John Dall

Dall, who used his middle name for his acting career,{{cite news|title=John Dall, 50, Oscar Nominee For 'Corn Is Green' Role, Dies|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A00E2D61F38E53BBC4052DFB766838A669EDE|access-date=December 2, 2014|work=The New York Times|date=January 18, 1971|quote=John Dall Thompson – he used the middle name for his career as an actor...}} was born in New York City on May 26, 1920,{{cite web|title=New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925–1957|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24FD-1JQ|website=FamilySearch|access-date=December 3, 2014|quote=John Dall Thompson ... Birth Year (Estimated): 1920}} the younger son of Charles Jenner Thompson{{cite web|title=United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6JW-P3Z|website=Family Search|access-date=November 22, 2015}}{{cite web|title=Charles Jenner Thompson (1873–1929) |url=https://www.abmc.gov/node/555908 |website=American Battle Monuments Commission |access-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240527151840/https://www.webcitation.org/6db48FVTj?url=https://www.abmc.gov/node/555908 |archive-date= May 27, 2024 |url-status=dead }} and his wife, Henry (née Worthington).{{cite news |title=Couple Married Here Last Monday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35238073/ |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=August 14, 1910 |pages=8|via=Newspapers.com}} (Sources which cite Dall's birth name as John Jenner Thompson and his birth year as 1918{{cite book|last=Burroughs Hannsberry|first=Karen|title=Bad Boys: the Actors of Film Noir|publisher=McFarland|year=2003|page=176|isbn=0786414847}}{{cite book|title=John Dall papers|url=http://catalog.oscars.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=65430|via=Margaret Herrick Library|publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.|access-date=February 10, 2015}} appear to be in error.{{refn|name=birthyear|group=Note}}) His father was a civil engineer. His elder brother, Worthington Thompson, was later a decorated lieutenant in the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team.{{cite book|last1=Astor|first1=Gerald|title=Battling Buzzards: The Odyssey of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team 1943–1945|date=2001|publisher=Random House|location=New York|isbn=0440236932|page=108|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqKXqFfxVOMC&q=john+dall&pg=PA108|access-date=December 5, 2014}}{{cite web|title=MailCall No. 2210|url=http://www.517prct.org/mailcall/2210.pdf|website=517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team|access-date=December 6, 2014|page=11|date=April 20, 2014}}

In the 1920s, the Thompsons moved to Panama, where Charles worked on the construction of the airport there. While in Panama, Dall was in a theater when a cast member fell ill and Dall stepped in; this inspired his desire to act.{{cite news|title=John Dall Color Portrait in Picture Section|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=June 9, 1946|page=g9}} His father committed suicide in 1929,{{cite web|title=Report of the death of an American citizen (Charles Jenner Thompson)|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=deathsamericancitizenabroad&gss=sfs28_ms_r_db&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=charles%20jenner&gsfn_x=1&gsln=thompson&gsln_x=1&msddy=1929&msddy_x=1&msdpn__ftp=Panama&msdpn=5177&msdpn_PInfo=3-%7c0%7c1652393%7c0%7c5177%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c&msdpn_x=1&msdpn__ftp_x=1&MSAV=1&uidh=000|website=Ancestry.com|publisher=American Consular Service|access-date=November 25, 2015|date=September 3, 1929|quote=Suicide. Pistol shot.}} {{registration required}} and his widow returned to New York City with John the following year.{{refn|name=panama|group=Note|Dall later claimed in media interviews to have acted on stage in Panama as a teenager with his parents in the audience,{{cite journal|last1=Cooke|first1=Marion|title=Career Crasher|journal=Motion Picture Magazine|date=August 1945}} but sources indicate he had returned to the US at the age of 10.}}

Dall attended Horace Mann School and briefly enrolled at Columbia University, where he intended to follow in his father's footsteps by studying engineering. Deciding that acting was his true vocation, he left Columbia and studied at the Theodora Irvine School of Theater and the Pasadena Playhouse. He also studied at the Petit Theatre in New Orleans.

