Sam Buffington#Luke Slaughter of Tombstone

He was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, the youngest of four children for Carl Buffington, a lumber company manager, and Annette Gendron.Massachusetts, U.S., Birth Index, 1860-1970 for Samuel E. Buffington > Births > 1931-1935, retrieved from Ancestry.com1940 United States Federal Census for Samuel E Buffington, Massachusetts > Bristol > Swansea > 3-102, retrieved from Ancestry.com His parents were in their forties when Buffington was born, and his nearest sibling was eight years older. At age 18, Buffington appears as a roomer in a Brookline, Massachusetts, boarding house during 1950,1950 United States Federal Census for Samuel E Buffington, Massachusetts > Norfolk > Brookline > 11-75, retrieved from Ancestry.com when he was attending the Leland Powers School of Radio and Theater.{{cite news |title=Noel Coward Plays Next Attraction At Standing Stone |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tyrone-daily-herald/43981081/|work=Tyrone Daily Herald |date=June 24, 1954 |location=Tyrone, Pennsylvania |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} According to a 1951 newspaper article, he was working in nightclubs as an MC and comic dancer.{{cite news |title=Local Summer Theatre Ready for Season Opener on Tuesday |work=Altoona Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/altoona-tribune/127816471/|date=June 25, 1951 |location=Altoona, Pennsylvania |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Buffington's first known professional stage credits come from summer stock with the Allegheny Players at the Mishler Theatre in Altoona, Pennsylvania.{{cite news |title=Casts Named For Summer Plays Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/altoona-tribune/127816685/|work=Altoona Tribune |date=June 19, 1951 |location=Altoona, Pennsylvania |page=15 |via = Newspapers.com}} He was signed to perform character parts in six plays, each with a week-long run. After the Mishler run completed, the Allegheny Players performed for a week in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, where Buffington had the male lead in a comedy.{{cite news |title=Brighten The Corner At Centre Playhouse |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indiana-gazette/127817100/|work=The Indiana Gazette |date=August 31, 1951 |location=Indiana, Pennsylvania |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}}

For the years 1952 through 1955 Buffington worked in both radio and on the stage. His radio work was at a station in Providence, Rhode Island, where according to a later interview, he had three shows under three different names and as many voices.{{cite news |title=Fooled Listeners |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-times/127817290/|work=Valley Times |date=January 28, 1958 |location=North Hollywood, California |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} Buffington lamented, "The unfortunate thing about it was that I only got the salary of one man". His stage work continued to be with the Allegheny Players during the summer seasons.{{cite news |last=Wagner |first=E. C. |date=October 2, 1957 |title=Standing Stone Year Reviewed |page=6 |work=Altoona Tribune |location=Altoona, Pennsylvania |via=Newspapers.com}}

Discouraged by lack of work on the East Coast, Buffington and his wife moved to the West Coast during 1956.{{cite news |last=Rich |first=Allen |title=Listening Post and TV Review |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-times/127817551/|work=Valley Times |date=March 24, 1958 |location=North Hollywood, California |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} He told a later interviewer: "We figured it couldn't be any worse. But it was. We had just $90 when we got here. The first eight months she had to work to support me". Then he began appearing in small roles on television, and in a Grade B film, Invasion of the Saucer Men. His breakthrough came in May 1957 with an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, wherein he played a thoroughly disagreeable character.{{cite news |title=Sunday, May 26 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer/127817770/|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=May 26, 1957 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=222 |via = Newspapers.com}} Reviews claimed "...it's Sam Buffington's portrayal of a rude, sloppy hypochondriac which steals the show".{{cite news |title=Hitchcock Presents |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pittsburgh-press/127817900/|work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=May 25, 1957 |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com}} Within the next six months he would have roles in six films, all released in 1958, and five more television shows, an auspicious first year.

For the film Damn Citizen, a reviewer said "Sam Buffington does a splendid job of making himself thoroughly unpleasant in the role of a gambling casino operator".{{cite news |last=Fanning |first=Win |title=New Film |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette/127818356/|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=January 30, 1958 |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |page=22 |via = Newspapers.com}} Another reported "Sam Buffington's cunning small-time gambler is about twice as convincing as the real thing would be and also very amusing".{{cite news |last=O'H. |first=W. |title=Snowden, Empress, Outremont, Rivoli, Papineau, Corona, Seville, Strand |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montreal-star/127818517/|work=The Montreal Star |date=March 15, 1958 |location=Montreal, Quebec |page=24 |via = Newspapers.com}} This was the high point of his film career; in no other movie did he capture critical attention. His career would continue to thrive on the small screen, as he completed more television episodes with each succeeding year.{{Citation needed |date=July 2023}}

Buffington appeared as himself on a local interview program called Meet the People during February 1958.{{cite news |title=Television Programs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news/127818836/ |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=February 4, 1958 |location=Hollywood, California |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}} This was a lead-in to his starring role on a new CBS national radio program.{{Citation needed |date=July 2023}}

While filming an episode of The Gray Ghost, Buffington had asked Lillian Buyeff how she had gotten a gig on the radio drama Suspense. She sent him to Bill Robson, a CBS radio producer, and about two months later Buffington was cast for the lead in a CBS radio western.

