Paul Ballantyne

Paul Ballantyne (July 18, 1909 – July 26, 1996) was an American actor whose Broadway career spanned from 1939 to 1971. Born in Moorhead, Iowa, to James Carl Ballantyne and Inez Mae Adams, he completed his secondary education in Lamoni, Iowa, before pursuing formal training at Sherwood Music School, where he earned a teaching certificate in 1931. He subsequently studied acting under Luella Canterbury in Chicago and served an apprenticeship under Eva Le Gallienne.

Ballantyne's first New York City stage appearance came on December 12, 1932, when he played the Eight of Hearts in a production of Alice in Wonderland. Two years later he toured with The Dark Tower, and from 1935 through 1937 he participated in the Federal Theatre Project, performing in The Rivals, Everyman, and She Stoops to Conquer. His Broadway debut came in 1939 with two productions at the Lyceum Theatre: Mrs. O'Brien Entertains and Brown Danube. He went on to appear in numerous additional Broadway productions, including The Unconquered, Love's Labour's Lost, Saint Joan, Susanna and the Elders, The Strong Are Lonely, The School for Wives, Goodbye in the Night, and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

Ballantyne served in the United States Army Infantry from 1940 through 1946, attaining the rank of Major. In 1963 he joined the Minnesota Theatre Company, remaining with the organization through 1970. His screen and television work included a 1960 production of The Tempest, appearances on Hallmark Hall of Fame and Play of the Week that same year, an episode of Naked City in 1961, and a role in the 1971 film The Andromeda Strain. Ballantyne died on July 26, 1996, eight days after his 87th birthday.