Lionel Stander & "Freeway"

Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American character actor in movies, radio, theater and television. Image File history File links www. ... Image File history File links www. ... January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... November 30 is the 334th day (335th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 31 days remaining. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... A character actor is an actor who predominantly performs supporting parts, often in similar roles throughout the course of a career. ...

Lionel Stander was born in The Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants, the first of three children. His acting career began in 1928, as Cop and First Fairy in "Him" by e.e. cummings at the Provincetown Playhouse. He claimed that he got the role because he shot craps with some of the company. He appeared in a string of short-lived plays through the early 1930s, including The House Beautiful, which Dorothy Parker famously derided as "the play lousy." In 1932, he landed his first film role in the Warner-Vitaphone short feature In the Dough, with Fatty Arbuckle and Shemp Howard. He made several other shorts, the last being The Old Grey Mayor with Bob Hope in 1935. That year, he was in his first feature, Noel Coward's The Scoundrel. He moved to Hollywood and was put under contract at Columbia Pictures. Stander acted steadily through the 1930s, most notably in Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Gary Cooper and Meet Nero Wolfe in 1936, and A Star Is Born with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in 1937. Housing projects in the infamous South Bronx area. ... NY redirects here. ... Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962) was an American poet and writer. ... Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. ... Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle (March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film comedian. ... Samuel Shemp Howard / (Horwitz) (March 17, 1895 – November 22, 1955) was part of the Three Stooges comedy team. ... Bob Hope, KBE (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003), born Leslie Townes Hope, was an English-Born American entertainer who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio and television, in movies, and in performing tours for U.S. Military personnel, well known for his good natured humor and career longevity. ... Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Mr. ... Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor of English heritage. ... DVD cover showing stars Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. ... Janet Gaynor Janet Gaynor [1] (October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an actress who, in 1928, was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress. ... Fredric March photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Fredric March (August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor. ...

Stander's distinctive rumbling voice, tough-guy demeanor and talent with accents made him a popular radio actor. In the 1930s and 1940s he was on the Eddie Cantor Show, Bing Crosby's KMH show, the Lux Radio Theater production of A Star Is Born, The Fred Allen Show, the Mayor of the Town series with Lionel Barrymore and Agnes Moorehead, Kraft Music Hall on NBC, Stage Door Canteen on CBS, the Lincoln Highway Radio Show on NBC, and The Jack Paar Show, among others. In 1941 he originated the title role of The Life of Riley on CBS, later made famous by William Bendix. He was a regular on Danny Kaye's zany comedy-variety radio show on CBS (1946–1947), playing himself as "just the elevator operator" amidst the antics of Kaye, future Our Miss Brooks star Eve Arden, and bandleader Harry James. Harry Lillis Bing Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor whose career lasted from 1926 until his death in 1977. ... A Star Is Born is the title of three films: A Star Is Born (1937 film), starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. ... Mayor of the Town was a comedy-drama series that aired on radio from 1942 to 1949 on CBS and NBC, and starred noted actor Lionel Barrymore as the mayor of the fictional town of Springdale. ... Lionel Barrymore Herbert Lionel Blyth (April 28, 1878 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – November 15, 1954 in Van Nuys, California) was an American actor of stage, radio and film. ... Moorehead as Endora on Bewitched Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900 – April 30, 1974) was an Oscar-nominated American character actress. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Stage Door Canteen is a 1943 film. ... The First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush and current host Jay Leno. ... The Life of Riley is an expression meaning an ideal life of carefree prosperity and contentment. ... William Bendix (January 14, 1906 - December 14, 1964) was an American film actor. ... Kaye entertaining U.S. troops at Sasebo, Japan, 25 Oct 1945 David Daniel Kaminsky, known as Danny Kaye (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, singer and comedian. ... Radio broadcasts have been a popular entertainment since the 1910s, though popularity has declined a little in some countries since television became widespread. ... CBS is one of the largest radio and television networks in the United States. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... A set of lifts in the lower level of a London Underground station. ... Our Miss Brooks, an American situation comedy, began as a radio hit in 1948 and migrated to television in 1952, becoming one of the earlier hits of the so-called Golden Age of Television, and making a star out of Eve Arden as comely, wisecracking, but humane high school English... Eve Arden (April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990) was an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy--winning American actress, who established a lengthy career as a supporting and character actor but was best remembered for playing a sardonically engaging high school teacher in the radio and television classic Our Miss Brooks. ... Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was a popular United States musician and band leader, and a well-known trumpet virtuoso. ...

Strongly liberal and pro-labor, Stander espoused a variety of social and political causes, and was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. At a SAG meeting held during a 1937 studio technicians' strike, he told the assemblage of 2000 members, "With the eyes of the whole world on this meeting, will it not give the Guild a black eye if its members continue to cross picket lines?" (The NYT reported: "Cheers mingled with boos greeted the question.") Stander also supported the Conference of Studio Unions in its fight against the Mob-influenced International Alliance of Stage Employees (IATSE). The Screen Actors Guild (S.A.G.) is the labor union representing over 120,000 film actors in the United States. ... The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, or I.A.T.S.E., (Full name: International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada) is a labor union. ...

Consequently in 1938, Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn called Stander "a Red son of a bitch," and threatened a $100,000 fine against any studio that renewed his contract. Stander was among the first group of Hollywood actors to be subpoenaed before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1940 for supposed Communist activities. A subpoena is a writ commanding a person to appear under penalty (from Latin). ... HUAC hearings House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC or HCUA) (1938–1975) was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...

At a grand jury hearing in Los Angeles in August 1940--the transcript of which was shortly released to the press--John R. Leech, the self-described former "chief functionary" of the Communist Party in Los Angeles, named Stander as a CP member, along with more than 15 other Hollywood notables, including Franchot Tone, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Clifford Odets and Budd Schulberg. Stander subsequently forced himself into the grand jury hearing, and the district attorney cleared him of the allegations.

Due to the foregoing, Stander appeared in no movies from 1939 to 1941; then, with HUAC's attentions focused elsewhere during World War II, he played in a number of mostly second-rate pictures from independent studios through the late 1940s. The most memorable of the lot are Guadalcanal Diary (1943), Ben Hecht's Specter of the Rose (1946), Harold Lloyd's The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) and Preston Sturges's Unfaithfully Yours with Rex Harrison (1948). You may be looking for one of the following three articles: Guadalcanal Diary (band) Guadalcanal Diary (film) Guadalcanal Diary (book) ... Ben Hecht (February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter, even though he professed disdain for the motion picture industry. ... Harold Clayton Lloyd (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American film actor and director, most famous for his silent comedies. ... Preston Sturges (August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959), originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated screenwriter and director born in Chicago. ... Unfaithfully Yours is a 1948 film written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell and Rudy Vallee. ... Sir Reginald Carey Rex Harrison (b. ...

HUAC returned its attention to Hollywood in 1947. That October, Howard Rushmore, who had belonged to the CP in the 1930s and written movie reviews for the Daily Worker, testifed that writer John Howard Lawson, whom he named as a Communist, had "referred to Lionel Stander as a perfect example of how a Communist should not act in Hollywood." Stander was blacklisted from movies again, though he played on TV, radio and in the theater. Actor Marc Lawrence named him as a Communist in a HUAC hearing in 1951, after which Stander was blacklisted from TV and radio. He continued to act in the theater, and was in a 1953 revival of Pal Joey on Broadway and on tour. John Howard Lawson (September 25, 1894 - August 11, 1977) was an American writer. ... Protestors opposing the jailing of the Hollywood Ten in 1950 (from the 1987 documentary Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist). ... Marc Lawrence in This Gun for Hire Marc Lawrence (February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005), born Max Goldsmith, was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. ... Pal Joey Studio cast album 1950 Pal Joey is a 1940 Broadway musical by American writer John OHara, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. ...

In March 1951, after pleading with HUAC investigators not to force him to "crawl through the mud" as an informer, actor Larry Parks named several people as Communists in a "closed-door session," which made the newspapers two days later. He testified that he knew Stander, but didn't recall attending any CP meetings with him. Larry Parks (December 13, 1914 - April 13, 1975) was an American actor who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses during the era of McCarthyism. ...

At a HUAC hearing in April 1951, actor Marc Lawrence named Stander as a member of his Hollywood Communist "cell," along with actor Lester Cole and screenwriter Gordon Kahn. Lawrence testified that Stander "was the guy who introduced me to the party line," and that Stander said that by joining the CP, he'd "get to know the dames more"--which Lawrence, who didn't enjoy movie-star looks, thought a good idea. Upon hearing of this, Stander shot off a telegram to HUAC chair John S. Wood, calling Lawrence's testimony that he was a Communist "ridiculous" and asking to appear before the Committee, so he could swear to that under oath. The telegram concluded: "I respectfully request an opportunity to appear before you at your earliest possible convenience. Be assured of my cooperation." Two days later, Stander sued Lawrence for $500,000 for slander. Lawrence left the country ("fled," according to Stander) for Europe. Marc Lawrence in This Gun for Hire Marc Lawrence (February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005), born Max Goldsmith, was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. ...

