Charles Drake (born Charles Ruppert; October 2, 1917 – September 10, 1994) was an American actor.
Biography
Drake was born in New York City. He graduated from Nichols College and became a salesman. In 1939, he turned to acting and signed a contract with Warner Brothers, but he was not immediately successful. During World War II, Drake served in the United States Army. Drake returned to Hollywood in 1945 and was cast in Conflict which starred Humphrey Bogart. His contract with Warner Brothers eventually ended. In the 1940s, he did some freelance work, including A Night in Casablanca (1946).
In 1949, he moved to Universal Studios. where Drake co-starred with James Stewart and Shelley Winters in Winchester ’73 (1950) and again co-starred with Stewart in the film Harvey (also 1950) a screen adaptation of the Broadway play. He co-starred in the Audie Murphy bio pic, To Hell and Back (1955), as Murphy’s close friend “Brandon”.
In 1955, Drake turned to television as one of the stock-company players on Montgomery’s Summer Stock, a summer replacement for Robert Montgomery Presents and from 1957 he hosted the syndicated TV espionage weekly Schilling Playhouse (also known as Rendezvous). In 1956 Drake appeared as Tom Sweeny with Murphy and Anne Bancroft in Walk the Proud Land. In 1959, he starred in the Western film, No Name on the Bullet, where he played a doctor dedicated to saving a small town from a dangerous assassin.
On November 14, 1961, Drake played state line boss Allen Winter in the episode “The Accusers” of NBC’s Laramie western series.
On February 6, 1963, Drake played Hollister in the Wagon Train episode “the Hollister John Garrison Story”.
Drake played the part of Oliver Greer in The Fugitive episode “The One That Got Away” (1967). He guest starred in the fourth season (1968–1969) of NBC’s Daniel Boone as Simon Jarvis. In 1969 Drake appeared as Milo Cantrell on the TV series The Virginian in the episode titled “A Woman of Stone.” In 1970 he appeared as Randolf in “The Men From Shiloh” (the rebranded name of The Virginian) in the episode titled “Jenny.” He played in eighty-three films between 1939 and 1975, including Scream, Pretty Peggy. More than fifty were dramas, but he also acted in comedies, science fiction, horror, and film noir. In an episode of the original Star Trek series (“The Deadly Years”, 1967), he guested as Commodore Stocker.
He died on September 10, 1994 in East Lyme, Connecticut, at the age of 76.
Selected filmography
Career (1939) – Rex Chaney
Conspiracy (1939) – Police Guard (uncredited)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) – Young Priest (uncredited)
I Wanted Wings (1941) – Cadet (uncredited)
Affectionately Yours (1941) – Hospital Intern (uncredited)
Million Dollar Baby (1941) – Pamela’s First Dance Partner (uncredited)
Out of the Fog (1941) – Reporter (uncredited)
Sergeant York (1941) – Scorer (uncredited)
Dive Bomber (1941) – Pilot (uncredited)
Navy Blues (1941) – Seabag Inspectioon Officer (uncredited)
Nine Lives Are Not Enough (1941) – ‘Snappy’ Lucas
One Foot in Heaven (1941) – Second Bridegroom (uncredited)
The Maltese Falcon (1941) – Reporter (uncredited)
The Body Disappears (1941) – Arthur (scenes deleted)
Dangerously They Live (1941) – Joe, Hospital Orderly with Dr. Murdock (uncredited)
You’re in the Army Now (1941) – Private (uncredited)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) – Sandy
Bullet Scars (1942) – Harry a Reporter (uncredited)
The Male Animal (1942) – Student (uncredited)
Larceny, Inc. (1942) – R.V. Boyce – Driver in Accident (uncredited)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) – (uncredited)
Wings for the Eagle (1942) – Customer (uncredited)
The Gay Sisters (1942) – Man Entering Courtroom (uncredited)
Busses Roar (1942) – Eddie Sloan
Across the Pacific (1942) – Officer (uncredited)
Now, Voyager (1942) – Leslie Trotter (uncredited)
The Hard Way (1943) – Trailer Narrator (uncredited)
Air Force (1943) – Navigator
Conflict (1945) – Prof. Norman Holsworth
You Came Along (1945) – Lt. R. Janoschek
Whistle Stop (1946) – Ernie
Winter Wonderland (1946) – Steve Kirk
A Night in Casablanca (1946) – Pierre
The Pretender (1947) – Dr. Leonard G. Koster
The Tender Years (1948) – Bob Wilson
The Babe Ruth Story (1948) – Reporter (uncredited)
Tarzan’s Magic Fountain (1949) – Mr. Dodd
Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949) – Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Comanche Territory (1950) – Stacey Howard
I Was a Shoplifter (1950) – Herb Klaxon
Louisa (1950) – Voice of Radio Broadcaster (uncredited)
Winchester ’73 (1950) – Steve Miller
Peggy (1950) – Tom Fielding
Deported (1950) – Voice of Customs Official (uncredited)
Mystery Submarine (1950) – Commodore (voice, uncredited)
Harvey (1950) – Dr. Raymond Sanderson
Air Cadet (1951) – Captain Sullivan
The Fat Man (1951) – Radio Broadcaster at Racetrack (voice, uncredited)
Little Egypt (1951) – Oliver Doane
You Never Can Tell (1951) – Perry Collins
The Treasure of Lost Canyon (1952) – Jim Anderson
Red Ball Express (1952) – Pvt. Ronald Partridge / Narrator
Bonzo Goes to College (1952) – Malcolm Drew
Gunsmoke (1953) – Johnny Lake
The Lone Hand (1953) – George Hadley
It Came from Outer Space (1953) – Sheriff Matt Warren
War Arrow (1953) – Sgt. Luke Schermerhorn
The Glenn Miller Story (1954) – Don Haynes
Tobor the Great (1954) – Dr. Ralph Harrison
Four Guns to the Border (1954) – Jim Flannery
To Hell and Back (1955) – Brandon
Female on the Beach (1955) – Police Lieutenant Galley
All That Heaven Allows (1955) – Mick Anderson
The Price of Fear (1956) – Police Sgt. Pete Carroll
Walk the Proud Land (1956) – Tom Sweeny
Jeanne Eagels (1957) – John Donahue
Until They Sail (1957) – Capt. Richard Bates
Step Down to Terror (1958) – Johnny Williams Walters
No Name on the Bullet (1959) – Luke Canfield
Tammy Tell Me True (1961) – Buford Woodly
Back Street (1961) – Curt Stanton
Showdown (1963) – Bert Pickett
The Lively Set (1964) – Paul Manning
Dear Heart (1964) – Frank Taylor
The Third Day (1965) – Lawrence Conway
The Money Jungle (1967) – Harvey Sheppard
Valley of the Dolls (1967) – Kevin Gillmore
The Counterfeit Killer (1968) – Dolan
The Swimmer (1968) – Howard Graham
Hail, Hero! (1969) – Senator Murchiston
The Arrangement (1969) – Finnegan
The Seven Minutes (1971) – Sgt. Kellogg
The Screaming Woman (1972, TV Movie) – Ken Bronson
Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973, TV Movie) – George Thornton
The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975, TV Movie) – Alan Hardesty
My Brother’s Wedding (1983) – Pastor #2 (final film role)
External Links
Actor Charles Drake – Wikipedia
