Forrest Tucker

Acting February 12, 1919 (67 years old) October 25, 1986 Plainfield, Indiana, USA

Biography

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

Forrest Tucker

Biography

Movies 94

Auntie Mame

Pony Express

Chisum

Sands of Iwo Jima

The Abominable Snowman

Renegades

The Yearling

Three Violent People

The Westerner

Gunfighters

Final Chapter: Walking Tall

The Trollenberg Terror

The Strange World of Planet X

The Night They Raided Minsky's

Keeper of the Flame

Coroner Creek

La Classe américaine

Warpath

Bugles in the Afternoon

Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

A Real American Hero

Two Guys from Texas

Fort Massacre

Never Say Goodbye

Rage at Dawn

Canal Zone

Hellfire

Shut My Big Mouth

Thunder Run

Timestalkers

Flaming Feather

Barquero

The Man Who Dared

The Nevadan

The Wackiest Wagon Train in the West

The Plunderers

The Wild Blue Yonder

Katy Caterpillar

Cancel My Reservation

Cat Ballou

Brimstone

The Deerslayer

The Big Cat

Hoodlum Empire

Ride the Man Down

Doc

The Incredible Rocky Mountain Race

Counter-Espionage

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood

Rock Island Trail

Finger Man

Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!

Oh! Susanna

Talk About a Lady

Break in the Circle

The Spirit of Stanford

Gunsmoke in Tucson

Montana Belle

Girl in the Woods

Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title

The Quiet Gun

Honolulu Lu

Fighting Coast Guard

Hurricane Smith

My Sister Eileen

Jubilee Trail

The Wild McCullochs

Trouble in the Glen

California Passage

The Vanishing American

The Last Bandit

Parachute Nurse

The Big Moment

San Antone

Submarine Raider

A Boy Called Nuthin’