Actor, former Seattleite, dies at 54

LOS ANGELES -- (UPI) -- Stacy Harris, actor, sportswriter, cartoonist and soldier of fortune, died of a heart attack yesterday.  He was 54.

Harris played the role of Leslie Harrington in the television series Return to Peyton Place, and frequently had roles in Jack Webb productions, including the original Dragnet on radio.  He played the lead in This Is Your F.B.I. on radio for several years and was the star of the Doorway To Danger TV series in 1953.

Born in Big Timber, Que., in 1918, Harris was a finalist in the Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament in Seattle in 1934.  He later worked as a sportswriter for The San Francisco Chronicle in the 1930s and as a staff cartoonist for The New Orleans Times-Picayune after World War II.

He left The Chronicle in the 1930s to join the Army Air Corps, but was injured in a crash after winning his wings and was given a medical discharge.

He came to Hollywood and got radio acting jobs, but when World War II broke out he became a merchant seaman and then went to Africa as an ambulance driver for the Gaullist Free French Forces.  On arrival he transferred to the Foreign Legion, won the Croix de Guerre in combat, was wounded and was given another medical discharge.

Harris was the son of David S. Harris, 1421 Minor Ave. in Seattle, who had been a department store Santa Claus here since the early '50s.  Funeral services were pending.

-Seattle Daily Times March 14, 1973

The Helen Corday Murder, Part VII

 *Alas, the strip from Thursday, August 7, 1952 is missing. However, the good news is that I found a better source for many of the daily comic strips, which are much clearer than the set reprinted here.  I hope to update them within the next week.  Stay tuned, because they really are quite stylish and fun.

*Update, Mar. 23: Still looking for the strip from Aug. 7, 1952.  It's the one where the cartoon Stacy Harris killer goes berserk.  I think we'll get lucky. 

I also missed a very big (and glaringly obvious) inside joke the first time around: the killer of Helen Corday is named Stanley Meyer in the comic strip.  The real Stanley Meyer produced the b&w Dragnet tv series as well as the 1954 film.

I found out some more information about the comic strip, along with some cleaner copies of the first few strips here.  Right as rain, the artist made the effort to depict Barney Phillips as Ed Jacobs, at least initially. 

I also found a week's worth of preview comic strips, which I posted on my other blog, here.  We're treated to seeing Joe Friday at home with his mother and a very clear depiction of Barton Yarborough as his partner.

The Helen Corday Murder, Part VI

 

Just Between You and Me

Meet the cast of Return to Peyton Place, new afternoon serial

The excitement around Hollywood is enormous about Return to Peyton Place.  The actors are scattered all over the globe, and as we go to press, Nicole is tracking down people from Hawaii to St. Louis, New York to Capa San Lucas in Baja California.  And yet in just two days after our deadline the entire cast will have gathered together in beautiful downtown Burbank, where a few stars will be renewing old friendships, but most will be meeting for the first time.  Then husbands, wives, sweethearts will instantly develop, as they fall into the characters we all learned to love or hate on the original Peyton Place.

...Stacy Harris (Leslie Harrington), that eligible bachelor who never stops working, is an old colleague of Nicole's (we necked together "in the line of duty," as we both remembered, as actors on some of the old NBC Matinee Theatres).  Most of the things he told me were "just between you and me," which cracked up us since that's this column!  But we respect this fine actor with the romantic voice, and are pleased to report that he "looks forward to the show, my Dad's farm is paid for, and no, just never yet met the right girl" since his first marriage broke up many years ago.  We know you'll be marvelous on the show, Stacy.

-Afternoon TV, June 1972

Return to Peyton Place aired weekday afternoons on NBC from April 3, 1972 to January 4, 1974.  Every former toddler of a certain age knew better than to disturb their mother while her "stories" were on.  Alas, I do not remember Return to Peyton Place.  My mom was more of a Young & the Restless and Edge of Night kind of girl.

The Helen Corday Murder, Part V

The Helen Corday Murder, Part IV

 

 

 

Radio Player to Debut in New Ladd Picture

HOLLYWOOD -- Stacy Harris, famous for his long-standing role in the radio program This is Your F.B.I. has been signed by Paramount to make his debut as a screen actor in Postal Inspector with Alan Ladd and Phyllis Calvert.

Harris will appear as a hard boiled yegg in the cast which also marks the film debut for another New York radio personality, young and lovely Blossom Plumb.

Harris' career started simultaneously with Burt Lancaster's on Broadway.  They both made their footlight bows auspiciously in A Sound of Hunting.  While Lancaster moved to Hollywood and films, Harris went into radio.

Postal Inspector will be directed by Lewis Allen and produced by Robert Fellows.


-Medicine Hat News (Alberta, Canada), July 22, 1949


A Sound of Hunting by Harry Brown opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on November 20, 1945 and closed three weeks later. A World War II comedy/drama, it was filmed by Edward Dmytryk as Eight Iron Men in 1952.  Barney Phillips was cast as Capt. Trelawny, the role played by Stacy Harris on Broadway.