William Eythe

William John Eythe (April 7, 1918 – January 26, 1957) was an American actor who worked across stage, film, radio, and television. He was born in Mars, Pennsylvania, a small town approximately 25 miles from Pittsburgh, and developed an interest in acting from an early age, converting a barn into a performance space where he staged plays of his own writing. After managing a dairy store for a year and enrolling in night courses at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, he attended a production of Winterset featuring Burgess Meredith, who advised him to study at Carnegie Tech University. Eythe went on to appear in more than 80 productions during his time at Carnegie.

Before moving to New York, Eythe built regional experience by forming the Fox Chapel Players in Pittsburgh, a stock company composed largely of Carnegie alumni that mounted one production of Liliom. He also appeared in and produced Lend an Ear for the Pittsburgh Civic Playhouse and performed in the same show in Cohasset, Massachusetts, alongside Sheila Barrett. In June 1941 he joined his first professional stock company in Cohasset, working with Ruth Chatterton, Nancy Carroll, and George Nagel. A talent scout from 20th Century Fox saw him in a production of Ladies in Retirement and offered a screen test, which Eythe declined, feeling he was not yet prepared. Following a production of Caprice in Canada with Chatterton, he relocated to New York, where he found work performing in radio dramas and as an announcer for the local television station WBNT, also serving as master of ceremonies for a variety program.

Eythe's Broadway career spanned 1942 to 1950. His first Broadway credit was The Moon Is Down, the 1942 John Steinbeck drama. During tryouts in Baltimore, he sustained a head injury while performing a scene, which damaged his hearing and rendered him unfit for military service. He was subsequently spotted by a 20th Century Fox talent scout and signed a long-term contract with the studio on June 20, 1942. His film work during the mid-1940s included The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) with Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews, The Song of Bernadette (1943) opposite Jennifer Jones, The Eve of St. Mark (1944) with Anne Baxter, the studio prestige production Wilson (1944), and the war film Wing and a Prayer (1944) directed by Henry Hathaway alongside Don Ameche and Dana Andrews. He reunited with Baxter on A Royal Scandal (1945), directed by Otto Preminger and starring Tallulah Bankhead and Charles Coburn, and took the lead in the semi-documentary The House on 92nd Street (1945), also directed by Hathaway, playing double agent Bill Dietrich. In 1946 he was among eight Hollywood actors who performed before King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. He subsequently traveled to England to star in the swashbuckler Meet Me at Dawn (1947), after which Fox released him from his contract. He then appeared in two productions for Pine-Thomas, the Paramount-affiliated low-budget unit: Mr. Reckless (1948) and Special Agent (1949).

Eythe returned to Broadway as both performer and producer when he acquired the rights to the revue Lend an Ear, substantially revised it, and brought it to New York in 1948. The production, whose cast included Eythe and a young Carol Channing, ran for 460 performances through 1950. Eythe departed the cast in November 1949 and was replaced by John Beal. Also in 1950, he appeared in the musical The Liars, directed by Alfred Drake, which had a brief run, and took a starring non-singing role in the Cole Porter musical Out of This World, based on the myth of Amphitryon, in which his character's shape is assumed by Jupiter, played by George Gaynes. The song "From This Moment On" was originally written for the couple in that production.

During the run of Lend an Ear, Eythe appeared in multiple episodes of The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, and he continued working in television throughout the early 1950s, with appearances on Studio One in Hollywood, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, Tales of Tomorrow, Lights Out, Schlitz Playhouse, and other programs. His final screen appearance was in The Ford Television Theatre. In 1953 he appeared in a stage production of Garson Kanin's The Live Wire, and he also directed and performed in a stage production of The Glass Menagerie. In his later years Eythe worked as a professional photographer and, together with his partner Lon McCallister, produced films for the Hilton Hotel chain.

In June 1947 Eythe married 20th Century Fox contract actress Buff Cobb; the couple divorced in 1949. Eythe lived with McCallister from the early 1950s until his death. Carol Channing described McCallister as Eythe's dearest friend. In January 1957 Eythe was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles with hepatitis and died several weeks later at the age of 38.