Robert O. Cornthwaite

Robert Ray Cornthwaite
Cornthwaite and Nan Leslie in an episode of The Californians, 1958
Born	Robert Ray Cornthwaite (1917-04-28)April 28, 1917 Saint Helens, Oregon, U.S.
Died	July 20, 2006(2006-07-20) (aged 89) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Years active	1950–2005

Robert Ray Cornthwaite (April 28, 1917 – July 20, 2006) was an American film and television character actor who began his acting career in 1937, appearing in a college production of Twelfth Night, while attending Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

Cornthwaite was born in Saint Helens, Oregon. He said that his interest in acting began in his early teens, when he was forced to recite one line in a school play.

In the late 1930s, he enrolled in Long Beach City College and worked at radio stations in Southern California. He earned a degree from the University of Southern California after serving as an intelligence officer in the Army Air Force during World War II.

Upon his return to civilian life in 1946, Cornthwaite moved to Hollywood and soon found movie work, typically portraying scientists, lawyers and other "learned types" in a number of studio productions.

In 1951, Cornthwaite was cast in Howard Hawks's production of The Thing from Another World. His character, Dr. Carrington, the unofficial leader of an Arctic polar expedition, observes the nearby crash of an unidentified flying object, and urges his military counterparts to communicate with the creature inside, even at the cost of their own lives. This performance eventually earned him entry into the "Science Fiction Hall of Fame" in 1993.

Other notable films include The War of the Worlds, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Colossus: The Forbin Project and the Joe Dante production of Matinee, in which he shared screen time with fellow 1950s screen notables, William Schallert and Kevin McCarthy in the "film within a film", "MANT", a spoof of sci-fi films. Similarly, Cornthwaite appeared as Dr. Carrington opposite Ken Tobey (again as Hendry) in a spoof titled Attack of the B Movie Monster, shot in 1984. Expanded and retitled The Naked Monster, it was released on DVD in 2005 by Anthem Pictures.