Bradford Dillman

Bradford Dillman (April 14, 1930 – January 16, 2018) was an American actor and author born in San Francisco, California, to Dean Dillman, a stockbroker, and Josephine Moore Dillman. His paternal grandparents were Charles Francis Dillman and Stella Borland Dean. Dillman attended Town School for Boys and St. Ignatius High School, graduating in 1949, before continuing his education at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where he first became involved in theatrical productions. He went on to Yale University, where he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1948 and participated in the Yale Dramatic Association, the Fence Club, the Torch Honor Society, the Society of Orpheus and Bacchus, WYBC, and Berzelius. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Yale in 1951.

Following graduation, Dillman entered the United States Marine Corps as an officer candidate, training at Parris Island and receiving his commission as a second lieutenant in September 1951. With orders to deploy to Korea subsequently changed, he spent the remainder of his service, from 1951 to 1953, teaching communication in the Instructors' Orientation Course, and was discharged as a first lieutenant. He then studied at the Actors Studio and apprenticed for several seasons at the Sharon, Connecticut Playhouse before making his professional acting debut in The Scarecrow in 1953.

Dillman's Broadway career spanned from 1956 to 1962 and included two productions: Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and The Fun Couple. His stage debut came in November 1956 as part of the American premiere cast of Long Day's Journey into Night, in which he portrayed Edmund Tyrone, the author's autobiographical alter ego. The production also starred Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, and Jason Robards Jr., and ran for 390 performances through March 1958. For his work in the role, Dillman received a Theatre World Award in 1957.

His transition to film began with 20th Century Fox, which cast him in the melodrama A Certain Smile (1958), followed by the war film In Love and War (1958), for which he earned a Golden Globe Award. He next appeared in Compulsion (1959), alongside Dean Stockwell and Orson Welles, produced by Richard Zanuck and directed by Richard Fleischer; Dillman, Stockwell, and Welles shared the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival for that film. After filming Circle of Deception (1960) in London, he reunited with Welles, Fleischer, and Zanuck for Crack in the Mirror (1960), shot in Paris. Fox also cast him opposite Yves Montand and Lee Remick in Sanctuary (1961) and in the title role of Francis of Assisi (1961).

After departing Fox, Dillman concentrated primarily on television, accumulating an extensive list of guest appearances across numerous series. He appeared in seven episodes of Dr. Kildare (1964–66) and 26 episodes of Court Martial (1965–66), and made multiple appearances on series including The F.B.I., Barnaby Jones, Ironside, Mission: Impossible, Columbo, The Big Valley, Night Gallery, Wonder Woman, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., among many others. His appearance in a two-part episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was later compiled into the feature film The Helicopter Spies (1968). He starred as Tony Goodland in the Columbo episode "The Greenhouse Jungle," which aired on October 15, 1972, and played painter Richard Pickman in a December 1971 Night Gallery adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's Pickman's Model. His final known acting credit was an episode of Murder, She Wrote in 1995, his eighth appearance on that series.

Dillman's film work across his later career included Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), The Way We Were (1973), Gold (1974), Bug (1975), The Enforcer (1976), The Swarm (1978), Piranha (1978), Sudden Impact (1983), and Lords of the Deep (1989). He also appeared in 10 episodes of Falcon Crest (1982–83) and two episodes of Dynasty (1984).

In addition to acting, Dillman authored two books: Inside The New York Giants, a football fan book published in 1995, and an autobiography, Are You Anybody?: An Actor's Life, published in 1997. In his personal life, he was married to Frieda Harding from 1956 to 1962, with whom he had two children. He met actress and model Suzy Parker during the filming of Circle of Deception (1960), and the two married on April 20, 1963, going on to have three children together. Their marriage lasted until Parker's death on May 3, 2003. Dillman was also a cousin of author and heiress Aimee Crocker. He lived for many years in Montecito, California, and was involved in fundraising for medical research. He died in Santa Barbara, California, on January 16, 2018, at the age of 87, from complications of pneumonia.