Grant Withers
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Grant Withers, (January 17, 1905, Pueblo, Colorado – March 27, 1959, North Hollywood, California), born Granville G. Withers, was a prolific American film actor with a sizeable body of work.
Career
He had worked as an oil company salesman and newspaper reporter before breaking into movies near the end of the silent era. His nearly 50-year acting career took off in the 1920s when his hairy-chested rugged good looks made him the "hero" leading man over such rising talent as James Cagney. Tall (6'3") and tough, yet capable of sensitivity, it was his early roles for Warner Bros. Pictures / The Vitaphone Corporation that brought him his highest accolades.
Starring roles in major pictures soon dwindled to supporting parts, mainly as a villain in B-movies and serials. Notable exceptions included a 12-part Jungle Jim movie serial by Universal Pictures, starring Grant Withers, in 1937 and the recurring role of the brash police Captain Bill Street in Monogram's Mr. Wong series beginning in 1938.
He was under a Republic Term Contract from February, 1944 through April, 1954. Withers' film credits at Republic number about 60 from 1937 - 1957. From 1940 on he was pretty much a character actor as a popular tough guy taking numerous supporting roles into television as his demand in film work waned.
All told he appeared in over 200 films.
Personal life and death
At 26, his elopement to Yuma, Arizona, in 1930 with a 17-year-old Loretta Young was widely reported and ended in annulment in 1931, just as their second movie together, (ironically titled Too Young to Marry), was released. He was also married to Gladys Joyce Walsh.
Befriended by both John Ford and John Wayne, Withers appeared in several of their earlier films. Wayne was best man at his fifth marriage; to Cuban-born actress Estelita Rodriguez (24) (Rio Bravo), at age 49, in January, 1953, in Reno, Nevada. They resided in the San Fernando Valley on Woodcliff Avenue in Sherman Oaks, California. Estelita began a night club singing career. They divorced in 1955.
With failing health Withers worked up until his suicide in 1959 when he died from an overdose of barbiturates, leaving behind a note in which he apologized to all the people he'd let down during his Hollywood days.
"Please forgive me, my family. I was so unhappy. It's better his way.", it said.
Trivia
- Note that most biographies have Withers' birth year as 1904, but his burial marker shows 1905.
References
- [The New York Times / Grant Withers]
- [Republic Bad Guys and Action Heavies / Grant Withers]
- [Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen / Estelita Rodriguez]
External links
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