Two years passed before Stander was issued the requested subpoena, during which he had no movie work. Finally, in May 1953, he testified at a HUAC hearing in New York, where he made front-page headlines nationwide by being uproariously uncooperative, memorialized in the Eric Bentley play, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been. The New York Times headline was "Stander Lectures House Red Inquiry." In a dig at bandleader Artie Shaw, who had tearfully claimed in a Committee hearing that he had been "duped" by the Communist Party, Stander testified, Eric Bentley Eric Bentley, (September 14, 1916 -) born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, became an American citizen in 1948. ... Are You Now or Have You Ever Been is episode 2 of season 2 in the television show Angel. ...

"I am not a dupe, or a dope, or a moe, or a schmoe...I was absolutely conscious of what I was doing, and I am not ashamed of anything I said in public or private."

An excerpt from that statement was engraved in stone for "The First Amendment Blacklist Memorial" by Jenni Holzer at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Other notable statements during Stander's 1953 HUAC testimony:

• "[Testifying before HUAC] is like the Spanish Inquisition. You may not be burned, but you can't help coming away a little singed."
• "I don't know about the overthrow of the government. This committee has been investigating 15 years so far, and hasn't found one act of violence."
• "I know of a group of fanatics who are desperately trying to undermine the Constitution of the United States by depriving pacifists and others of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness without due process of law."
• "...I don't want to be responsible for a whole stable of informers, stool pigeons, and psychopaths and ex-political heretics, who come in here beating their breast and say, 'I am awfully sorry; I didn't know what I was doing. Please--I want absolution; get me back into pictures.'"
• "My estimation of this committee is that this committee arrogates judicial and punitive powers which it does not possess."

After that, Stander's acting career went into a free fall. He worked as a stock broker on Wall Street, a journeyman stage actor, a corporate spokesman--even a New Orleans Mardi Gras king. He didn't return to Broadway till 1961 (and then only briefly in a flop) and to film in 1963, in the low-budget "The Moving Finger".

Life improved for Stander when he moved to London in 1964 to act in St. Joan of the Stockyards, directed by Tony Richardson, for whom he'd acted on Broadway, along with Christopher Plummer, in a stillborn 1963 production of Alberto Ui, also by Bertolt Brecht. The next year, Richardson broke the Hollywood blacklist for Stander by casting him in the black comedy about the funeral industry, The Loved One (film), based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh (who disavowed the movie), with an all-star cast including Jonathan Winters, Robert Morse, Liberace, Rod Steiger, Paul Williams and many others. In 1966, Roman Polanski memorably cast Stander in his only starring role, as the thug Dickie in Cul-de-Sac, opposite Françoise Dorléac and Donald Pleasence. Tony Richardson (June 5, 1928 - November 14, 1991) was a British theatre and film director and producer. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Loved One is a 1965 film based on The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy (1948) a short satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh about the funeral business in Los Angeles. ... The Loved One was also a short movie directed by wrestler Mick Foley chronicling the rise to success of his character Dude Love. ... Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Jonathan Winters (born November 11, 1925 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American comedic actor. ... Actor Robert Morse photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1958 Robert Morse (b. ... Liberace shows off his rings (circa 1980). ... Rod Steiger (April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an American actor. ... Paul Williams is the name of three popular music musicians: Paul Williams, songwriter for Carpenters and many others, as well as actor in movies and TV. Paul Williams, rhythm and blues saxophonist Paul Williams, one of the lead singers of the popular Motown act The Temptations Other Paul Williams: Paul... Roman Raymond PolaÅ„ski (born August 18, 1933 in Paris) is an Academy Award-winning Polish film director, writer, and producer. ... For the musical group, see Cul de Sac (group). ... Françoise Dorléac (1942 - 1967), was a popular French actress. ... Donald Pleasence, OBE (October 5, 1919 – February 2, 1995) was an English actor. ...

Stander stayed in Europe and eventually settled in Rome, where he appeared in many spaghetti Westerns, most notably playing a bartender named Max in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. In Rome he connected with Robert Wagner, who cast him in an episode of It Takes a Thief that was shot there. Stander's few English-language movies in the 1970s include The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight with Robert De Niro and Jerry Orbach, Steven Spielberg's 1941, and Martin Scorsese's New York, New York with Liza Minelli and Robert De Niro. Movie poster for Once Upon a Time in the West Spaghetti Western is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most of them were produced by Italian studios. ... Sergio Leone (January 3, 1929 – April 30, 1989) was an Italian film director who is considered by many to be on the short list of the greatest film directors of all time. ... The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... For other persons named Robert Wagner, see Robert Wagner (disambiguation). ... It Takes a Thief was an American action-adventure television series that aired on the ABC Network for two and a half seasons between January 9, 1968 to March 24, 1970. ... The Gang That Couldnt Shoot Straight is a film released in 1971, directed by James Goldstone. ... Robert Mario De Niro Jr. ... Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor best known for his starring role as wisecracking Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and for his musical theater roles. ... This article or section contains a plot summary that is overly long. ... Martin Luciano Scorsese (IPA: AmE: ; Ita: []) (born November 17, 1942) is an Academy Award-winning American film director. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... Liza Minnelli (born March 12, 1946) is an American actress and singer. ... Robert Mario De Niro Jr. ...

Stander early in his career in A Star Is Born (1937)

After 15 years abroad, Stander moved back to the U.S. for the role he is now most famous for: Max, the loyal butler, cook, and chauffeur to the wealthy, amateur detectives played by Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers on the 1979–1984 television series Hart to Hart (and a subsequent series of Hart to Hart made-for-TV movies). In 1983, Stander won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV". In 1986, he became the voice of Kup in Transformers: The Movie. His final theatrical movie role, fittingly, was as a dying hospital patient in The Last Good Time (1994), with Armin Mueller-Stahl and Olivia d'Abo, directed by Bob Balaban. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... DVD cover showing stars Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. ... // For other uses see Butler (disambiguation) The butler is a senior servant in a large household. ... A cook is a person that prepares food for consumption. ... A chauffeur in Japan A driver in Kerala A chauffeur is one who drives an automobile as a job. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... For other persons named Robert Wagner, see Robert Wagner (disambiguation). ... Stefanie Powers with Robert Wagner Stefanie Powers (born Stefanie Zofya Paul[1] on November 2, 1942) is an American stage and film actress and singer. ... Stefanie Powers & Robert Wagner Lionel Stander & Freeway Hart to Hart was an American television series starring Robert Wagner as Jonathan Hart and Stefanie Powers as his wife Jennifer, who lived in a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles. ... Telefilm redirects here. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ... Kup is the name of a fictional character in the Transformers universe. ... Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 feature film version of the popular television series Transformers based on the line of toys by Hasbro. ... Armin Mueller-Stahl (born December 17, 1930) is a German film actor. ... Olivia dAbo as Nicole Wallace on Law & Order: Criminal Intent Olivia dAbo (born January 22, 1967 although she claims to have been born in 1971 according to her own personal website in London, England) is a former child actress (aged 13?-17), and sometime singer, whose career has... Bob Balaban (born August 16, 1945 in Chicago) is an American actor and director. ...

Stander's personal life was as tumultuous as his professional one. He was married six times--always to beautiful young women, most of them artists--the first time in 1932 and the last in 1972. All but the last marriage ended in divorce. He fathered six daughters (one wife had no children; one had twins), the first five of whom he left by age three.

Stander died of lung cancer in Los Angeles, California, at age 86. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Lung cancer is the malignant transformation and expansion of lung tissue, and is the most lethal of all cancers worldwide, responsible for up to 3 million deaths annually. ... Nickname: City of Angels Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: State California County Los Angeles County Incorporated April 4, 1850 Government  - Type mayor-council  - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D)  - City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo  - Governing body City Council Area  - City  498. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Gates of Forest Lawn Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a cemetery in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. ... Nickname: The Jewel City Location of Glendale within Los Angeles County and the State of California. ...

External links

• Lionel Stander at the Internet Movie Database
• Lionel Stander at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lionel Jay Stander at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lionel Stander: A Hollywood Story
• Lionel Stander: He wasn't afraid of John Wayne...or anyone else (New York Times interview, 1971)
• TV Guide interview with Lionel Stander, 1981
• Lionel Stander - Find A Grave Memorial
• IATSE Local 728: The Sixtieth Anniversary of the “War for Warner Brothers”