Glen Vernon

Glen Vernon
Vernon in an episode ofThe Public Defender(1955)
Born	Glenn Vernon (1923-10-27)October 27, 1923 Fall River, Massachusetts,U.S.
Died	October 27, 1999(1999-10-27)(aged 76) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles,U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1944-1999

Glen Vernon(bornGlenn Vernon;October 27, 1923 – October 27, 1999) was an American actor.

Glenn Vernon hailed from Fall River, Massachusetts,and pursued a dramatic career upon graduation from high school. He used his given name of Glenn Vernon until 1950, when he adopted "Glen Vernon" as his professional name.

By 1944 he was established as a Broadway juvenile, and he was recruited byRKO Radio Picturesto play a sensitive Russian soldier in the filmDays of Glory.Signed to a term contract, Vernon went on to play featured roles in dramas, comedies, and musicals, among themYouth Runs Wild,Step Lively,Those Endearing Young Charms,Bedlam,Riverboat Rhythm,andThe Woman on the Beach.

The RKO studio often offered its own version of another studio's popular property. WhenUniversal PictureshadAbbott and Costello,RKO's answer wasBrown and Carney.In the musical-comedy field, Universal hadDonald O'ConnorandPeggy RyanwhileMetro-Goldwyn-MayerhadMickey RooneyandJudy Garland.RKO teamed its popular young players Glenn Vernon andMarcy McGuire.This pairing resulted in two features, the second being Glenn Vernon's only leading role: a hapless jazz clarinetist who can't read music, in the Hollywood-themed featureDing Dong Williams(filmed in 1945). The third Vernon-McGuire film was to be theLeon ErrolfeatureRiverboat Rhythm,but McGuire objected to the size of her role. After McGuire angrily petitioned her Boss es for her own starring vehicles, RKO released her from the payroll and dissolved the Vernon-McGuire series. RKO waited for almost a year for the public to forget the Vernon-McGuire team, and finally releasedDing Dong Williamsin the spring of 1946. Vernon recruited his Broadway co-star Joan Newton to replace McGuire inRiverboat Rhythm.

When tycoonHoward Hughesbought the RKO studio, many of the resident contract players were dismissed; Vernon left the studio in 1947. He returned to the stage, playing in Los Angeles-area productions. He resumed his screen career as a freelance actor, mostly for the independent studiosRepublic,Monogram,andLippert.In 1950, now billed as "Glen Vernon," he was a song-and-dance man in thevaudevillerevueHollywood Varietiesand played a drunken wastrel inLucky LoserswithThe Bowery Boys.His movie career never regained its wartime momentum, but he continued to play small roles in motion pictures and television. One of his fellow players fromDing Dong Williams,Tommy Noonan,remembered Vernon's calm screen demeanor and cast him as an Army chaplain in his 1959 productionThe Rookie.On television, he portrayed abellboyin the 1961 episode "The Big Spender" of thetelevision seriesWindow on Main Street,starringRobert Young.He also made two brief appearances on thePerry Masonseries (one as a ship steward, the other as a plainclothes detective).

In the 1980s and 1990s, Vernon was cast as quaint old men, in films (So I Married an Axe Murderer) and television (Doogie Howser, M.D.,The Golden Girls).

Today's audiences may recognize Glenn Vernon from a movie he never actually made: near the beginning of the famous RKO featureIt's a Wonderful Life,when the bereaved pharmacist Mr. Gower gazes at a picture of his deceased son, it's a photo of Glenn Vernon.

Death

Vernon died inWoodland Hills, Los Angeles,from complications of a stroke,on October 27, 1999 – his 76th birthday.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1944	Days of Glory	Mitya
1944	Marine Raiders	Marine in Recording Booth	Uncredited
1944	Step Lively	Bellboy	Uncredited
1944	Youth Runs Wild	Frankie Hauser
1945	Those Endearing Young Charms	Radioman 1st Class William Zantifar
1945	Mama Loves Papa	Delivery Boy	Uncredited
1945	Sing Your Way Home	Jimmy McCue
1946	Riverboat Rhythm	John Beeler
1946	Ding Dong Williams	Ding Dong Williams	filmed 1945
1946	Bedlam	The Gilded Boy
1946	The Bamboo Blonde	Shorty Parker
1947	The Devil Thumbs a Ride	Jack Kenny, Gas Station Attendant
1947	The Woman on the Beach	Kirk
1948	Heart of Virginia	Bud Landeen
1948	Beyond Glory	Yearling in Mess Hall	Uncredited
1949	Impact	Ed
1949	Sands of Iwo Jima	Marine	Uncredited
1950	Hollywood Varieties	Minstrel act with partner Eddie Ryan
1950	Lucky Losers	Andrew Stone III
1951	Belle Le Grand	Bellboy
1951	The Wild Blue Yonder	Crewman	Uncredited
1952	The Rose Bowl Story	Student Manager	Uncredited
1952	Flat Top	Sailor	Uncredited
1952	Thunderbirds	Driver	Uncredited
1953	The Stars Are Singing	Bit Role	Uncredited
1956	Miracle in the Rain	Master of Ceremonies	Uncredited
1958	I Bury the Living	Stuart Drexel	Uncredited
1959	The Rookie	Army Chaplain	Uncredited
1961	Breakfast at Tiffany's	Reporter	Uncredited
1965	I Saw What You Did	John Adams
1969	The Love God?	Mayor	Uncredited
1974	Airport 1975	Passenger	Uncredited
1990	Spaced Invaders	Old Guy #1
1993	So I Married an Axe Murderer	Uncle Angus
1999	Eating L.A.	Street Preacher

External links

• Glen VernonatIMDb