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Dick Purcell

{{Short description|American actor (1905–1944)}}

{{Other people||Richard Purcell (disambiguation){{!}}Richard Purcell}}

{{Use American English|date=July 2022}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Dick Purcell

| image = Dick Purcell in King of the Zombies (1941).jpg

| caption = Purcell in King of the Zombies (1941)

| birth_name = Richard Gerold Purcell Jr.

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|08|06|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1944|04|10|1905|08|06}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.

| known_for = Captain America

| education = Fordham University

| employer = Warner Brothers

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1914–1944

| spouse = {{marriage|Ethelind Terry|1942|1942|end=divorce}}

| children =

}}

Richard Gerold Purcell Jr. (August 6, 1905 – April 10, 1944)Selective Service Registration Cards, WWII Draft Registration Cards for California, 10/16/1940 - 03/31/1947, published by National Archives and Records Administration was an American actor best known for playing Marvel Comics' Captain America in the 1944 film serial, co-starring with Lorna Gray and Lionel Atwill.{{IMDb name|0700711}} Purcell also appeared in films such as Tough Kid (1938), Accidents Will Happen (1938), Heroes in Blue (1939), Irish Luck (1939), The Bank Dick (1940), and King of the Zombies (1941).

Early life

Purcell was born in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1905 (not 1908, as many sources suggest){{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}. One of 5 children, he attended Catholic grade school and high school, before enrolling as a student at Fordham University in The Bronx in New York City.

Career

Purcell began his acting career on the stage in New York, appearing in at least three plays: Men in White, Sailor, Beware! and Paths of Glory. A talent scout saw Purcell's performance in Paths of Glory which led to a small role in the film Ceiling Zero (1936). In his next film, Man Hunt (1936), Purcell had a larger role as a newspaper reporter. Purcell appeared in eleven films in 1936 alone.

=Captain America serial=

Purcell got the title role in the 1944 Republic serial film Captain America despite being somewhat overweight.{{cite book | last = Harmon | first = Jim |author2=Donald F. Glut |author2-link=Donald F. Glut | author-link = Jim Harmon | title = The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury | year = 1973 | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 978-0-7130-0097-9 | pages = 255, 258–259, 263 | chapter = 10. The Long-Underwear Boys "You've Met Me, Now Meet My Fist!" }} The script was loosely based on the comic book character Captain America. The serial has Captain America, whose everyday identity is District Attorney Grant Gardner, thwarting the attempts of The Scarab, the villainous alter ego of museum curator Dr. Cyrus Maldor, to acquire a pair of super weapon devices, the "Dynamic Vibrator" and "Electronic Firebolt".

The serial, which would go on to be box office success, would be Republic's most expensive to make but also its last one about a superhero.

Personal life

Purcell eloped to Las Vegas with the actress Ethelind Terry. The two married on March 3, 1942, only to divorce on August 26, 1942.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MwwEAAAAMBAJ&dq=dick+purcell+ethelind+las+vegas&pg=PT28|title=The Final Curtain: Marriages|date=21 March 1942|publisher=The Billboard|page=29|issn=0006-2510}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RAwEAAAAMBAJ&dq=ethelind+terry+purcell+divorce&pg=PA32|title=The Final Curtain|date=22 April 1944|publisher=The Billboard|page=32|issn=0006-2510}}

Death

Shortly after he completed the Captain America film serial, and just before its general release, Purcell collapsed and died in the locker room of a Hollywood country club on 10 April 1944, shortly after playing a round of golf. His remains were interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. Film historian Raymond Stedman speculated that the strain of filming Captain America was too much for his heart.{{cite book | last = Stedman | first = Raymond William | title = Serials: Suspense and Drama By Installment | year = 1971 | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | isbn = 978-0-8061-0927-5 | chapter = 5. Shazam and Good-by | page = [https://archive.org/details/serialssuspensea00sted/page/131 131] | chapter-url-access = registration | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/serialssuspensea00sted/page/131 }}

Selected filmography

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References

{{Reflist}}

External links

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  • {{IMDb name|0700711}}
  • {{IBDB name}}
  • [http://www.classicimages.com/past_issues/view/?x=2000/october00/dickpurcell.shtml Dick Purcell biography]{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
  • {{Internet Archive author |sname=Dick Purcell}}
  • {{Librivox author |id=753}}
  • {{YouTube|0d4brA6vPY4|Re-release trailer for the 15 chapter Republic serial, Captain America, starring Dick Purcell}}
  • {{Find a Grave|grid=7889}}

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Category:1905 births

Category:1944 deaths

Category:Male actors from Greenwich, Connecticut

Category:20th-century American male actors