Mark Stevens (actor)

Mark Stevens
in The Dark Corner (1946)
Born	Richard William Stevens (1916-12-13)December 13, 1916 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died	September 15, 1994(1994-09-15) (aged 77) Majores, Spain
Other names	Stephen Richards
Years active	1943–1987
Spouse(s)	Annelle Hayes (m. 1945–62) (divorced) 2 children

Mark Stevens (December 13, 1916 – September 15, 1994) was an American actor.

Career

Born Richard William Stevens in Cleveland, Ohio, he first studied to become a painter before becoming active in theater work. He then launched a radio career as an announcer in Akron, Ohio.

Moving to Hollywood, he became a Warner Brothers contract actor at $100 a week in 1943. The studio darkened and straightened his curly red hair and covered his freckles. At first he was billed as Stephen Richards, but it was changed to Mark Stevens at the suggestion of Darryl Zanuck when he moved to 20th Century Fox.

Stevens emerged as a film noir leading man in such films as Within These Walls (1945) and The Dark Corner (1946), the latter pairing him with Lucille Ball. In 1946 exhibitors voted him the fifth-most promising "star of tomorrow".^[1]

He played an FBI man going undercover to arrest a gangster played by Richard Widmark in The Street With No Name (1948), and appeared as Olivia de Havilland's loyal husband in The Snake Pit (1948). Stevens also performed in musicals including I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now? (1947) and Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949).^[2]

In 1951, he starred in the DuMont series News Gal which was later syndicated on ABC in 1957. From 1954–56 he played a newspaper managing editor in the CBS Television series Big Town, having replaced Patrick McVey, who starred in the role from 1950-54. Reruns of Big Town began airing on DuMont under the title City Assignment while new episodes of the series were still appearing on CBS.

In the 1950s Stevens was also a television actor, producer and writer. He also directed and starred in four features, notably a 1956 crime film, Time Table. He later worked in semi-retirement in the 1960s in Europe.^[3] In the 80's he appeared in television shows Magnum, P.I. and Murder, She Wrote.

Death

On September 15, 1994, Stevens died of cancer in Majores, Spain, at the age of 77.^[4]

For his contribution to the television industry, Mark Stevens has a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, located at 6637 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

Television

Radio

Notes

1. ↑ "The Stars of To-morrow.". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 10 September 1946. p. 11 Supplement: The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
2. ↑ All Movie biography
3. ↑ Mark Stevens at the Internet Movie Database
4. ↑ TCM Biography
5. ↑ "LRT Guest". Harrisburg Telegraph. October 26, 1946. p. 21. Retrieved September 29, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. 
6. ↑ Kirby, Walter (April 20, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 46. Retrieved May 9, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. 

External links

• Mark Stevens at the Internet Movie Database