Dall spent six years acting in various stock companies, notably Clare Tree Major's Children's Theatre. He also worked in companies headed by Aline MacMahon, Arthur Byron, and Edith Atwater, among others.{{Cite news|title=John Dall of 'Corn Is Green'|author=E.C. Sherburne|date=July 30, 1945|work=The Christian Science Monitor|page=4}}

Dall had small roles on Broadway during the 1941–42 season in R.U.R. and Janie. In 1942–43, he played the lead of Quizz Martin in the touring company The Eve of St Mark. He was well received and replaced William Prince on Broadway so Prince could take a vacation.{{Cite news|title=New Leading Man|work=The New York Times|date=May 28, 1943|page=18}} His performance was spotted by Jack Warner's wife and resulted in a Warner's screen test for Dall.{{Cite news|title=John Dall, 50, Dies; Stage, Screen Actor|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 18, 1971|page=20}} Warner Bros. offered him a contract but he would only take it if he could have time off to do a play.{{Cite news|title=Before He Met 'Dear Ruth'|work=The Christian Science Monitor|date=December 5, 1944|page=5}} (Warners also signed Prince.{{Cite news|title=Lamour, De Cordova 'Medal for Benny' Duo: Republic Announces Plans to Film 'Secrets of the New York Police'|author=Schallert, Edwin.|date=October 22, 1943|work=Los Angeles Times|page=14}})

Dall made his film debut in The Corn Is Green (1945), under the direction of Irving Rapper. Richard Waring was originally slated to play the role, but had been called into the army.{{Cite news|title='The Corn Is Green' on Warner's Lot: Bette Davis Appears as Miss Moffat in Screen Version of the Popular Play|author=Ezra Goodman|work=The New York Times |date=July 30, 1944|page=X3}} The film was shot in the middle of 1944.{{Cite news|title=Bette Davis in Barrymore Role in Film by Frank Daugherty|work=The Christian Science Monitor|date=July 28, 1944|page=4}} Warners were impressed with the rushes and signed Dall to a new contract.{{Cite news|title=Warner Bros. to Co-Star Reynolds and Hutton|work=The New York Times|date=September 5, 1944|page=15}}

Dall returned to the stage to play the lead in Norman Krasna's Dear Ruth (1944), under the direction of Moss Hart. It was a huge success.{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/dear-ruth-1607 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802160133/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/dear-ruth-1607 |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |title=Dear Ruth – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB}} The New York Times said Dall gives "a graceful and easy performance".{{Cite news|title=The Play|author=Lewis Nichols|date=December 14, 1944|work=The New York Times|page=29}} Even before The Corn Is Green was released Warners announced Dall was one of six contractees they intended to build into a star (the others were Lauren Bacall, Dane Clark, Faye Emerson, Robert Hutton and William Prince.{{Cite news|title=Robert Shayne Gets Lead in 'Three Strangers'|work=The New York Times|date=January 5, 1945|page=11}}) After The Corn Is Green was released, Dall received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was called one of the "hottest finds" in Hollywood, and Warners tried to find a film for him and co-star Joan Lorring.{{Cite news|title=Special Story to Star Finds Lorring and Dall|author=Schallert, Edwin.|date=April 2, 1945|work=Los Angeles Times|page=A2}}

The film rights to Dear Ruth were sold to Paramount who cast William Holden in the part originated by Dall. Warners brought the screen rights to John Patrick's play The Hasty Heart and announced Dall would play the role originated by Richard Basehart.{{Cite news|title=Warners Pay $100,000 Down for 'Hasty Heart' Joan Blondell Gets Top Part|work=The New York Times|date=February 19, 1945|page=21}} Warners gave Dall three months leave to perform The Hasty Heart (1945) on stage on the road.{{Cite news|title=Returning to Stage|work=The Christian Science Monitor|date=August 6, 1945|page=4}}{{Cite news|title=The Hasty Heart" Popular Comedy with John Dall and Dort Clark Amusing in Leading Roles "The Hasty Heart|author=Cassidy, Claudia|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=December 25, 1945|page=23}} However the film was not made for several more years by which time Richard Todd had been cast in the role.

In May 1946, Warners released Dall from his contract. He only made one film for the studio.{{Cite news|title=Paramount Buys Harvesting Story: Studio Will Produce Houston Branch's 'The Big Haircut' -- Lead to Alan Ladd|date=May 11, 1946|page=34}}

Paramount announced they were interested in signing Dall and Edward G. Robinson for a role in an adaptation of The Wayfarers.{{Cite news|title=Litvak, Sam Wood in Picture Deals: Profit-Sharing Agreements Are Made With Enterprise and International Groups Of Local Origin|work=The New York Times|date=May 17, 1946|page=15}} In May 1946 he signed a seven-year deal with David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films.{{Cite news|title=Drama AND FILMS: Vanguard Signs Dall; Fonda Films Selected|author=Schallert, Edwin.|date=May 25, 1946|work=Los Angeles Times|page=5}}{{Cite news|title=Marlene Dietrich to Resume Career: She Will Return to Screen as Star of 'Golden Earrings'-- 'OSS' Opens at the Gotham Role for Humphrey Bogart Of Local Origin|work=The New York Times|date=May 25, 1946|page=21}} Dall performed Hasty Heart in summer stock.{{Cite news|title=Prospects for Autumn; Summer Playhouse Plans|work=The Christian Science Monitor|date=July 15, 1946|page=4}}

