Jan Merlin

Jan Merlin, born Jan Wasylewski on April 3, 1925, in New York City, was an American character actor, television writer, and author of Polish American descent. He died on September 20, 2019, at the age of 94. Merlin received his early education at the Grace Church School for Boys and Stuyvesant High School before leaving school to enlist in the United States Navy during World War II, where he served as a Torpedoman. During his naval service, he wrote plays that were performed aboard his ship. Following his discharge, he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, from which he graduated, and began working in summer stock theater in 1946.

Merlin made his Broadway debut in Mister Roberts, which also featured Henry Fonda. His professional acting career extended across more than five decades and encompassed stage work on and off Broadway, radio dramas, television, and more than thirty feature films. His most recent performances were live radio drama broadcasts in June 2010.

In film, Merlin was frequently cast in villainous or antagonistic roles. His screen credits include A Day of Fury (1956), Hell Bent for Leather (1960), Guns of Diablo (1965), The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967), Take the Money and Run (1969), The Twilight People (1972), I Escaped from Devil's Island (1973), The Slams (1973), The Hindenburg (1975), and Time Trackers (1989).

On television, Merlin held co-starring roles in two early series: from 1950 to 1953 he played Cadet Roger Manning in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, and in 1959 he portrayed Lieutenant Cullen Kirby in the ABC western The Rough Riders. In 1958 he played Kenneth in the NBC drama Kitty Foyle. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, first in 1958 as Tony Davis in "The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde" and again in 1961 as Ralph Quentin in "The Case of the Jealous Journalist." A 1954 episode of Dragnet cast him as Gregory Moore, a felony hit-and-run suspect. In 1957 he appeared in Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre opposite Ernest Borgnine. His western television credits also include guest roles on Bat Masterson, The Tall Man, Bonanza, and multiple appearances on Laramie, where he played villainous characters in four separate episodes between 1962 and 1963. In 1960 he appeared as Mick Norton in "Hostage Island," an episode of the ABC adventure series The Islanders. In 1966 he appeared twice on Combat!, playing a German Army sniper in one episode and a lieutenant in another. In 1967 he appeared as a hostile alien in episode 18 of The Time Tunnel and played villains in three episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, both series produced by Irwin Allen. He also appeared in Little House on the Prairie during its 1974–1983 run.

Merlin received a Daytime Emmy Award in 1975 for Outstanding Writing for a Daytime Drama Series for his work on the NBC soap opera Another World and received a nomination in the same category in 1976. His first novel was published in 1982, and his published works include Gunbearer Part I, Gunbearer Part II, Ainoko, Gypsies Don't Lie, Crackpots, and Shooting Montezuma. He also co-authored several works of fiction and nonfiction with William Russo, including The Paid Companion of J. Wilkes Booth, Troubles in a Golden Eye, MGM Makes Boys' Town, Hanging with Billy Budd, and Frankie Thomas: the Eternal Cadet.

Merlin married his first wife, Patricia Datz, in 1951. Their son, Peter William Merlin, was born in 1964. Patricia died in 1986, and two years later Merlin married Barbara Doyle, to whom he remained married until his death in 2019.