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Howard Duff

Howard Duff

Actor · 1913 – 1990

Howard Green Duff (November 24, 1913 – July 8, 1990) was an American actor of film, television, stage, and radio. Duff was born in Charleston, Washington, now a part of Bremerton. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in Seattle in 1932 where he began acting in school plays only after he was cut from the basketball team. His first film role was as an inmate in Brute Force. His other movies include The Naked City (1948), All My Sons (1948), Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949), Panic in the City (1968), In Search of America (1971), A Wedding (1978) and No Way Out (1987). He appeared in a number of films with his first wife, actress/director Ida Lupino. One of Duff's later performances was as Dustin Hoffman's attorney in the Academy Award-winning Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). On radio, Duff played Dashiell Hammett's private eye Sam Spade from 1946–1950, starring in The Adventures of Sam Spade on three different networks - ABC, CBS and NBC. In 1951 Steve Dunne took over the role of Sam Spade. Duff also appeared in an episode of Climax! entitled Escape From Fear in 1955. On television, Duff appeared with his then wife Ida Lupino in the CBS comedy Mr. Adams and Eve from January 1957 through September 1958, in which they played husband and wife film stars named Howard Adams and Eve Drake. He played the young Samuel Langhorne Clemens, in his early life in the West as a satirical and crusading journalist, in the TV series Bonanza ("Enter Mark Twain," season 1, episode 5, 1959). In 1960 he played the male main character in The Twilight Zone episode "A World of Difference" as Arthur Curtis/Jerry Raigan. From October 1960 through April 1961, Duff played Willie Dante, owner of the San Francisco nightclub, Dante's Inferno, in the NBC adventure/drama series Dante. In 1964, Duff guest starred as Harold Baker on the episode "Prodigy" of NBC's medical drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour, starring Jack Ging and Ralph Bellamy. In 1990, he guest starred on an episode of The Golden Girls (episode: The Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding Present). From September 1966 through January 1969, Duff portrayed Detective Sergeant Sam Stone in the ABC police drama Felony Squad with costar Dennis Cole. In the 1980s, he appeared on dramas such as NBC's Flamingo Road and Knots Landing, and Dallas, both on CBS.

Movies24

  • Movie7.6

    Kramer vs. Kramer

    1979 · 2.5K votes

  • Movie6.9

    No Way Out

    1987 · 849 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Brute Force

    1947 · 221 votes

  • Movie7.2

    The Naked City

    1948 · 292 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Boys' Night Out

    1962 · 29 votes

  • Movie6.9

    While the City Sleeps

    1956 · 150 votes

  • Movie4.9

    Monster in the Closet

    1986 · 95 votes

  • Movie5.0

    This Girl for Hire

    1983 · 7 votes

  • Movie6.3

    A Wedding

    1978 · 65 votes

  • Movie5.5

    Panic in the City

    1968 · 6 votes

  • Movie4.7

    Too Much Sun

    1991 · 13 votes

  • Movie6.1
  • Movie7.0

    Actor

    1978 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Woman in Hiding

    1950 · 39 votes

  • Movie4.0

    In the Glitter Palace

    1977 · 4 votes

  • Movie10.0

    Flamingo Road

    1980 · 1 votes

  • Movie7.5

    Ski Lift to Death

    1978 · 2 votes

  • Movie5.0

    Love on the Run

    1985 · 2 votes

  • Movie3.0
  • Movie6.3

    The Late Show

    1977 · 69 votes

  • Movie4.8

    Spaceways

    1953 · 16 votes

  • Movie5.4

    The Yellow Mountain

    1954 · 14 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Roses Are for the Rich

    1987 · 3 votes

  • Movie4.7

    Flame of the Islands

    1955 · 9 votes

Series24

  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV6.3

    The Love Boat

    1977 · 199 votes

  • TV6.9

    Knots Landing

    1979 · 47 votes

  • TV7.3

    Magnum, P.I.

    1980 · 461 votes

  • TV6.8

    Mannix

    1967 · 56 votes

  • TV7.9
  • TV7.6

    The Rockford Files

    1974 · 133 votes

  • TV5.7

    St. Elsewhere

    1982 · 93 votes

  • TV7.3

    Batman

    1966 · 618 votes

  • TV8.5

    The Twilight Zone

    1959 · 1.1K votes

  • TV6.5

    The Virginian

    1962 · 35 votes

  • TV7.5
  • TV6.8

    Hotel

    1982 · 26 votes

  • TV3.8

    Climax!

    1954 · 12 votes

  • TV7.9

    Combat!

    1962 · 119 votes

  • TV7.6

    The Golden Girls

    1985 · 413 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Name of the Game

    1968 · 13 votes

  • TV6.7

    Charlie's Angels

    1976 · 241 votes

  • TV5.9
  • TV6.3

    Burke's Law

    1963 · 12 votes

  • TV6.5

    Fantasy Island

    1978 · 130 votes

  • TV6.7

    Scarecrow and Mrs. King

    1983 · 46 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes