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Fletcher Markle

{{Short description|Canadian entertainer (1921–1991)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Fletcher Markle

| image = Fletcher Markle 1948.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Fletcher Markle directing the
CBS Radio series Studio One (1948)

| birthname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|3|27|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1991|5|23|1921|3|27|mf=y}}

| death_place = Pasadena, California, U.S.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFDC1E3CF936A15756C0A967958260|title=Fletcher Markle Is Dead at 70; Wrote TV and Radio Dramas |last=Collins|first=Glenn|date=1991-05-25|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2008-11-06}}

| occupation = Actor, screenwriter, television producer, television and film director

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Helen Blanche Willis|1944|1949|reason=divorce}}|{{marriage|Mercedes McCambridge|1950|1962|reason=divorce}}|{{marriage|Dorothy Conradt|1963}} }}

}}

Fletcher Markle (March 27, 1921 – May 23, 1991) was a Canadian actor, screenwriter, television producer and director. Markle began a radio career in Canada, then worked in radio, film and television in the United States.

Early years

File:Studio One 1948.jpg at a rehearsal of "A Farewell to Arms" for Studio One (1948)]]

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba,{{cite news |title=$1,500 Fellowship To Fletcher Markle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73302876/fletcher-markle/ |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The Gazette |date=August 16, 1945 |location=Canada, Montreal |page=3|via = Newspapers.com}} Markle was the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Markle. He graduated from Prince of Wales Secondary School{{cite news |last1=Willett |first1=Bob |title=Markle with MGM |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73307643/fletcher-markle/ |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=November 4, 1950 |page=54|via = Newspapers.com}} in Vancouver and chose not to attend college because "there were too many things to do".{{cite news |last1=Caldwell |first1=John |title=U.S. Is Introduced To Canadian Talent In Two Productions |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/100279238/?match=1&terms=%22Studio%20One%22%20Markle |access-date=September 13, 2024 |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=May 13, 1947 |page=2 D}}

Films and television

Markle began his career at age 17 in Vancouver, British Columbia, doing radio dramas.{{cite news |last1=Ardies |first1=Tom |title=Markle of Hollywood Learns To Loathe Money, Bow Ties |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73305080/fletcher-markle/ |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=July 23, 1951 |page=3|via = Newspapers.com}} He created the Phoenix Theater, which began with stage productions and then went on radio for a 68-week series of hour-long plays

He worked with a group whose members included John Drainie, Lister Sinclair, and Alan Young on such local stations as CJOR, CKWX and the CBC network.Vancouver Sun, June 12, 1940, pg. 21 During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. During that service he acted in the film Journey Together during some of his off-duty time.

In 1945, Markle received a $1,500 grant from Twentieth Century Fox to finish his partly autobiographical novel There Was A Young Man. The award came while he was working on the Radio Folio series for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The CBC had commissioned Markle to write that program, which consisted of self-contained complete episodes that ranged from light to serious in content. Markle had earlier written the Baker's Dozen series on CBC.{{cite news |title=CBC Commissions Former Airman To Write, Direct, Produce Series |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73304341/the-gazette/ |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The Gazette |date=July 6, 1945 |location=Canada, Montreal |page=9|via = Newspapers.com}}

The group moved to Toronto, and Markle had a role as an actor in Journey Together (1946). Markle then moved to New York City, and although not listed in the credits, contributed to the screenplay for Orson Welles's The Lady from Shanghai (1947).{{Citation needed |date=March 2021}}

During his time in New York, he contributed to the CBS radio anthology, Studio One. In late 1952, he was brought in to replace Worthington Miner on the TV version of that program.{{cite news |last1=Gould |first1=Jack |title=Radio and Television: Fletcher Markle Puts New Life in TV 'Studio One,' But Overproducing Is Called Weakness |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/112459622 |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=December 5, 1952 |page=42|id={{ProQuest|112459622}} }}

He produced, co-wrote, and had a cameo role in the movie Jigsaw (1949). He directed Nancy Davis, Ray Milland, and John Hodiak in Night into Morning (1951).{{cite web |title=Fletcher Markle (1921–1991) |url=http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/markle-fletcher |website=History of Canadian Broadcasting |publisher=Canadian Communications Foundation |access-date=March 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312164800/http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/markle-fletcher |archive-date=March 12, 2021}}

During the 1950s and early 1960s, he was a director, producer and host for a number of television series such as Front Row Center and Boris Karloff's Thriller, Father of the Bride, and Telescope. He directed the movie The Incredible Journey (1963) for Walt Disney. Markle is also credited for signing Lorne Greene to play Ben Cartwright in Bonanza.

In 1956, Markle and his wife, Mercedes McCambridge, launched a company to produce feature films and content for independent television. Cubano Productions initially gained rights to 23 stories by Burnham Carter. The stories, which had been published in The Saturday Evening Post, centered around a young Cuban couple and their Cafe Mosca in Havana. They were to form the basis of a 30-minute TV series, Tonight in Havana. Markle and McCambridge also planned to develop the stories into feature films.{{cite news |title=TV films to use magazine series |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/113712914 |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=October 2, 1956 |page=71|id={{ProQuest|113712914}} }}

Markle returned to radio in late 1978 as one of the writers for Sears Radio Theater.{{cite news |title=Veterans of Radio Create New Series |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/123562668 |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=December 4, 1978 |page=C 20|id={{ProQuest|123562668}} }}

Markle received an Academy Award nomination for the documentary film The V-1: Story of the Robot Bomb, which he wrote and narrated.{{cite news |title=Robot-bomb movie in local theatres |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/106910188 |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=November 17, 1944 |page=25|id={{ProQuest|106910188}} |via = ProQuest}}

Personal life

Markle married Helen Blanche Willis in Toronto in 1944, and they divorced on June 14, 1949.{{cite news |title=Wife Divorces Radio Producer |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/105968171 |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=June 15, 1949 |page=36|id={{ProQuest|105968171}} }} They had a son, actor and writer Stephen Markle. He later married actress Mercedes McCambridge,{{cite book|last=Lackmann|first=Ronald W. |title=Mercedes McCambridge: A Biography and Career Record|publisher=McFarland |year=2005|pages=49, 57|isbn=0-7864-1979-2}} and they divorced in 1962{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1457195/Mercedes-McCambridge.html |title=Obituaries: Mercedes McCambridge|date=2004-03-19|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=2018-02-23}} after 12 years of marriage, during which he adopted her son.{{cite news |title=Miss McCambridge Divorced |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/116131153 |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=June 9, 1962 |page=18|id={{ProQuest|116131153}}}} Markle's third marriage was to Dorothy Conradt, from 1963 until his death in 1991.

Death

On May 23, 1991, Markle died at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, California, of heart failure, aged 70.

Filmography

=Producer=

=Director=

{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

=Writer=

  • The Lady from Shanghai (Uncredited, 1947)
  • Jigsaw (1949)
  • The Wednesday Play (1 episode, 1964)

{{div col end}}

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|0548529|Fletcher Markle}}
  • {{discogs artist|Fletcher Markle}}
  • [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/personalities.php?id=136 Fletcher Markle] at the [https://web.archive.org/web/20061010110829/http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/index.html Canadian Communications Foundation]
  • [https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1726159574] – a video clip with Markle hosting Telescope from the CBC Archives

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Markle, Fletcher}}

Category:1921 births

Category:1991 deaths

Category:Film directors from Winnipeg

Category:Male actors from Winnipeg

Category:Canadian expatriate male actors in the United States

Category:Canadian male film actors

Category:Canadian male radio actors

Category:Canadian radio personalities

Category:Canadian male television actors

Category:Canadian television directors

Category:Canadian television producers

Category:Writers from Winnipeg

Category:20th-century Canadian male actors

Category:Radio directors

Category:20th-century Canadian screenwriters

Category:Screenwriters from Manitoba