William Whitney Talman, Jr. (February 4, 1915 – August 30, 1968) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
and
movieFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
actor most notably remembered as the Los Angeles District Attorney
Hamilton BurgerHamilton Burger is the fictional Los Angeles district attorney who is the nemesis of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner...
in the long-running series
Perry MasonPerry Mason is an American TV series produced by Paisano Productions that ran from 1957 to 1966. Perry Mason was played by actor Raymond Burr. The title character is a fictional Los Angeles, California, defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
.
Talman was born in
Detroit, MichiganDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
to Ada Barber and William Whitney Talman, a vice president of an electronics company. His maternal grandparents, Catherine Gandy and James Wells Barber, were immigrants from
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
He founded the drama club at the
Cranbrook SchoolsCranbrook Schools is a private, PK-12 school located on a campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The schools comprise a co-educational elementary school, a middle school with separate schools for boys and girls, and a co-educational high school with boarding facilities...
in
Bloomfield Hills, MichiganBloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 3,940...
.
William Whitney Talman, Jr. (February 4, 1915 – August 30, 1968) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
and
movieFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
actor most notably remembered as the Los Angeles District Attorney
Hamilton BurgerHamilton Burger is the fictional Los Angeles district attorney who is the nemesis of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner...
in the long-running series
Perry MasonPerry Mason is an American TV series produced by Paisano Productions that ran from 1957 to 1966. Perry Mason was played by actor Raymond Burr. The title character is a fictional Los Angeles, California, defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
.
Family and education
Talman was born in
Detroit, MichiganDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
to Ada Barber and William Whitney Talman, a vice president of an electronics company. His maternal grandparents, Catherine Gandy and James Wells Barber, were immigrants from
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
He founded the drama club at the
Cranbrook SchoolsCranbrook Schools is a private, PK-12 school located on a campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The schools comprise a co-educational elementary school, a middle school with separate schools for boys and girls, and a co-educational high school with boarding facilities...
in
Bloomfield Hills, MichiganBloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 3,940...
. He continued to act at
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
and the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan, Ann Arbor is a public research university located in the state of Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university, the flagship campus of the University of Michigan, and one of the top public universities in the world...
. After college he worked in summer stock and at an iron foundry, paper mills, boat yards, and as an automobile salesman.
He served for 30 months in the army in the Pacific in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, beginning his service as a private on February 4, 1942 at
Camp UptonCamp Upton was an installation of the United States Army located in Yaphank on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. It was located near Camp Mills.-History:...
in Yaphank, (Long Island) New York. He was ultimately commissioned a major during the war.
Acting career
Before his iconic television role, he worked on the Broadway stage and in movies. He played a sadistic psychopathic killer in 1953's
B movieA B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture conceived neither as an arthouse film nor as pornography. In its original usage, during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double...
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
,
The Hitch-Hiker . The
New York Times said of him: "William Talman, as the ruthless murderer, make the most of one of the year's juiciest assignments."
Aside from his role in
Perry Mason, he also guest-starred in television series. He appeared in a first season episode of
The InvadersThe Invaders, a Quinn Martin Production , is an ABC science fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that ran in the United States for two seasons, from January 10, 1967 to March 26, 1968...
, Quantity: Unknown. This would be his last on-screen acting role.
Originally Talman auditioned for the title role of
Perry Mason and Raymond Burr for Hamilton Burger. However,
Perry Mason creator and author Erle Stanley Gardner was present and demanded the actors switch parts. Burr was then given the title role and Talman the role of Burger. Talman as Burger would go on to lose all but three cases in the nine year series, including a record two separate murder trials in the final episode. He called his record “the longest losing streak in history”.
William Talman was fired from
Perry Mason for a short period. Sheriff's deputies suspicious of marijuana use raided a party in a private home in Beverly Hills, at which Talman was a guest, on March 13, 1960. The deputies reported finding Talman and other defendants in the nude. Even though a morals charge was made against Talman (and vagrancy charges and lewd conduct against others at the party), municipal judge Adolph Alexander dismissed the charge against Talman on June 18. “I don’t approve of their conduct,” the judge ruled, “but there has been no violation of the law established.” Despite this, Talman was fired when a "morals" clause was invoked in his contract—producers were afraid this incident would damage the show's image. However, Raymond Burr and the rest of the cast demanded the CBS network rehire Talman, and there was a deluge of fan mail demanding his reinstatement. CBS ultimately did bring him back on the set in December, 1960. But the incident (and possibly his typecasting as the never-ending loser Hamilton Burger) somewhat damaged Talman's career—other than
Perry Mason he worked very infrequently as an actor from then on.
Personal Information
Talman was married three times. His first wife was the actress Lynne Carter – their marriage lasted from just before Talman left for active service in 1942 to September 1952 and produced one daughter, Lynda. His second wife was the actress
Barbara ReadBarbara Read, also known as Barbara Reed, was a Canadian film actress of the 1930s and 1940s, who appeared in twenty one films during her career....
. They had one daughter, Barbie, and one son, William Whitney Talman III. The couple divorced on August 23, 1960. His third wife was Margaret Flanagan whom he married in 1963. Margaret had a son (Steve) and daughter (Debbie) from a previous marriage. William and Margaret had two children: a son,
TimothyTim Talman is an American stage, film, and television actor. He is the youngest son of the late William Talman, who was known on television as Perry Mason's district attorney, Hamilton Burger. With the rest of his family, he appeared in a William Talman 1968 anti-smoking ad. Talman graduated...
, and a daughter, Susan.
Anti-smoking advocacy and death
Talman is also known for being the first actor in Hollywood to film an anti-smoking commercial for the
American Cancer SocietyThe American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service."The society is...
. A lifelong heavy smoker, he was diagnosed with
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs. The vast majority of primary lung cancers are carcinomas of the lung, derived from epithelial cells...
, and knew he was dying when he filmed the commercial. The short film began with the words, "Before I die I want to do what I can to leave a world free of cancer for my six children ... ". Talman requested that the commercial not be aired until after his death.
He had made another such commercial, which opened with his voice-over and a picture of his home, followed by filmed shots of his wife and kids, then a still of himself "with a friend of mine you might recognize,"
Raymond BurrRaymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside and his lead role as Steve Martin in Godzilla, King of the Monsters and Godzilla 1985.-Early life:He was born Raymond William Stacey Burr in New Westminster, British...
, from the
Perry Mason TV series. He then said, "You know, I didn't mind losing those courtroom battles, but I'm in a battle now I don't want to lose at all. Because if I lose it it means losing my wife and those kids you just met. I've got lung cancer...If you don't smoke, don't start. If you do smoke, quit! Don't be a loser." This classic ad is available on the Internet.
Four weeks after filming the second ad, Talman succumbed to
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs. The vast majority of primary lung cancers are carcinomas of the lung, derived from epithelial cells...
on August 30, 1968 at the age of 53. He was interred in
Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills CemeteryForest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica...
in Los Angeles.