William Eythe
William John Eythe (April 7, 1918 – January 26, 1957) was an American actor of film, radio, television and stage.
William Eythe
January 26, 1957 (aged 38)
Saint Peters Cemetery, Butler County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Will Eythe
Actor
1943–1957
Early life[edit]
Born in Mars, Pennsylvania, a small town located about 25 miles from Pittsburgh, he was interested in acting from a young age. He converted an old barn into a theatre and started performing plays he had written.[1]
He managed a dairy store in his home town for a year and began taking night courses at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He went to see Burgess Meredith on stage in Winterset and Meredith advised him to study at Carnegie Tech University.[2] At Carnegie, Eythe appeared in over 80 plays.[1][3]
Career[edit]
Theatre Work[edit]
Eythe appeared in and produced Lend an Ear for the Pittsburgh Civic Playhouse. He also acted in that play in Cohassett, Massachusetts with Sheila Barrett. He formed the Fox Chapel Players in Pittsburgh, a stock company composed mostly of former Carnegie students; it lasted one production of Lilliom.[2]
In June 1941 Eythe joined his first professional stock company, in Cohassett, appearing alongside such names as Ruth Chatterton, Nancy Carroll and George Nagel. He was seen in a production of Ladies in Retirement by a talent scout from 20th Century Fox who offered a screen test. Eythe turned it down, saying he was not ready.[3]
After appearing in Caprice in Canada with Chatterton, Eythe went to New York.[2]
New York[edit]
In New York, Eythe got various jobs performing in radio dramas and as an announcer for a local television station, WBNT. He was MC for a variety show.[3]
Eythe had a role on Broadway in The Moon is Down (1942) by John Steinbeck. During try-outs in Baltimore, Eythe was hit on the head doing a scene, injuring his hearing. This meant he would be unfit for military service.[3] During the Second World War, many of Hollywood's young male stars were away at war, and the film studios were forced to locate newer, younger actors who were below the age of military service, or those actors who were considered unfit for service due to medical conditions. As one such actor, Eythe was spotted by a talent scout for 20th Century Fox films.[2][4]
The test was successful and Eythe signed a long-term contract with the studio on 20 June 1942.[3]
20th Century Fox[edit]
Eythe was given a screen-test, and landed a role in the film The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), which co-starred Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews. He played the pacifist son of Frank Conroy.
In 1943, he starred opposite Jennifer Jones in the Academy Award-winning film The Song of Bernadette, playing a man who is romantically interested in Bernadette (Jones).
Eythe was promoted to leading roles with The Eve of St. Mark (1944), opposite Anne Baxter, from a play by Maxwell Anderson. He played the juvenile lead in Wilson (1944), Fox's prestige picture of the year; it was a box office disappointment but Eythe's casting in the movie indicated the regard with which he was held at the studio.[5]
Eythe was one of the three leads in a war film, Wing and a Prayer (1944), directed by Henry Hathaway, alongside Don Ameche and Dana Andrews. Eythe replaced Randolph Scott.[6] He was to have appeared in Sunday Dinner for a Soldier but ended up being replaced by John Hodiak.[7]
He was reunited with Baxter on A Royal Scandal (1945), directed by Otto Preminger (taking over from Ernst Lubitsch) and starring Tallulah Bankhead and Charles Coburn.
Eythe was then given the lead role in The House on 92nd Street (1945) playing double-agent Bill Dietrich (based on William G. Sebold). This was a semi-documentary directed by Henry Hathaway and was a big hit. He was announced for Doll Face with Vivian Blaine and a musical remake of The Bowery but neither were made.[8][9]