak in both low and high tones.[4]

In 1965, Mutual of Omaha presented its annual Criss Award to Gargan for "his inspirational self-rehabilitation efforts and his outstanding contributions to established rehabilitation programs."[10]

No longer able to act, he formed William Gargan Productions, making traditional films and television films in Hollywood.[11]

Personal life

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Gargan married his wife Mary in Baltimore on January 19, 1928. They had two sons. Bill (nicknamed Barrie) was born on February 25, 1929. Leslie (named after friend Leslie Howard) was born on June 28, 1933.[4][12]

On February 16, 1979, while on a flight between New York City and San Diego following a tour lecturing for the American Cancer Society, Gargan suffered a heart attack. Upon arrival at San Diego Center City Hospital, he was pronounced dead. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in San Diego, California. Gargan was survived by his wife, two sons and three grandchildren.[3]

Partial filmography

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Radio appearances

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Year Program Episode/source
1943 Philip Morris Playhouse Roberta[13]

Book

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Gargan's autobiography Why Me? was published by Doubleday in 1969.[4] A reviewer described the book as "a compelling story of the life, faith and courage of a man who as an actor was a notable success."[14]

References

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  1. ^ Associated Press (February 19, 1979). "William Gargan dies at 73; actor and cancer crusader". Chicago Tribune. p. 13. ProQuest 171855723. William Dennis Gargan, a tough guy actor for 36 years who achieved equal fame as a cancer crusader after he lost his voice to the disease, is dead at 73.
  2. ^ "5th | Screen Actors Guild Awards". www.sagawards.org.
  3. ^ a b c d "Actor William Gargan, 73, dies of heart attack". Star Tribune. February 19, 1979. p. 21.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Gargan, William (1969). Why me?; an autobiography. OCLC 794.
  5. ^ "William Gargan". oscars.org. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  6. ^ "William Gargan Assumes Role of Captain Flagg". The Times. Louisiana, Shreveport. February 27, 1942. p. 10. Retrieved January 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-0786445134.
  8. ^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 282. ISBN 978-0195076783.
  9. ^ a b Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 659–660. ISBN 978-0786464777.
  10. ^ "William Gargan, Actor, Will Get 8th Criss Award". The Lincoln Star. The Lincoln Star. September 14, 1965. p. 3. Retrieved July 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. ^ Swinford, T. William (March 12, 1964). "Suburbs Beat Hollywood – for Family Life". Arlington Heights Herald. Arlington Heights Herald. p. 19. Retrieved July 6, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  12. ^ "Gargan's Family Ill". The Bakersfield Californian. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 21, 1938. p. 36. Retrieved July 6, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  13. ^ "Air Ya Listenin?". Globe-Gazette. The Mason City Globe-Gazette. May 14, 1943. p. 2. Retrieved July 21, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. ^ McLeod, Edyth Thornton (June 10, 1969). "Beauty After Forty". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. p. 25. Retrieved July 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
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