Charles Fredericks

Charles Fredericks, born Fred Cockerham (also recorded as Crockenham) on September 5, 1918, in Columbus, Mississippi, was an American actor and singer who worked across stage, film, television, and radio. He died on May 14, 1970, and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills. The son of a Presbyterian minister, M. O. Cockerham, Fredericks grew up singing in his father's church choir. His father hoped he would enter the ministry, but Fredericks pursued a career in singing instead, a direction reinforced by his success in regional competitions. He won a contest naming him the best male singer in Mississippi and earned a singing scholarship through another.

Fredericks launched his professional singing career at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, where the orchestra leader initially paid him five dollars per week out of his own pocket before the hotel manager raised his salary to twenty dollars per week. He subsequently moved into vaudeville at seventy-five dollars per week, though that venture proved unsuccessful and brought him back to Denver, where he worked as a bellhop while waiting for singing work to materialize. He later gained early acting experience on the Borscht circuit in the Catskill Mountains, where his troupe performed a musical comedy, a revue, and a straight drama at each hotel during the summer season. Singer and baritone John Charles Thomas heard Fredericks performing in a nightclub and helped him secure the role of the governor in a Los Angeles Civic Light Opera production of The Red Mill. Fredericks also took the lead role in Music in the Air at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.

His Broadway career spanned from 1946 to 1950. He starred as Gaylord Ravenal in the 1946 Broadway revival of Show Boat, a performance for which he received the George Jean Nathan Award. That same role led to his being selected to appear in the film adaptation of Show Boat. In 1947, he appeared as Captain Nicholas Gregorovitch in the original Broadway production of Music in My Heart. That same year, on July 13, 1947, he sang on the Family Hour radio program. In 1948, he portrayed a minister in My Romance at the Shubert Theatre in Boston and in other engagements, though he was replaced when a revised version of the production moved to Broadway. In 1953, he played Sky Masterson in a touring company production of Guys and Dolls.

Fredericks became particularly well known for his work in television Westerns during the 1950s and 1960s. On Colt .45, he appeared as Larkin in the episode "Small Man" in 1957 and as Marshal Ed Springer in "The Gandy Dancers" in 1960. He portrayed Sheriff Ankers on Bat Masterson in the season three episode "Last Stop to Austin." On Maverick, he appeared as a villain in both "Trail West to Fury" and "The Maverick Line." His appearances on Gunsmoke included the role of Band in 1959, the character Jed in season five episode thirty-eight in 1960, a convicted soldier in season seven episode thirty-three, Senator McGovern in 1962, and a role in season eight episode fifteen, "False Front." He also appeared in The Tab Hunter Show episode "For Money or Love" in 1960. In film, he portrayed the singing King in the "Just You Wait" sequence of the 1964 motion picture My Fair Lady.

Fredericks was married to singer Muriel Parker, and the couple had two sons.