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Forrest Tucker

Forrest Tucker

Actor · 1919 – 1986 · Plainfield, Indiana, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker described himself as a farm boy. He was born in Plainfield, Indiana, on February 12, 1919, a son of Forrest A. Tucker and his wife, Doris Heringlake. His mother has been described as an alcoholic. Tucker began his performing career at age 14 at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, pushing the big wicker tourist chairs by day and singing "Throw Money" at night. After his family moved to Washington, D.C., Tucker attracted the attention of Jimmy Lake, the owner of the Old Gaiety Burlesque Theater, by winning its Saturday night amateur contest on consecutive weeks. After his second win, Tucker was hired there at full time as Master of Ceremonies, but left when it was soon discovered that he was underage. He graduated from Washington-Lee High School, Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., in 1938, and, joining the United States Cavalry, was stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington County, Virginia, but discharged for, once again, being underage. He returned to work at the Old Gaiety after his 18th birthday. When Lake's theatre closed for the summer in 1939, Tucker was helped by a wealthy mentor to travel to California and try to break into film acting. He made a successful screen test, and began auditioning for movie roles. In his own estimation, Tucker was in the mold of large "ugly guys" such as Wallace Beery, Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen, rather than a matinee idol. His debut was as a powerfully built farmer who clashes with the hero in The Westerner (1940), which starred Gary Cooper. Like many other movie actors at the time, Tucker enlisted in the United States Army during World War II; he earned a commission as a second lieutenant. Tucker married four times: Sandra Jolley (1919–1986) in 1940, divorced in 1950, daughter of the character actor I. Stanford Jolley (who also died of emphysema) and the sister of the Academy Award-winning art director Stan Jolley. They had a daughter, Pamela "Brooke" Tucker. Marilyn Johnson on March 28, 1950 (died on July 19, 1960). Marilyn Fisk on October 23, 1961. They had a daughter, Cindy Tucker, and son, Forrest Sean Tucker. Sheila Forbes on April 15, 1986. Tucker, who had battled lung cancer for more than a year, as well as having a series of minor illnesses, collapsed and was hospitalized, for the second time in a week, on his way to the ceremony for his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 21, 1986. He died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital on October 25, 1986, a few months after the theatrical release of Thunder Run and Outtakes. He was interred in Forest Lawn–Hollywood Hills Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. CLR

Movies24

  • Movie6.6

    Chisum

    1970 · 212 votes

  • Movie5.8

    Pony Express

    1953 · 29 votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Westerner

    1940 · 138 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Sands of Iwo Jima

    1950 · 180 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Barquero

    1970 · 54 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Auntie Mame

    1958 · 129 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Three Violent People

    1956 · 44 votes

  • Movie7.6

    La Classe américaine

    1993 · 254 votes

  • Movie5.4

    Bugles in the Afternoon

    1952 · 14 votes

  • Movie5.5
  • Movie5.4
  • Movie6.7

    The Yearling

    1946 · 107 votes

  • Movie5.7

    Gunfighters

    1947 · 24 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Montana Belle

    1952 · 8 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Keeper of the Flame

    1943 · 47 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Rage at Dawn

    1955 · 30 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Warpath

    1951 · 15 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Coroner Creek

    1948 · 31 votes

  • Movie5.4

    Timestalkers

    1987 · 47 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Flaming Feather

    1952 · 10 votes

  • Movie4.5

    A Real American Hero

    1978 · 4 votes

  • Movie4.8

    The Trollenberg Terror

    The Crawling Eye

    1958 · 97 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Fort Massacre

    1958 · 25 votes

  • Movie8.0

Series24

  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV8.1

    Columbo

    1971 · 859 votes

  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV6.3

    The Love Boat

    1977 · 199 votes

  • TV7.5

    Bonanza

    1959 · 500 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV6.8

    Ironside

    1967 · 71 votes

  • TV8.0
  • TV6.2

    Love, American Style

    1969 · 21 votes

  • TV6.6

    Wagon Train

    1957 · 31 votes

  • TV5.7

    Dr. Kildare

    1961 · 19 votes

  • TV7.0

    Alice

    1976 · 63 votes

  • TV6.5

    The Virginian

    1962 · 35 votes

  • TV6.0
  • TV3.8

    Climax!

    1954 · 12 votes

  • TV7.0

    Daniel Boone

    1964 · 34 votes

  • TV6.4

    Police Woman

    1974 · 33 votes

  • TV6.3

    Burke's Law

    1963 · 12 votes

  • TV7.2

    Rawhide

    1959 · 49 votes

  • TV6.5

    Fantasy Island

    1978 · 130 votes

  • TV6.4

    Medical Center

    1969 · 14 votes

  • TV6.3

    Matt Houston

    1982 · 28 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV7.3

    Kojak

    1973 · 154 votes