FILM BRAKE: A TELEVISION KING

Wright King (Thomas Wright Thornburg King 1923-2018) 

Wright King, not to be confused with other notable kings—King Calder or King Donovan—was an American stage, film and television actor whose career spanned from 1949 until 1978 with an official retirement publicized in 1987. Also of note is King's single 1948 marriage which lasted until his wife's death ten years prior to his. His lengthy career placed him in stage productions on both sides of the Atlantic as well as a prolific supporting actor on numerous television series. Heady stuff for the small-town Oklahoma native. King studied drama at the St. Louis School of Theater, graduating in 1941 before enlisting in the United States Navy, serving in the South Pacific from 1943 to 1945. After being honorably discharged he continued his drama studies in New York at the Actors Studio and the American Theatre Wing. He garnered critical acclaim in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire (1947-49). A role he would repeat in the movie version, below.

His screen debut was in the 1949 television series, Captain Video and His Video Rangers for those who had a budget for a television set. He then gained notice in the thirty-nine episode children's fantasy series, Johnny Jupiter, playing Ernest P. Duckweather (1953-54) on the DuMont Network. Few considered to what heights his career would ascend. King made the rounds on popular anthology series of the day but being in the saddle is where one would soon expect to find him. On his second of three episodes on television's Cheyenne, entitled, “Born Bad” (1958), he played the young outlaw, The Pocatello Kid (below) decked out as if the inspiration for Woody of “Toy Story” fame. The versatile actor brought honesty to his roles, sometimes running a bit close to an over-the-top delivery simply to sell his character. His Pocatello Kid was one such role. Another actor might have played down the role, but King leaves no doubt his character is an immature, hot-headed gunslinger.

In 1957 King starred as a falsely accused horse thief saved from one hanging but not his second after killing one of his original hangmen in “Born To Hang” on Gunsmoke. His first of four appearances with Richard Boone in Have Gun Will Travel (1957) was "Helen of Abajinan." King is a delight to watch in this role as an independent young buck refusing to get tied down by any woman. But he is undeniably smitten by Lisa Gaye, the daughter of an Armenian winemaker. His comedic delivery and facial expressions define his character. His most visible role was eleven episodes on the television series Wanted Dead or Alive (1959) playing Jason Nichols, an eager partner to Steve McQueen's Josh Randall. It was an experiment to infuse another angle in the show or give McQueen what he wanted—less time on the set.

But you cannot keep a good King saddled forever. His two appearances on The Twilight Zone is of special note. In "Shadow Play" (1961) he plays a newspaper editor who becomes convinced that a death row inmate's "dreams" may become reality. His final episode is a dandy, ending under the false pretenses that all “Twilight” episodes ended with a twist—hence the most memorable. “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville” (1963) has King, a forty-year janitor, “switching” roles with a wealthy, arrogant Albert Salmi in the end. All arranged by a devil, Julie Newmar. King had a minor role as Senator Richard B. Russell Jr. of Georgia in one of the most captivating television movies of the Twentieth Century, The Missiles of October, (1974), a dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. His last recurring role was in the short-lived, Logan's Run (1977-78), as Jonathon.

Note: Though there were numerous bit parts or uncredited roles for King in his early venture into movies, he is most famously associated with “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), “The Young Guns (1956) and “Cast a Long Shadow” (1959). It took about five days to film the low-budget, yet decent ocean-based thriller, “Dangerous Charter,” which was finally released in 1962. King's supporting role might have only taken a day, however. Larger-budgets awaited as King was cast as the District Attorney in the fantasy musical, “Finian's Rainbow” (1968) and notably “unseen” in “Planet of the Apes” (1968) as the chimpanzee veterinarian, Dr. Galen.