Rory Calhoun

Actor. Born in Los Angeles, California, Rory spent his early years in Santa Cruz, California. The son of a professional gambler and was only nine months old when his father died. His mother remarried, and he occasionally went by Frank Durgin, using the last name of his stepfather.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5860413/rory-calhoun

Actor. Born in Los Angeles, California, he spent his early years in Santa Cruz, California. The son of a professional gambler and was only nine months old when his father died. His mother remarried, and he occasionally went by Frank Durgin, using the last name of his stepfather. His teenage years were his roughest, he stole a revolver, for which he was sent to the California Youth Authority's Preston School of Industry reformatory at Ione, California. He escaped and after robbing several jewelry stores, he stole a car and drove it across state lines. This made it a federal offense, and when he was recaptured, he was sentenced to three years in prison, and served his sentence at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. He was transferred to San Quentin prison on other charges. He remained there until he was paroled shortly before his twenty-first birthday.

In 1943, while riding horseback in the Hollywood Hills, he met actor Alan Ladd, whose wife, Sue Carol was an agent. She landed Rory a one-line role in a Laurel and Hardy comedy, The Bullfighters, credited under the name Frank McCown. Shortly afterwards, the Ladds hosted a party attended by David O. Selznick employee Henry Willson, an agent known for his assortment of young, handsome and marginally talented actors to whom he gave new, unusual names. Willson signed McCown to a contract and initially christened him "Troy Donahue"; it was soon changed to "Rory Calhoun". Willson carefully groomed his new client and taught him the social manners he had never learned in prison.

After playing small parts for a while, he graduated to starring in western films, including River of No Return in 1954 with Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum. His better known pictures include How to Marry a Millionaire in 1953 with Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, and With a Song in My Heart in 1952 with Susan Hayward. From 1959 to 1960 he starred in the CBS television series The Texan. More than two decades later he returned to CBS for five years as Judge Judson Tyler on the daytime serial Capitol. His final appearance, was as Ernest Tucker in Pure Country in 1992. Rory has two stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, One for motion pictures, and one for television. Rory was married twice and produced with his two wives four daughters. His first wife was Lita Baron, they were married from 1948 to 1970, his second wife was Sue Rhodes, they were married from 1971 until his death. He also had another daughter with actress Vitina Marcus while he was married to his first wife Lita. Rory died in Burbank, California at the age of 76 from complications resulting from emphysema and diabetes.

Bio by: Shock