Wendell Corey

Corey was born in Dracut, Massachusetts,{{cite news |last=Corby |first=Jane |title=Screenings |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2642610/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/ |newspaper=Brooklyn Eagle |date=January 22, 1950 |page=27 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} the son of Milton Rothwell Corey (October 24, 1879 – October 23, 1951) and Julia Etta McKenney (April 11, 1882 – June 16, 1947). His father was a Congregationalist clergyman and an actor who appeared in Rawhide as Dr Tucker. Wendell was educated in Springfield, Massachusetts. His ancestors included U.S. Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

After graduating from high school in Springfield, Corey sold washing machines and refrigerators at a Springfield department store, when he stopped by to see a friend who was acting at the Springfield Repertory Theater.

The group needed an actor to play the role of a Swedish janitor in Street Scene. Corey took the role and stayed with the theater group for a year, working in the department store during the day and acting at night. Following that, he went into acting full-time with a theater group in Holyoke. He went on to serve a long apprenticeship in the theater, producing, directing and acting in hundreds of plays in summer stock.{{cite news |title=Veteran Stage, TV, Film Actor Wendell Corey Dead at Age 54 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-wendell-corey-obituary/122906653/ |newspaper=The Boston Globe |agency=United Press International |page=22 |access-date=April 15, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Short Illness Claims Life Of Film Actor |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19681109&id=qaxVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5866,2034194&hl=en |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |agency=Associated Press |date=November 9, 1968 |page=8A |access-date=June 12, 2024}} Corey also was employed by the Federal Theatre Project.{{cite news |title=Wendell Corey Dies Friday; Liver Ailment |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19681109&id=NRxUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-zkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7113,977753&hl=en |newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World |date=November 9, 1968 |page=7 |access-date=June 19, 2015}}

While appearing as the cynical newspaperman in Elmer Rice's comedy Dream Girl (1945), he was seen by producer Hal Wallis, who persuaded him to sign a contract with Paramount and pursue a motion picture career in Hollywood.{{cite news |date=November 11, 1950 |title=Film Scout Found Wendell Corey |page=5 |work=Times Pictorial |location=Dublin}} Corey's feature film debut came as a gangster in Wallis's Desert Fury (1947) starring Burt Lancaster, John Hodiak, Lizabeth Scott, and Mary Astor. In 1947 he appeared in The Voice of the Turtle on stage with Margaret Sullavan in England.{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |title=Astaire Will Prepare New Dance Routines |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/381175257/?match=1&terms=%22astaire%20will%20prepare%20new%20dance%22|url-access=subscription |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=May 5, 1948 |page=22}}

Wallis promoted him to co-star status in The File on Thelma Jordon (1950) in which he appeared opposite Barbara Stanwyck. Corey had a good part in Columbia's No Sad Songs for Me (1950) playing Margaret Sullavan's husband.{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |title=Wendell Corey Male Star in 'No Sad Songs'; Erickson Gets Ace Role |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 7, 1949 |page=A7}} He co-starred with Lana Turner in A Life of Her Own but pulled out after only a few days, claiming he was miscast. He was replaced by Ray Milland.{{cite news |last=Brady |first=Thomas F. |title=Ray Milland Gets Metro Movit Lead: Replaces Wendell Corey, Who Withdraws From 'Life of Her Own' During Filming Columbia Releases Ireland Of Local Origin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/02/18/archives/ray-milland-gets-metro-movie-lead-replaces-wendell-corey-who.html?searchResultPosition=2 |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 18, 1950 |page=9}} Corey had one of his most memorable roles when he played Lt. Thomas Doyle in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. He toured the US on stage in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial in 1954.{{cite news |last=Scheuer |first=Philip K. |title=Corey Hits Road With 'Mutiny' |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 18, 1954 |page=D1}}

File:Wendell Corey, Patty McCormack, Ray Farrell, and Marsha Hunt from Peck's Bad Girl - 1959.jpg TV series Peck's Bad Girl]]

Corey portrayed Lou Gehrig in "The Lou Gehrig Story" for the television series Climax! (1955). He was a series lead in Harbor Command (1957–1958), starring alongside Casey Walters.{{cite book |last=Terrace |first=Vincent |title=Television Introductions: Narrated TV Program Openings since 1949 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDsYAgAAQBAJ |publisher=Scarecrow Press |date=November 7, 2013 |page=84 |isbn=978-0-8108-9250-7 |via=Google Books}}

Corey was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1961 to 1963 and was a member of the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild. A Republican campaigner in national politics since 1956, Corey was elected to the Santa Monica City Council in April 1965.{{cite news |title=Wendell Corey Wins City Council Seat |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1697&dat=19650412&id=7DEgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bEYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3492,3969501&hl=en |newspaper=Park City Daily News |agency=Associated Press |date=April 12, 1965 |page=9 |access-date=12 June 2024}} Corey supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.{{cite book |last=Critchlow |first=Donald T. |title=When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfHXAAAAQBAJ&q=wendell%20corey |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=October 21, 2013 |isbn=978-1-1076-5028-2}}

Corey died on November 8, 1968, aged 54, at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.{{cite news |title=Wendell Corey Dies; Veteran Movie Actor |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2512&dat=19681109&id=xudHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Hv8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=2383,1248634&hl=en |access-date=12 June 2024 |newspaper=The Morning Record |date=November 9, 1968 |page=5}} Initial reports stated the cause of death was liver disease; however, the likely cause was cirrhosis of the liver as Corey's alcoholism was well-known.{{cite web |title=From Dracut to Hollywood–Wendell Corey |url=https://blogs.lowellsun.com/history/2019/04/13/from-dracut-to-hollywood-wendell-corey/ |date=April 13, 2019 |first=Rebecca A. |last=Duda |website=Discovering the Historic Merrimack Valley}} Funeral services were held at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, California.,{{cite news |title=Wendell Corey Services Held|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19681112&id=TwMdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NZsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1572,2687122&hl=en |access-date=19 June 2015 |newspaper=The Tuscaloosa News |date=November 12, 1968 |page=2 |agency=Associated Press}} and he was interred at North Becket Cemetery in Becket, Massachusetts.https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10394081/wendell-corey

Wendell Corey has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, awarded for his work in TV, at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles.{{cite web |title=Wendell Corey |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/wendell-corey |access-date=19 June 2015 |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame}}

{{unreferenced section|date=September 2022}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-break}}

{{col-end}}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{AFI person | 154353-Wendell-Corey }}
• {{IMDb name}}
• {{Tcmdb name }}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{Find a Grave}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-npo}}

{{succession box

| title = President of Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences

| before= Valentine Davies

| years = 1961–1963

| after = Arthur Freed

}}

{{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corey, Wendell}}

Category:1914 births

Category:1968 deaths

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century California politicians

Category:Alcohol-related deaths in California

Category:American Congregationalists

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:California city council members

Category:California Republicans

Category:Deaths from cirrhosis

Category:Male actors from Massachusetts

Category:People from Dracut, Massachusetts

Category:Presidents of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Category:Federal Theatre Project people

Category:Paramount Pictures contract players

Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players