Screen Marines

THE OVERLOOK

By Tom Clavin

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          One of the reviews of the new film Ferrari noted that its star, Adam Driver, had served in the Marine Corps. This plus working on the next Drury/Clavin collaboration, which has Sterling Hayden as one of its characters, got me curious about how many other screen folk had been leathernecks. Quite a few, as it turned out. Some examples, beginning with one already named:

·        Sterling Hayden, a schooner commander at age 22, was a rising film star and a graduate of the British Commando Training School but was injured in a parachute jump and discharged. He then enlisted as a boot in the Corps in 1942, changed his name to John Hamilton, and served in the Balkans during World War II commanding 400 Yugoslav partisans in guerrilla warfare against the Nazis. He returned to have a solid career in motion pictures, including the role of General Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove.

·        Brian Keith served as a rear gunner in a SBD Douglas Dauntless dive bomber during missions against the Japanese naval base at Rabaul in World War II. He returned to the stage, radio, films, and television, making 50 films and starring in nine television series.

·        Lee Marvin enlisted in August 1942, served in the Marshall Islands (Eniwetok and Kwajalein), and was in the June 1944 Saipan invasion force. His company was ambushed and only six of 241 men survived. Marvin was, as he stated, "shot in the ass,” hospitalized 13 months, and discharged. Disabled and underemployed, he discovered summer stock acting and progressed to Broadway plays and motion pictures. For Cat Ballou he earned the Best Actor Academy Award and he starred in such classics as The Dirty Dozen, Point Blank, and The Professionals. By the way, he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery beside Joe Louis, the world heavyweight boxing champion.

·        World War I Marine veteran and comedian Bob Burns, inventor of an unusual musical instrument he called the "bazooka," had that name commandeered by the U.S. Army in 1943 to designate its new, portable antitank rocket launcher.

·        Macdonald Carey, known in the post-war era as a stage, radio, and television soap opera star, appeared in the 1942 film Wake Island. Inspired, he and other cast members actually joined the Corps immediately thereafter, and he served in the South Pacific.

·        Brian Dennehy, a student-athlete at Columbia University, joined in 1962 and served on Okinawa. He later discovered acting in theater, motion pictures, and television.

·        Actor and writer Bradford Dillman, a Yale literature and drama graduate, enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1948, was selected for OCS, and as a Marine 2nd lieutenant was assigned to teach communication skills to Marine veterans rather than being sent to Korea in 1951.

·        Gene Hackman, a high-school dropout who served two hitches in the Marines and left as a PFC in 1954, had the distinction of serving in China in 1948-1949 keeping Japanese war materiel out of Communist hands.

·        George Roy Hill, a Yale history and music graduate, joined the Corps in 1943, earned aviator's wings, and piloted transports in the South Pacific. Recalled to duty in 1951, he flew F4F Panther jet fighters during the Korean War. As a film director, he is known for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting.

·        Harvey Keitel was a Marine enlistee in 1956 and served in Beirut before embarking on a film career that has included Taxi Driver, The Piano, and Pulp Fiction.

·        Renowned stunt man Jock Mahoney was a civilian instructor in the U.S. Army Air Corps but enlisted in the Marines in 1943, earned his wings, and flew F4U Corsairs but missed out on actual combat. He worked in many film and television westerns but was best known for starring in two Tarzan films.

·        The silvery-voiced Ed McMahon started his career in the Navy's V-5 Program, transferred to the Marines, and was a flight instructor in F4U Corsair fighters prior to his discharge in 1946. While at Philadelphia's WCAU radio and television he was recalled to active duty and Captain McMahon flew 85 reconnaissance missions in an unarmed Cessna 180 observation plane in Korea 1951-1952.

·        Steve McQueen was a wild and rebellious farm boy from the Midwest who had worked in brothels as a youth. He enlisted in the Marines in 1947, was a crewman on tanks and amphibious tractors, and served in the guards assigned to President Truman's yacht, Sequoia. Odd jobs and the Actor's Studio led to Broadway and television and a career in motion pictures including The Magnificent Seven, Bullitt, The Great Escape, and The Thomas Crown Affair.

·        Hugh O'Brian, born Hugh Charles Krampe, son of a Marine captain, enlisted in 1943 and was a drill instructor when he met John Wayne who became a life-long friend. O'Brien has the distinction of being the last man Wayne "killed" in cinema (The Shootist, 1976), but had also starred as television's “Wyatt Earp.”

·        George Peppard enlisted in the Corps in 1946 and took amphibious training. His interests in civil engineering were sidetracked for drama and the Actor's Studio, leading to such films as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the TV series “Banacek” and “The A-Team.”

·        Tyrone Power was already a Hollywood megastar when he joined the Corps as a boot in April 1942. He qualified for OCS, received his commission, became an aviator, and served as a command transport pilot flying R4D Dakotas and C47s in the Pacific, notably, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Returning to his film career, he made Captain from Castile, Witness for the Prosecution, and The Sun Also Rises but died of a heart attack at age 44.

·        Holding a degree in English literature, Dartmouth College-educated Robert Ryan was also a heavyweight boxer before enlisting and becoming a Camp Pendleton drill instructor. A committed pacifist after 1945, he starred in films including The Dirty Dozen with fellow Marine Lee Marvin and Sam Peckenpaugh's classic The Wild Bunch.

·        George C. Scott's service on Arlington National Cemetery's grave detail in the mid-1940s made a lasting impression. Graduating from the University of Missouri, Scott taught at nearby Stephens College and then moved from stage to memorable screen appearances, including as General Buck Turgidson in Dr. Strangelove with Sterling Hayden. He won the Best Actor Oscar for Patton.

·        Comedian Jonathan Winters served on the Marine Detachment on the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard off the coast of Japan in 1945 and was in the occupation force at Yokosuka. After finishing high school and graduating from Dayton Art Institute in Ohio, Winters parlayed a local humor contest into features on the Jack Parr, Steve Allen, and Gary Moore television shows and success in films and as a writer.

·        Also serving as leathernecks were Don Adams (“Get Smart”), Burt Young (Rocky), comedian Drew Cary, Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo), former "presidential candidate" Pat Paulsen, Mike Farrell (“M*A*S*H”), Glenn Ford, Scott Glenn, Warren Oates, Bo Svenson, and James Whitmore.

For those sufficiently interested, there is a book on the topic titled Stars in the Corps. It is 25 years old so more recent Marines are not included but there are many good profiles worth reading.

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 25 books. The trade paperback edition of Follow Me to Hell is being published next week and coming from St. Martin’s Press in May is Throne of Grace (with Bob Drury). Please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com to purchase/pre-order a copy.