Paul Douglas

Acting

Paul Douglas

Born 1907-04-11 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Paul Douglas (April 11, 1907 – September 11, 1959) was an American actor. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Paul Douglas Fleischer, Douglas began his career as a stage actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1936 as the Radio Announcer in Doty Hobart and Tom McKnight's Double Dummy at the John Golden Theatre. In 1946 he won both a Theatre World Award and a Clarence Derwent Award for his portrayal of Herry Brock in Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday. Douglas began appearing in films in 1949. He may be best-remembered for two baseball comedy movies, Angels in the Outfield (1951) and It Happens Every Spring (1949). He also played Richard Widmark's police partner in the thriller Panic in the Streets, frustrated newlywed Porter Hollingsway in A Letter to Three Wives, Sgt. Kowalski in The Big Lift, businessman Josiah Walter Dudley in Executive Suite and a con man turned monk in When in Rome. In 1950, Douglas was host of the 22nd annual Academy Awards. Douglas also worked on radio as the announcer for The Ed Wynn Show and he was the first host of NBC Radio's "Horn & Hardart Children's Hour!". In April 1959 Douglas appeared as Lucy Ricardo's television morning show boss in the "Lucy Wants a Career" episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Douglas was originally cast in the 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Mighty Casey", a role written for him by Rod Serling, based on his character in Angels in the Outfield, but Douglas died the same week after production of the episode had been completed. His role was taken over by Jack Warden, and most of the episode was refilmed several months later. He was married five times, last to actress Jan Sterling from 1950 until his death. They had a son, Adams Douglas (1955–2003). Paul Douglas died on September 11, 1959 of a heart attack in Hollywood, California at the age of 52. Film director Billy Wilder and co-writer I.A.L. ('Izzy') Diamond had just offered him the role of Jeff Sheldrake in the movie The Apartment that went to Fred MacMurray instead. Wilder later said: "I saw him and his wife, Jan Sterling, at a restaurant, and I realized he was perfect, and I asked him right there in the parking lot. About two days before we were to start, he had a heart attack and died. Iz and I were shattered." Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Douglas,  licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Angels in the Outfield poster
7.0

The short-tempered manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates mends his ways in return for a little divine assistance.

Angels in the Outfield

1951

We're Not Married! poster
5.9

A Justice of the Peace performed weddings a few days before his license was valid. A few years later five couples learn they have never been legally married.

We're Not Married!

1952

Fourteen Hours poster
7.3

A young man, morally destroyed by his parents not loving him and by the fear of being not capable to make his girlfriend happy, rises on the ledge of a building with the intention of committing suicide. A policeman makes every effort to argue him out of it.

Fourteen Hours

1951

Clash by Night poster
6.7

An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband’s best friend.

Clash by Night

1952

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line poster
7.7

Born Ruby Stevens, she was orphaned when she was four. A chance audition led to a chorus job. By 17 she was a Ziegfeld Girl. At 20 she earned excellent reviews for a bit part in a Broadway play — and she had a new name: Barbara Stanwyck.

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

1997

A Letter to Three Wives poster
7.2

A letter is addressed to three wives from their 'best friend', announcing that she's running away with one of their husbands – but she doesn't specify which one.

A Letter to Three Wives

1949

The Mating Game poster
6.4

Tax collector Lorenzo Charlton comes to the Larkins' farm to ask why Pop Larkins has never filed an income tax return. Charlton has to stay for a day to try to estimate the income from the farm, but it isn't easy to calculate when the farmer has such a lovely daughter.

The Mating Game

1959

Panic in the Streets poster
6.9

A medical examiner discovers that an innocent shooting victim in a robbery died of bubonic plague. With only 48 hours to find the killer, who is now a ticking time bomb threatening the entire city, a grisly manhunt through the seamy underworld of the New Orleans Waterfront is underway.

Panic in the Streets

1950

Executive Suite poster
7.1

When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice-presidents vie to see who will replace him.

Executive Suite

1954

Forever Female poster
6.9

An aging actress has a hard time admitting she is too old to play the ingenue role anymore.

Forever Female

1953

The Big Lift poster
6.9

The Berlin Air Lift from the point of view of two Air Force NCOs who navigate romance in a bombed out post WW2 Germany.

The Big Lift

1950

The Solid Gold Cadillac poster
6.2

Laura Partridge is a very enthusiastic small stockholder of 10 shares in International Projects, a large corporation based in New York. She attends her first stockholder meeting ready to question the board of directors from their salaries to their operations.

The Solid Gold Cadillac

1956

Green Fire poster
6.3

In Colombia, mining engineer Rian Mitchell discovers Carrero, the lost emerald mine of the Conquistadors, but has to contend with notorious local bandit El Moro's gang and with coffee planter Catherine Knowland's love.

Green Fire

1954

This Could Be the Night poster
6.1

To earn extra money, a prim schoolteacher takes a second job as secretary to the uncouth owner of a boisterous nightclub.

This Could Be the Night

1957

It Happens Every Spring poster
6.6

A scientist discovers a formula that makes a baseball which is repelled by wood. He promptly sets out to exploit his discovery.

It Happens Every Spring

1949

The Gamma People poster
5.2

An American reporter smells a story when he is stranded in an Iron Curtain country where the local dictator is using gamma rays to transform children into mutated henchmen.

The Gamma People

1956

The Screen Director poster
7.0

A behind-the-scenes look at all the responsibilities (and headaches) a director assumes when making a motion picture.

The Screen Director

1951

Rhubarb poster
5.8

Rich, eccentric T.J. Banner adopts a feral cat who becomes an affectionate pet he names Rhubarb. Then T.J. dies, leaving to Rhubarb most of his money and a pro baseball team, the Brooklyn Loons. When the team protests, publicist Eric Yeager convinces them Rhubarb is good luck. But Eric's fiancée Polly seems to be allergic to cats, and the team's success may mean new hazards for Rhubarb.

Rhubarb

1951

The 'Maggie' poster
6.3

The poor, elderly—and the wily, when it comes to parting those who can afford it from their money—Scottish skipper of a broken-down old 'puffer' boat tricks an American tycoon into paying him to transport his personal cargo. When the tycoon learns of the trick, he attempts to track down the boat and remove his possessions.

The 'Maggie'

1954

Fortunella poster
6.3

A poor girl is convinced she is the daughter of a prince.

Fortunella

1958

Everybody Does It poster
8.5

Leonard Borland loves his monied wife, but with his wrecking business looking shaky he treasures her all the more. So when she decides to try again to become an opera singer he indulges her. While organising a concert for her he meets glamorous Cecil Carver. She in turn discovers Leonard has a splendid voice, and encourages him to use it for reasons very much her own.

Everybody Does It

1949

You Can Change The World poster
6.4

Comedian Jack Benny has his butler, Rochester, call several of his celebrity friends over to the house. Benny introduces them to a Catholic priest, who speaks to them about doing a film for a group called the Christophers. The Christophers are an organization that wants to use different mediums such radio, TV, and film to inspire young people to change the world for the better by pursuing careers in public service like teaching and government work. The priest gives the celebrities a history lesson about the founding of the U.S. and God's role in it, and he asks for their help.

You Can Change The World

1950

Margin for Error poster
6.3

When police officer Moe Finkelstein and his colleague Officer Salomon are ordered to serve as bodyguards to German consul Karl Baumer by the mayor of New York City, Finkelstein turns in his badge, convinced he has to quit the service because the man is a Nazi.

Margin for Error

1943

Beau James poster
5.4

The story of Jimmy Walker who became mayor of New York in the '20s.

Beau James

1957