Broderick Crawford

William Broderick Crawford was born on December 9, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick, both of whom worked in vaudeville, continuing a family tradition that extended back to his grandparents. His father appeared in films during the 1920s and 1930s, while his mother built a Hollywood career that included roles in the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals Top Hat and Swing Time. Despite being accepted to Harvard College, Crawford left after three months to work as a stevedore on the New York docks before returning to vaudeville and radio, including a stint with the Marx Brothers on the radio comedy Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel. As a child and adolescent, he performed on stage alongside his parents for producer Max Gordon.

Crawford's stage work in London preceded his Broadway career, with his first serious role coming in 1932 at the Adelphi Theatre, where he played a footballer in She Loves Me Not. His Broadway appearances ran from 1935 to 1937 and included the comedy Sweet Mystery of Life, the play Point Valaine, and Of Mice and Men. It was his 1937 portrayal of Lennie in Of Mice and Men that brought him significant recognition, though he did not reprise the role in the 1939 film adaptation, which went instead to Lon Chaney Jr.

Crawford made his film debut in Woman Chases Man in 1937 for Sam Goldwyn, and appeared at Columbia in Start Cheering the following year. A run of supporting parts in B pictures preceded more prominent roles in Beau Geste alongside Gary Cooper, The Real Glory with Cooper and David Niven, and Eternally Yours starring Niven and Loretta Young. Universal gave him a leading role in I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby in 1940, and further supporting work followed in Seven Sinners, The Black Cat, and Larceny, Inc. During World War II, Crawford served in the United States Army Air Corps, was assigned to the Armed Forces Network, and traveled to Britain in 1944 as a sergeant, serving as one of two announcers for the Glenn Miller Band's weekly radio program I Sustain the Wings.

The defining moment of Crawford's film career came in 1949 when he was cast as Willie Stark in All the King's Men, a character drawn from the life of Louisiana politician Huey Long and based on Robert Penn Warren's novel. The performance earned Crawford both the Academy Award for Best Actor and a Golden Globe Award. A string of notable films followed in the early 1950s, among them Born Yesterday, Lone Star, Last of the Comanches, and Night People.

In 1955, television producer Frederick Ziv offered Crawford the lead role of Dan Mathews in the syndicated police drama Highway Patrol, which depicted the activities of the California Highway Patrol. Produced on a budget of $25,000 per episode, with Crawford receiving ten percent of gross receipts, the series ran in first-run syndication from 1955 to 1959 and continued in reruns for years afterward. During the same period, Crawford appeared in The Fastest Gun Alive, Between Heaven and Hell with Robert Wagner, and The Decks Ran Red with James Mason. Crawford departed Highway Patrol at the end of 1959 to make a film in Spain. His earnings from the series totaled two million dollars, and he subsequently re-signed with ZIV for King of Diamonds, in which he played diamond industry security chief John King. That series was picked up for syndication in 1961 but lasted only one season.

Crawford returned to prominent film work in the mid-1960s with appearances in The Oscar and The Texican, both in 1966. After 1970, his career shifted increasingly toward television, including the role of Dr. Peter Goldstone in The Interns and a starring turn as J. Edgar Hoover in The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover. In 1977, he served as guest host of NBC's Saturday Night Live, appearing in a spoof of Highway Patrol, and that same year parodied his Dan Mathews character in a Canada Dry Ginger Ale commercial alongside Aldo Ray and Jack Palance. He also appeared as himself in an episode of CHiPs, in which Officer Poncherello, played by Erik Estrada, pressed him to deliver his trademark Highway Patrol line. Crawford had a cameo in the 1979 film A Little Romance, and his final screen role came in a 1982 episode of Simon and Simon. He died on April 26, 1986.