Ray Danton

Ray Danton, born Raymond Caplan on September 19, 1931, in New York City, was an American actor, director, and producer who worked across radio, film, stage, and television. The son of Myrtle and Jack Caplan, he came from a Jewish family and was a descendant of the Vilna Gaon. He died on February 11, 1992, of kidney failure in Los Angeles, California.

Danton's entry into show business came early. At age twelve, in 1943, he began performing as a child radio actor on NBC's Let's Pretend, and he subsequently worked in radio and stage while also serving as an assistant stage manager. He attended Horace Mann School before enrolling in 1947 at what is now Carnegie Mellon University, where he participated in numerous stage productions. Seeking a Broadway career, he instead found himself working in New York television dramas. In 1950, he traveled to London to appear on stage in Tyrone Power's production of Mister Roberts, then returned to the United States to guest star on television programs including Danger, directed by Sidney Lumet, and Starlight Theatre.

His acting career was interrupted when he served in the United States Army infantry during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. Following his return, he resumed television work, appearing on Kraft Theatre, The Man Behind the Badge, Lux Video Theatre, and You Are There. He portrayed Jean Lafitte in The Pirate and the Lawyer for the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1955. That same year, he made his film debut at Universal in Chief Crazy Horse, playing Little Big Man, and appeared in The Looters, where he met actress Julie Adams, whom he married in 1954 or 1955. MGM borrowed him to play Susan Hayward's boyfriend in the hit I'll Cry Tomorrow, and he went on to appear in The Spoilers before taking his first film lead in Outside the Law in 1956. That year he received the Golden Globe Award for new male star of the year in film.

At Warner Bros., Danton took a supporting role in Too Much, Too Soon in 1958, playing the abusive husband of Diana Barrymore, and signed a long-term contract with the studio. He appeared in Onionhead and starred in Tarawa Beachhead at Columbia alongside Kerwin Mathews and Julie Adams. He returned to MGM for two Albert Zugsmith productions, The Beat Generation and The Big Operator, and led the Warner Bros. television series The Alaskans from 1959 to 1960. The studio then cast him in the role that defined his screen persona: the title gangster in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond in 1960, directed by Budd Boetticher. He reprised a similar character in Vic Morrow's Portrait of a Mobster and took the title role in The George Raft Story in 1962, a screen biography of the 1930s actor and dancer. During this period he also co-starred with Rosalind Russell, Alec Guinness, and Madlyn Rhue in A Majority of One in 1961, appeared in the ensemble war film The Longest Day in 1962, and had a supporting role in The Chapman Report that same year.

In 1963, Danton appeared in the television movie FBI Code 98, and he returned to the stage to perform in 110 in the Shade on Broadway, his sole Broadway credit. The production opened in 1963, and Danton, a native New Yorker, brought his stage experience to the musical.

He subsequently traveled to Europe, where he starred in Sandokan to the Rescue and its sequel Return of Sandokan, both in 1964, followed by Code Name: Jaguar in 1965. He continued working in European productions through the late 1960s, including Secret Agent Super Dragon in 1966 and several additional films through 1969, while periodically returning to the United States to guest star on series such as Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, It Takes a Thief, and Dan August.

Danton transitioned into directing and producing during the 1970s, forming a production company in Europe and helming films including Deathmaster in 1972 and Psychic Killer in 1975. He also acted in The Ballad of Billie Blue, A Very Missing Person, Runaway, The Centerfold Girls, and Apache Blood during this period. Back in the United States, he built a substantial television directing career, working on episodes of Switch, Baretta, Cagney and Lacey, Fame, T.J. Hooker, and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. He directed a stage production of Come Back, Little Sheba in 1987 and helmed multiple episodes of Magnum P.I. during its eighth season from 1987 to 1988.

Danton was married to Julie Adams from 1954 or 1955 until their divorce in 1981. They had two sons: assistant director Steven Danton, born in 1956, and editor Mitchell Danton, born in 1962.