Dall wound up making no films for Selznick. Instead he went over to Universal, where he signed a contract.{{Cite news|author=Hedda Hopper|title=Looking at Hollywood|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 7, 1947|page=A2}} He played Deanna Durbin's love interest in Something in the Wind (1947); the Los Angeles Times described him as "ill at ease".{{Cite news|title=Deanna's Her 'Old' Self in 'Something in Wind'|author=Scheuer, Philip K.|date=September 5, 1947|work=Los Angeles Times|page=A3}} He was in Another Part of the Forest (1948), based on the play by Lillian Hellman.

Alfred Hitchcock cast Dall in Rope (1948) as one of two killers (the other played by Farley Granger) who match wits with James Stewart. The film was not a big hit on release but its reputation has since grown.

After Rope it was reported he would make Shadow of Fear for Michael Curtiz{{Cite news|title=Paul Douglas Likely 'Four Wives' Opus Star|author=Schallert, Edwin.|date=April 22, 1948|work=Los Angeles Times|page=23}} but this did not materialize.

Dall did "The Wind and the Rain" for Theatre Guild on the Air{{cite news|title=Wind And The Rain' On Theater Guild On Air|work=Chicago Daily Tribun|date=October 24, 1948|page=n14}}

then returned to Broadway to appear in Daniel Taradash's adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's Red Gloves with Charles Boyer, directed by Jed Harris. It was a minor hit.{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/red-gloves-2043 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802160131/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/red-gloves-2043 |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |title=Red Gloves – Broadway Play – Original }} Brooks Atkinson said Boyer and Dall's acting were the best thing about the production.{{Cite news|title=Sartre and Boyer: ' Red Gloves' Adapted for Use in New York|author=Brooks Atkinson |date=December 12, 1948|work=The New York Times|page=X3}}

Dall made his TV debut in "Miracle in the Rain" for The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre in 1949. He appeared as one of the leads in Gun Crazy (1950) opposite Irish actress Peggy Cummins.

Dall had a supporting role in The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950). He was in the short-run revival of The Heiress (1950) on Broadway with Basil Rathbone.{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-heiress-476327 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630092614/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-heiress-476327 |archive-date=June 30, 2020 |title=The Heiress – Broadway Play – 1950 Revival {{!}} IBDB}}{{Cite news|title='The Heiress' Put On at the City Center as the Last Play of the Winter Season|author=Brooks Atkinson|date=February 9, 1950|work=The New York Times|page=43}}

In October 1950 Dall said that TV acting was better done by movie actors, who understood technique, than stage actors, who needed audience response.{{Cite news|title=Dall Says Movie Actors Are Better Than Stage Stars as Television Performers|author=Ames, Walter|date=October 15, 1950|work=Los Angeles Times|page=B6}}

In late 1950, he appeared in The Man by Mel Dinelli on stage in Los Angeles with Gladys George.{{Cite news|title=Stars Chosen for 'The Man'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 27, 1950|page=C9}} The Los Angeles Times said he played his role with "tremendous assurance".{{Cite news|title='The Man' Offers Faint Thrills at Las Palmas|author=Schallert, Edwin|date=December 6, 1950|work=Los Angeles Times|page=B11}}

In stock he appeared in The Hasty Heart (1952), Gramercy Ghost (1952),{{Cite news|title='Wagon' to Leave Shubert Tonight: Loewe-Lerner Musical Play, Put on by Crawford, to Quit After 289 Performances|author=J. P. Shanley|date=July 19, 1952|work=The New York Times|page=8}} The Moon is Blue (1953),{{Cite news|title=Strawhat Theatres List Summer Plans|work=The New York Times|date=May 11, 1953|page=25}} The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Born Yesterday (1953).{{Cite news|title=New Playwright on Scene Tonight: Louis Peterson's First Work, 'Take a Giant Step,' Deals With Challenge to Negro|author=Louis Calta|date=September 24, 1953|work=The New York Times|page=38}}

