|
|
|
Gene Blakely is an incurable movie fan whose hobby of collecting stills--which began almost the day he was born in Osceola, Iowa--has brought added fame to the handsome stage and television performer. His collection--the largest personal one in the United States--numbers more than 8000 and spans the history of motion pictures from the silent era to Marilyn Monroe and Cinemascope. His career on Broadway is in striking contrast to his boyhood days as a rancher in Northa Dakota where his family now lives. Back in 1927 when he was five years old, a visit to an aunt and uncle in Waukegan, Illinois, proved to be a turning point in his life. A stock company needed just such a youngster for one of their plays and Gene got the part. He says he was stage struck from that day on and all the while he was riding the range on his parents' ranch knew that one day he would be riding the Broadway bus instead. When he finished his junior year at the University of Wisconsin--where, incidentally, his first drama instructor was Rusty Lane, now a fellow player in "The Desperate Hours"--his parents granted him permission to leave the University and come to New York to enroll at the American Academy. He by-passed the Academy, however, for a job at Christopher Morley's stock company in Atlantic City. He made his Broadway bow with the late Charles Butterworth in "Brighten the Corner," following tours in "The Eve of St. Mark," "Janie" and "Over 21." Since then he has played in "John Loves Mary," "Red Gloves" with Charles Boyer, "The Traitor" and "The Male Animal" with Elliott Nugent. He has appeared on more than 100 shows such as "Robert Montgomery Presents," "Studio One," etc. |
|
