Rory Calhoun
| Rory Calhoun | |
|---|---|
Photo from 1961
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|
| Born |
Francis Timothy McCown August 8, 1922 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | April 28, 1999 (aged 76) Burbank, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Smoke |
| Years active | 1941–1993 |
| Spouse(s) |
Lita Baron (1948–1970) Sue Rhodes (1971–1979; 1982–1999) |
Rory Calhoun (August 8, 1922 – April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor, screenwriter and producer. He was born Francis Timothy McCown in Los Angeles, California, and spent his early childhood in Santa Cruz, California. Calhoun worked a number of odd jobs before being discovered by agent Henry Willson. He entered into a contract with Willson and soon his name was changed to Rory Calhoun. He first appeared on film in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945).
Born Francis Timothy McCown in Los Angeles, California, Calhoun spent his early years in Santa Cruz, California. The son of a professional gambler, he was of Irish ancestry. He was only nine months old when his father died; Calhoun's mother remarried, and he occasionally went by Frank Durgin, using the last name of his stepfather.
At age thirteen, 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 while in the adjustment center (jail within the jail). 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. He served his sentence at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. He remained there until he was paroled shortly before his twenty-first birthday.
Calhoun worked at a number of odd jobs. In 1943, while riding horseback in the Hollywood Hills, he met actor Alan Ladd, whose wife, Sue Carol was an agent. She landed Calhoun 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 it was soon changed to "Rory Calhoun". Willson carefully groomed his new client.
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