Luke Slaughter of Tombstone began broadcasting on February 23, 1958, with Buffington playing the title character.{{cite news |last=Palmer |first=Zuma |title=New Series Begin, 'Gold Rush' Among Sunday Specials |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news/127819048/ |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=February 22, 1958 |location=Hollywood, California |pages=12, 11 |via = Newspapers.com}} He portrayed a Civil War cavalryman, who after the war becomes a cattleman in Arizona.{{cite news |title=New Sunday Show |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bridgeport-telegram/127819232/|work=The Bridgeport Telegram |date=February 22, 1958 |location=Bridgeport, Connecticut |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}} The nationally heard program began five minutes after the hour, following a short CBS News break.{{cite news |title=Sunday on Radio |work=Independent Star-News |date=March 2, 1958 |location=Pasadena, California |page=57 |via = Newspapers.com}} It was one of three western series broadcast by CBS on Sunday afternoons.{{cite news |title=WDAE |work=The Tampa Times |date=March 1, 1958 |location=Tampa, Florida |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}} The program ran twenty-five minutes per episode, including commercials.

The first episode had Slaughter drive a herd of cattle from Texas to Tombstone, while the second had him dealing with renegade lawmen who were after the proceeds from the cattle sale. The series was suspended during July 1958, and Buffington used the time off to perform in Bell, Book and Candle with the La Jolla Playhouse.{{cite news |title=La Jolla Play Bewitches In New Offering |work=Times-Advocate |date=July 15, 1958 |location=Escondido, California |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=People |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=July 19, 1958 |location=Hollywood, California |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Despite his radio commitment, Buffington still managed to appear in sixteen episodes of television during 1958. He also completed film work for They Came to Cordura, released the following year.{{cite news |title=Before The Cameras |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=November 8, 1958 |location=Hollywood, California |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Added to Cast |work=Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph |date=November 13, 1958 |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |page=25 |via = Newspapers.com}} For 1959 he did seventeen more television episodes, before landing a regular cast member spot in early 1960 on a new western series.{{cite news |title=Simone Signoret Cast In TV Drama |work=The New York Times |date=March 18, 1960 |location=New York, New York |page=53 |via = NYTimes.com}}

{{Main|Whispering Smith (TV series)}}

This half-hour western series made at Revue Studios for NBC starred Audie Murphy and Guy Mitchell as frontier detectives for the Denver Police Department, {{circa|1870}}.{{cite news |title=Audie Murphy Star of 'Whispering Smith' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-news/127819595/|work=Sunday News |date=March 27, 1960 |location=Lancaster, Pennsylvania |page=70 |via = Newspapers.com}} Buffington, who was third-credited, played their superior officer, Chief of Police John Richards.{{cite news |title=Audie Murphy To Do TV Show |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch/127819707/|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |date=April 10, 1960 |location=Richmond, Virginia |page=162 |via = Newspapers.com}} In the film Unwed Mother he played husband to actress Dorothy Adams.{{cite news |last=Cullison |first=Art |title=So-So Study Of Illegitimacy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-akron-beacon-journal/127819892/|work=The Akron Beacon Journal |date=December 20, 1958 |location=Akron, Ohio |page=14 |via = Newspapers.com}}

While Buffington's wife Pat was in Palm Springs, California, he wrote a note to her, locked himself in the bathroom, sealed air passages under the door and window, and turned on a gas jet.{{cite news |title=Video Actor Victim Of Gas |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-times/127820587/|work=The Valley Times |date=May 16, 1960 |location=North Hollywood, California |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}} When she returned home to West Hollywood, California, on Sunday evening, May 15, 1960, she had to break-in the bathroom door.{{cite news |title=Video Actor Buffington Kills Self |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fresno-bee/127820744/|work=The Fresno Bee |date=May 16, 1960 |location=Fresno, California |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}} Buffington was dead; his note apologized to her for not being able to support her, and requested cremation. Buffington's friends expressed surprise at the note, since he had made over $20,000 the year beforeThe equivalent of over $200,000 in 2023. and had good career prospects. Brief stories appeared the next day in California newspapers detailing the circumstances. The UPI story, with a West Hollywood dateline, cited alternatively police and sheriff's detectives as the source,{{cite news |title=TV Actor Suicide |url=https://newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner/127823109/|work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=May 16, 1960 |location=San Francisco, California |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}} but was carried by only one out-of-state newspaper.{{cite news |title=Actor Kills Himself In Hollywood Home |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-shreveport-journal/127823463/|work=The Shreveport Journal |date=May 16, 1960 |location=Shreveport, Louisiana |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} There were no follow-up stories to the original UPI release, nor did any newspapers carry the original story after the first day. This was a highly unusual story arc for such a newsworthy event, and suggests UPI pulled the original release.{{Citation needed |date=July 2023}}

When a year had passed, and Whispering Smith was finally set to debut on NBC television, newspaper announcements made only a brief reference to "the late Sam Buffington, who died after only 20 episodes were filmed".{{cite news |title=Speak Softly, Smith |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fresno-bee/127823652/|work=The Fresno Bee |date=April 9, 1961 |location=Fresno, California |page=161 |via = Newspapers.com}}

An accomplished painter of portraits in oil, Buffington once tried to make a living of it. After he became an actor, he donated eight of his works to children's hospitals.{{cite news |title=Hospitals Get Painting Gifts |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-mirror/127823792/|work=Los Angeles Mirror |date=December 24, 1958 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=21 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Buffington married Patricia Ann Whitehouse on July 15, 1953, in Vance County, North Carolina.Samuel Elisha Buffington, in the North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1740-2011, retrieved from Ancestry.com They remained married until his death in 1960.

Listed by year of first performance

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• {{IMDb name | 0119383 }}
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Category:1931 births

Category:1960 suicides

Category:1960 deaths

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:Male actors from Massachusetts

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American male radio actors

Category:Suicides by gas

Category:Suicides in California