Sean Garrison

Sean Garrison (October 19, 1937 – March 2, 2018) was an American actor who worked in theatre, film, and television. Born in New York of Irish descent, he lost his father when he was five years old. By age nine he had taken up work as a shoeshiner, and after a customer rewarded him with a $1.20 tip for singing "Home on the Range," he began incorporating songs into his shoeshine routine, expanding his repertoire to include songs suited to holidays such as Memorial Day and Mother's Day, and performing in bars as well. He left school at fifteen and spent time working on a dairy farm in Upstate New York before moving to Florida and the Caribbean, where he held various jobs. In 1955 he relocated to California and found employment in a furniture and tile factory.

A friend's suggestion that he pursue television work led Garrison to take a position as a film librarian at ABC. He subsequently signed a short-term contract with Warner Bros., which resulted in appearances in the 1958 films Darby's Rangers, Violent Road, and Onionhead, as well as episodes of the television Western series Colt .45, Cheyenne, and Sugarfoot. Concluding that he needed stronger acting training, he returned to New York that same year to study at the Actors Studio, supporting himself through part-time work that included playing Santa Claus at Gimbels and Macy's department stores. In 1959 he appeared in the film Up Periscope, and in 1961 he had roles in Splendor in the Grass and Bridge to the Sun.

Garrison made his Broadway debut in 1960 in the play There Was a Little Girl, which closed after only one week. He returned to Broadway from 1962 to 1963 in the play The Beauty Part. That same year he received the Theatre World Award for his performance in the Off-Broadway production Half-Past Wednesday. From October 1963 through December 1964, Garrison was part of the touring cast of Camelot, playing Lancelot in more than 300 performances. Warner Bros. had been considering him for the same role in a planned film version, but ultimately did not cast him.

In 1965 Garrison appeared in the musical Hot September in Boston. His film work resumed in 1966 when he starred opposite Jean Seberg in Moment to Moment, in which he played Mark Dominic. The following year he co-starred with John Mills in the CBS Western television series Dundee and the Culhane. His television guest appearances included Gunsmoke, The Rockford Files, Cheyenne, The Big Valley, Police Woman, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Love, American Style. Later film credits included Banning and Midway. Garrison retired from acting in the early 1980s to work in the swimming pool construction industry.

In his personal life, Garrison married while living in New York in the late 1950s; the marriage later ended in divorce. He had one son. He died on March 2, 2018, in Morongo Valley, California, at the age of 80.