Take a look at the 15 movies you'll be hearing about in fall 2024.

15 Fall Movies You Need to Know About

Take a look at the 15 movies you&#39;ll be hearing about in fall 2024.

From popular franchises to brand new worlds of exploration, science fiction and fantasy stories are more popular than ever. Check out our list of the best and brightest new and upcoming movies and series.

New and Upcoming Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Discover some of the most anticipated sequels, prequels, and spin-offs coming to theaters and streaming.

New Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-Offs

Boyish Lon McCallister started his career as a teenage bit actor in such wholesome, folksy tales as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) and Judge Hardy's Children (1938). As an adult, he found the strength of his career riding on that same homespun sentiment.

Lon McCallister was born Herbert Alonzo McCallister, Jr. in Los Angeles on April 17, 1923, but was almost immediately called "Buddy" to those closest to him. He attended high school at Marken Professional School, a training ground for Hollywood hopefuls, and eventually managed to secure unbilled parts, starting with the plush Norma Shearer-Leslie Howard film vehicle Romeo and Juliet (1936).

Lon became close friends with the film's director, George Cukor, and attributed his biggest break to Cukor when he earned a supporting role as a pilot in Winged Victory (1944) after toiling in obscurity for nearly six years. Lon also stood out in the film Stage Door Canteen (1943), as the unassuming soldier who falls for canteen hostess Marjorie Riordan, and in the warm and winning horse-racing tale Home in Indiana (1944), opposite rising star Jeanne Crain.

Lon's WWII induction into the Army put a direct hit on his career momentum, but he managed to recover and pick up where he left off. For starters, Lon won a solid role in the melodramatic thriller The Red House (1947), starring Edward G. Robinson and Judith Anderson. The film also co-starred Allene Roberts, who became a lifelong friend.

Although he starred in the down-home comedy romance Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948), along with June Haver, the movie is barely remembered today except for featuring an unbilled Marilyn Monroe rowing a canoe. Lead roles for Lon in the serviceable adventures The Story of Seabiscuit (1949) with Shirley Temple, The Big Cat (1949), Boy from Indiana (1950) and Montana Territory (1952) also came and went.

Lon ended his film career with the "B" Korean War drama Combat Squad (1953). Some reports state he lost interest and sought satisfaction elsewhere; others claim that his perennially boyish good looks and diminutive stature hurt his adult career (although it did not seem to hurt the equally short and youthful-looking Alan Ladd). In any event, Lon quit the business in the late 1950s and pursued lucrative ventures in real estate and property investment.

Never married, Lon had an off-and-on romantic relationship with fellow actor William Eythe until Eythe's untimely death in 1957. Having been in declining health for some time, he was living in the Lake Tahoe area, where he had recently bought some property, when he died on June 11, 2005, of congestive heart failure. The 82-year-old McCallister was survived by his brother Lynn and sister Kathleen.

Lon McCallister in Stage Door Canteen (1943)

Publicity listings

Lon McCallister

Interview

Article

Pictorial

Contribute to this page

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed