1. Brad Dexter is known for tough-guy and western roles, including the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven, and producing several films for Sidney J Furie such as Lady Sings the Blues.
22 Facts About Brad Dexter
1. 2.
Brad Dexter is known for a short marriage to Peggy Lee, a friendship with Marilyn Monroe and for saving Frank Sinatra from drowning.
3.
Brad Dexter was born in Goldfield, Nevada, the second of three sons born to Marko and Ljubica Soso, ethnic Serb immigrants from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
4.
Tall, burly and handsome with bright blue eyes, Brad Dexter was usually given supporting roles as a rugged character.
5.
Brad Dexter had a small role in The Mortal Storm.
6.
Brad Dexter was credited under this name in Sinbad the Sailor.
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Brad Dexter changed his name to Brad Dexter, playing a villainous detective in The Asphalt Jungle and landing a role in Fourteen Hours.
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Brad Dexter then signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, appearing in Untamed, Violent Saturday for director Richard Fleischer, House of Bamboo for director Samuel Fuller, The Bottom of the Bottle, and Between Heaven and Hell again with Fleischer.
9.
Brad Dexter played a villain in The Oklahoman, produced by Walter Mirisch, and appeared in Run Silent Run Deep, again as a villain.
10.
Brad Dexter was then cast as a gunslinger in The Magnificent Seven, directed by John Sturges for Walter Mirisch's production firm The Mirisch Company.
11.
Brad Dexter was praised for his work, and it became his best-known role and most famous film.
12.
Brad Dexter could be seen in It Started in Tokyo, The George Raft Story, X-15 with Charles Bronson and Johnny Cool.
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Brad Dexter supported Yul Brynner again in Taras Bulba, Kings of the Sun, and Invitation to a Gunfighter.
14.
In 1963, Dexter was cast as California Supreme Court Justice David S Terry in "A Gun Is Not a Gentleman" on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.
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Brad Dexter was later awarded a Red Cross medal for his bravery.
16.
Brad Dexter produced The Naked Runner, which starred Sinatra and was filmed in London.
17.
Brad Dexter claimed to have left Sinatra's company to make a film with Furie based on the Sam Sheppard case.
18.
Brad Dexter produced two more films for Furie: Little Fauss and Big Halsy starring Robert Redford, and Lady Sings the Blues starring Diana Ross as Billie Holiday.
19.
Brad Dexter produced the TV series Skag starring Karl Malden.
20.
Brad Dexter married singer Peggy Lee January 1953; the couple divorced that November.
21.
Brad Dexter was married to StarKist tuna heiress Mary Bogdanovich from January 27,1971, until her death on June 12,1994.
22.
Brad Dexter died in Rancho Mirage, California, from emphysema, on December 11,2002, at age 85, and is interred at Desert Memorial Park.