1. John Dall had a substantial role in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus.
27 Facts About John Dall
1. 2.
John Dall first came to fame as the young Welsh mining prodigy who comes alive under the tutelage of Bette Davis in The Corn Is Green, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
3.
John Dall's father committed suicide in 1929, and his widow returned to New York City with John the following year.
4.
John Dall attended Horace Mann School and briefly enrolled at Columbia University, where he intended to follow in his father's footsteps by studying engineering.
5.
John Dall studied at the Petit Theatre in New Orleans.
6.
John Dall spent six years acting in various stock companies, notably Clare Tree Major's Children's Theatre.
7.
John Dall was well received and replaced William Prince on Broadway so Prince could take a vacation.
8.
John Dall's performance was spotted by Jack Warner's wife and resulted in a Warner's screen test for Dall.
9.
John Dall made his film debut in The Corn Is Green, under the direction of Irving Rapper.
10.
John Dall returned to the stage to play the lead in Norman Krasna's Dear Ruth, under the direction of Moss Hart.
11.
The New York Times said John Dall gives "a graceful and easy performance".
12.
John Dall was called one of the "hottest finds" in Hollywood, and Warners tried to find a film for him and co-star Joan Lorring.
13.
John Dall played Deanna Durbin's love interest in Something in the Wind ; the Los Angeles Times described him as "ill at ease".
14.
John Dall was in Another Part of the Forest, based on the play by Lillian Hellman.
15.
John Dall did "The Wind and the Rain" for Theatre Guild on the Air then returned to Broadway to appear in Daniel Taradash's adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's Red Gloves with Charles Boyer, directed by Jed Harris.
16.
Brooks Atkinson said Boyer and John Dall's acting were the best thing about the production.
17.
John Dall made his TV debut in "Miracle in the Rain" for The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre in 1949.
18.
John Dall appeared as one of the leads in Gun Crazy opposite Irish actress Peggy Cummins.
19.
John Dall had a supporting role in The Man Who Cheated Himself.
20.
John Dall was in the short-run revival of The Heiress on Broadway with Basil Rathbone.
21.
In October 1950 John Dall said that TV acting was better done by movie actors, who understood technique, than stage actors, who needed audience response.
22.
John Dall did much work in television, appearing in guest roles on such shows as Lights Out, The Clock, Studio One in Hollywood, Broadway Television Theatre, Suspense, General Electric Theatre and Schlitz Playhouse.
23.
John Dall returned to Broadway for Leslie Stevens' Champagne Complex, which had a short run in 1955.
24.
John Dall was the villain in MGM's Atlantis, the Lost Continent, his final theatrical feature.
25.
John Dall guest-starred in four episodes of TV's Perry Mason, including playing murder victim Edward Franklin in the 1962 episode "The Case of the Weary Watchdog" and murder victim Colin Durant in the 1963 episode "The Case of the Reluctant Model".
26.
John Dall sustained a serious fall while visiting London in October 1970 and died of cardiac arrest, a complication of myocarditis, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on January 15,1971, aged 50.
27.
John Dall's papers are held at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, California.