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William Gargan

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William Gargan
Gargan in c. 1950s
Born
William Dennis Gargan

(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[citation needed] (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,[1] 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

Gargan was born on July 17, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York.[2] His parents— Bill and Irene—had seven children, but only Gargan and his brother Ed survived infancy.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

Gargan got his first silent movie job at age seven for Vitagraph Studios as a kid. He was paid Three dollars and eighty-five cents. That’s roughly one-hundred twenty dollars in 2023.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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.”[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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. One day the lights went up and Gargan noticed his boss was sitting next to him. “Good show,” Gargan said, “you’re fired,” said his boss.[3]

Stage

Bill’s brother Ed was an actor. 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.[3]

Film

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.[3]

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.[4]

Radio and television

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.[5] He portrayed private detective Martin Kane in the 1949–1952 radio-television series Martin Kane, Private Eye,[6]: 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.[6] He also portrayed Ross Dolan in I Deal in Crime,[6]: 159  and Inspector Burke in Murder Will Out,[6]: 214–242  and was host of G. I. Laffs[7]

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[8] and on The New Adventures of Martin Kane, which ran on NBC in 1953–54.[8]: 751 

Later years

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.[9] Speaking through an artificial voice box, Gargan became an activist and spokesman for the American Cancer Society, often warning about the dangers of smoking.[10] 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."[11]

No longer able to act, he formed William Gargan Productions, making traditional films and television films in Hollywood.[12]

Personal life

Gargan and his wife, Mary, had two sons, Leslie and Barrie.[13]

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.[2]

Partial filmography

Radio appearances

Year Program Episode/source
1943 Philip Morris Playhouse Roberta[14]

Book

Gargan's autobiography Why Me? was published by Doubleday in 1969.[15] 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."[16]

References

  1. ^ "5th | Screen Actors Guild Awards". www.sagawards.org.
  2. ^ a b "Actor William Gargan, 73, dies of heart attack". Star Tribune. February 19, 1979. p. 21.
  3. ^ a b c d Gargan, William, Why me?;: An autobiography, published 1969. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68-10310 (https://www.amazon.com/Why-me-autobiography-William-Gargan/dp/B0006BTXGK)
  4. ^ "William Gargan". oscars.org. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  5. ^ "William Gargan Assumes Role of Captain Flagg". The Times. Louisiana, Shreveport. February 27, 1942. p. 10. Retrieved January 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c d Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-0786445134.
  7. ^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 282. ISBN 978-0195076783.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ "Cancer Society to Hear Actor William Gargan". The Bakersfield Californian. The Bakersfield Californian. September 11, 1962. p. 36. Retrieved July 6, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ Reinehr, Robert C. & Swartz, Jon D. (2010). The A to Z of Old Time Radio. Scarecrow Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-1461672074.
  11. ^ "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
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ "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
  14. ^ "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
  15. ^ Gargan, William (1969). Why me?; an autobiography. OCLC 794.
  16. ^ 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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