FORGOTTEN FILMS: TV TRANSITION

Though typically overshadowed by Hollywood's A-list, there were respectable performances by numerous actors and actresses who never became major film stars. A common occurrence was their transition to the new medium of television, often becoming familiar faces in homes across America. These periodic posts offer insight into their transition.

Steve Brodie: John Stephens (1919-1992)

Most would remember Steve Brodie from his early film noir roles as a tough, sometimes heartless, gangster. These personas carried over into westerns as a hired gun or a despicable drifter. His contract with RKO Pictures got him noticed with 1947 proving to be a pivotal year in such films as, Out of the Past, Crossfire, and Desperate, the latter of which he had a lead role as a newlywed on the straight and narrow after a prison sentence. It was a fairly exciting film in which he tries to distance himself from a past acquaintance, Raymond Burr, who is now a powerful gangster. Keeping his wife out of harm’s way was his priority. He was opposite Lawrence Tierney in Bodyguard (1948) followed by a freelance project for a dandy Richard Fleischer film, Armored Car Robbery (1950). He was on the right side of the law as a police lieutenant in the remake of M (1951). Though television kept him busy, he never left films totally behind with a supporting role in, Three Came to Kill (1960) opposite Cameron Mitchell, as an electronic “genius” who hates “stinkin' jets” as they roar overhead.

Brodie signed on to popular westerns of the era, Cheyenne, Wanted--Dead or Alive, and Rawhide. He played Butch Cassidy in the Warner Bros series, Bronco. His only recurring role was as Sheriff Johnny Behan on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1960) then Everglades, (1961), as Captain Andy Benson. He made the rounds in modern detective series such as 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, and Perry Mason in the early Sixties. On the lighter side, he had an appearance on, The Beverly Hillbillies (1965) and The Wild World of Batwoman, 1966. He found only occasional work in the Seventies. His career ended in the Eighties—coming full circle—with three forgettable low-budget films.

Note: Stephens, a native of Kansas, took his stage name from the daredevil, Steve Brodie, who claimed to have survived a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886. Typical of actors of his era, he jumped from job to job just to get by, resulting in a hard-living, hard-drinking life away from the cameras. However, whether on stage, on film, or on television, he never embarrassed himself and usually added a memorable dimension to his films.