Dall did much work in television, appearing in guest roles on such shows as Lights Out ("Pit of the Dead"), The Clock ("A Right Smart Trick"), Studio One in Hollywood ("The Doctor's Wife"{{Cite news|title=June Lockhart, John Dall Have Leads in TV Drama|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=October 5, 1952|page=w_a8}}), Broadway Television Theatre ("Outward Bound", "The Hasty Heart"), Suspense ("The Invisible Killer", "The Tenth Reunion"), General Electric Theatre ("The Coward of Fort Bennett") and Schlitz Playhouse ("And Practically Strangers"). Other theatre performances in stock included The Male Animal (1954).{{Cite news|title=Tallulah, Maggie Vie as Attractions|author=Richard L. Coe.|date=August 24, 1954|work=The Washington Post and Times-Herald|page=22}}

Dall returned to Broadway for Leslie Stevens' Champagne Complex, which had a short run in 1955.{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/champagne-complex-2511 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802161639/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/champagne-complex-2511 |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |title=Champagne Complex – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB}}{{Cite news|title='Champagne' Pops in Comedy Tonight: Play by Stevens at the Cort Co-Stars Donald Cook, Polly Bergen and John Dall|author=Louis Calta|date=April 12, 1955|work=The New York Times|page=26}}

Dall's first film in eight years was Spartacus (1960), where he played a Roman soldier{{Cite news|title=Fox Lists 34 Films in Record Budget: Studio to Invest 66 Million in 1959 -- Musicians Unit Files Unfairness Charge|author=Thomas M. Pryor|date=January 22, 1959|work=The New York Times|page=27}} based on Gaius Claudius Glaber. He was the villain in MGM's Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961), his final theatrical feature.{{Cite news|title=Film Events: Two Stars Signed for Musical|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 11, 1960|page=10}}

Dall guest-starred in four episodes of TV's Perry Mason, including playing murder victim Edward Franklin in the 1962 episode "The Case of the Weary Watchdog" and murder victim Colin Durant in the 1963 episode "The Case of the Reluctant Model".

Film historians William J. Mann and Karen Burroughs Hannsberry have remarked that Dall was gay but claimed in media interviews to have had a brief marriage in the early 1940s.{{cite book|last1=Mann|first1=William J.|author-link1=William J. Mann|title=Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood|date=2001|publisher=Viking|isbn=0670030171|page=[https://archive.org/details/behindscreenhowg00mann/page/263 263]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/behindscreenhowg00mann/page/263}} No marriage certificate has come to light, and his death certificate records him as "never married". At a studio request, Hedda Hopper once linked his name with Jane Withers romantically.{{Cite news|author=Hedda Hopper|title=Looking at Hollywood|work=Los Angeles Times|date=March 22, 1946|page=A7}} According to music journalist Phil Milstein, at the time of his death Dall had lapsed into alcoholism and was living with his partner, actor Clement Brace (died 1996).{{cite web|last1=Milstein |first1=Phil |title=The Nightmare World of Dion McGregor |url=http://www.songpoemmusic.com/dion/chapters/9.htm |website=American Song-Poem Music Archives |access-date=February 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311035619/http://www.songpoemmusic.com/dion/chapters/9.htm |archive-date=March 11, 2015 |url-status=dead }}{{cite book|last1=Israel|first1=Lee|author-link1=Lee Israel|title=Can You Ever Forgive Me? Memoirs of a Literary Forger|date=2008|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=9781416553779|page=65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=colE1GDOS6oC&q=Dall+Brace+lover&pg=PA65|access-date=February 4, 2015}}

Dall sustained a serious fall while visiting London in October 1970 and died of cardiac arrest, a complication of myocarditis, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on January 15, 1971, aged 50. His body was donated to medical science.{{cite news|title=Actor, Brother of City Man, Is Dead|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18458463/|work=The Daily Times|date=January 20, 1971|location=Salisbury, Maryland|page=7|quote=Worthington Thompson... is the only immediate survivor of John Dall... [who] died Friday in his Hollywood home of a heart attack. Mr. Thompson said today that his brother had never fully recovered from a fall last October in London. The 50-year-old actor was in Europe on business at the time... His grandfather was the late Dall Worthington of Baltimore County.|via = Newspapers.com}}{{refn|name=death|group=Note| Online sources attributing Dall's death to a "punctured lung"{{cite web |last1=Cranmer |first1=David |title=Let’s Not Forget Film Noir’s John Dall |url=https://www.criminalelement.com/lets-not-forget-film-noirs-john-dall-edward-a-grainger-gun-crazy-hall-of-famer/ |website=Criminal Element |date=23 December 2014}} may be a garbled reference to his accident in London.}}

Dall's papers are held at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, California.

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Category:1920 births

Category:1971 deaths

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:Male actors from New York City

Category:Horace Mann School alumni

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:Age controversies

Category:American gay actors