George D. Wallace(1917-2005)
- Actor
George D. Wallace was born in New York and, at age 13, moved with his mom
and her new husband to McMechen, West Virginia, a coal mining town
where the boy began working in the mines. He joined the Navy in 1936,
got out in 1940, and then went right back in again when World War II
started. A chief boatswain's mate, he ended up in Los Angeles after a
total of eight years in the service. Wallace supported himself with an
array of odd jobs, from working for a meat packer ("knockin' steers in
the head") to lumber-jacking in the High Sierras. A stint as a singing
bartender attracted the attention of Hollywood columnist Jimmy Fidler, who
helped him get his show-biz start. Wallace enrolled in drama school in
the late 1940s, while earning his living tending the greens at MGM. He
soon began landing jobs in films and TV, most notably as Commando Cody
in the Republic serial Radar Men from the Moon (1952). He later made his Broadway debut in
Richard Rodgers' "Pipe Dreams," replaced John Raitt in "The Pajama Game" and was
nominated for a Tony for his leading role in "New Girl in Town" with
Gwen Verdon. Other stage roles have included "The Unsinkable Molly Brown"
opposite Ginger Rogers, "Jennie" with Mary Martin, "Most Happy Fella" (during
production, he met his present wife, actress Jane A. Johnston), "Camelot" (as
King Arthur), "Man of La Mancha," "Company," and more. In 1960, his
career was stalled when a horse fell on him and broke his back during
the making of an episode of TV's Disneyland (1954)'s "Swamp Fox." His painful
recovery took seven months. He sometimes billed himself George D. H.
Wallace, to avoid confusion with comic George Wallace.
