Stacy Harris

Stacy Harris (July 26, 1918 – March 13, 1973) was a Canadian-born American actor whose career encompassed Broadway, radio, film, and television, accumulating hundreds of screen and broadcast appearances over several decades. Born in Big Timber, Quebec, Canada, Harris moved with his family to Seattle, Washington, while still an infant.

Before pursuing acting, Harris led a varied life that included work as a newspaper reporter, boxer, sailor, and artist. He enlisted in the Army in 1937 as a pilot, but a leg injury sustained in a plane crash less than six months into his service ended that career. The injury also barred him from re-enlisting when World War II began. He nonetheless contributed to the war effort by serving with the American Field Service as an ambulance driver and with the French Foreign Legion as a dispatch rider.

Harris appeared in five Broadway productions and earned a New York Critics Award for his stage work. Among his Broadway credits was A Sound of Hunting, which he performed in 1945.

On radio, Harris became widely recognized for portraying agent Jim Taylor on ABC's This Is Your FBI. The program's producer-director, Jerry Devine, praised Harris in 1946 to columnist Jack O'Brian, citing his voice's quiet authority and his overall skill as an actor as an ideal combination for the role. Harris also took on the role of Batman in The Adventures of Superman and played Ted Blades in The Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters. His additional radio work included appearances on Confession, Dragnet, Pepper Young's Family, Destiny's Trails, and Frontier Gentleman.

In television, Harris became a frequent presence across numerous series, often cast as villains. He appeared in multiple productions associated with Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, including Dragnet, Noah's Ark, GE True, Adam-12, and Emergency. His guest appearances spanned a wide range of genres and networks: he played a gangster in the 1956 Conflict episode "Man from 1997," a time travel story featuring James Garner and Charles Ruggles; appeared as Whit Lassiter in the 1958 NBC children's western series Buckskin; and guest starred as Colonel Nicholson in the 1959 Riverboat episode "A Night at Trapper's Landing," starring Darren McGavin. He also appeared in the religion anthology series Crossroads.

Harris portrayed Max Bowen in the 1958 Texan episode "The Hemp Tree" and Abel Crowder in the 1959 episode "Rough Track to Payday," both part of the CBS western starring Rory Calhoun. In 1960, he was cast as a drummer named Cramer in the ABC western The Rebel episode "Fair Game," starring Nick Adams. That same year he appeared in the western series The Virginian in 1963, playing a gambler in the episode "If You Have Tears." In 1969, he took on the role of the corrupt Mayor Ackerson in the Death Valley Days episode "The Oldest Law."

Harris appeared three times on CBS's Perry Mason, playing murder victim Frank Curran in "The Case of the Married Moonlighter" (1958), client Frank Brooks in "The Case of the Lost Last Act" (1959), and murderer Frank Brigham in "The Case of the Crying Comedian" (1961). He was also cast in two episodes of Richard Diamond, Private Detective and appeared in three syndicated series: Whirlybirds with Kenneth Tobey, Sheriff of Cochise, and U.S. Marshal, the latter two featuring John Bromfield. He additionally played Ed Miller in the Frontier Doctor episode "Mystery of the Black Stallion," starring Rex Allen.

Harris died on March 13, 1973, in Los Angeles, California, of an apparent heart attack at the age of 54. His name is occasionally found misspelled as Stacey Harris in various records.