Royal Edward Dano

Cadaverous, hollow-eyed Royal Dano made his theatrical entree as a minor player in the Broadway musical hit Finian's Rainbow. He is best remembered for his supporting roles in a number of 1950s western and mystery films. In Mr. Lincoln, a five-part TV episode appearing in 1952-53 on Omnibus, Royal Dano very convincingly portrayed Lincoln.

He was born Royal Edward Dano on November 16th 1922 in New York City, New York to Mary Josephine (née O'Connor), an Irish immigrant, and Caleb Edward Dano, a printer for newspapers.

At the age of twelve he left home and lived in such states as Texas, Florida and California. He was convinced by his father to keep his education going as long as he could continue to travel. After graduating from New York University he began his pursuit of a career in acting.

During World War II he performed as part of the 44th Special Service Provisional Company and then began to find work as a stage actor in New York. His Broadway debut was in a production of, "Finian's Rainbow" where he received a nomination by the New York's Critics Circle as one of the Promising Actors of 1949.

Soon he was working in the film industry mostly on westerns and mystery films. Some of his film roles were on, Moby Dick (1956), The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), The Red Badge of Courage (1954), King of Kings (1961), The Fugitive (1964) and Welcome to Hard Times (1967) and Cahill, U.S. Marshall (1973) starring John Wayne.

Along with working as a film actor, he made numerous television appearances on such series as, Have Gun - Will Travel, Bonanza, Justice, The Lloyd Bridges Show, The Legend of Jesse James, The Rifleman, Daniel Boone, The FBI and Death Valley Days among many others.

He also did voice over work for Walt Disney's, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and also portrayed Abraham Lincoln on the Omnibus television series.

Dano married only one time and has two children, Rick and Royal Edward Dano Jr. His son, Rick Dano went on to pursue a career as a working actor as well.

Royal Dano passed away on may 15th, 1994 in Los Angeles, California after suffering from a heart attack which was caused by a previous car accident he was in at the age of seventy one. He is interred at the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Sources: Matinee Classics, Wikipedia