Leif Erickson

Actor

About

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Also Known As

William Anderson, Leif Erikson

Birth Place

Alameda, California, USA

Born

October 27, 1911

Died

January 29, 1986

Cause of Death

Cancer

Biography

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Actor Leif Erickson's Nordic good looks earned him lots of screen time as well as pinning him in frequent second-banana spots reserved for the highly attractive but moderately talented. His first love was music, and he worked first as a vocalist and trombone player. After dabbling in theater, he moved into films, playing alongside Buster Crabbe in a series of Westerns based on the storie...

Filmography

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My Life As A Dog (1985)

Abduction (1981)

Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)

Force Five (1975)

Winterhawk (1975)

Man and Boy (1972)

Photos & Videos

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Night Monster (1942) -- (Movie Clip) After What I've Seen And Heard

Strait-Jacket (1964) -- (Movie Clip) She's Dying To Meet You

Family & Companions

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Frances Farmer

Wife

Actor. Married 1934-42.

Biography

Actor Leif Erickson's Nordic good looks earned him lots of screen time as well as pinning him in frequent second-banana spots reserved for the highly attractive but moderately talented. His first love was music, and he worked first as a vocalist and trombone player. After dabbling in theater, he moved into films, playing alongside Buster Crabbe in a series of Westerns based on the stories of Zane Grey. Though the parts kept coming, Erickson took a four-year break from acting to serve in World War II, returning afterward to success in such notable films as "The Snake Pit," a drama of life in a psychiatric hospital, and "Show Boat," the 1951 version of the famous musical. Erickson continued to work steadily in supporting roles, including that of an investigator in the classic drama of life on the docks, "On the Waterfront." After numerous spots on anthology and Western series, he landed the top spot on "The High Chaparral" as the head of a family of ranchers, leading the show for four seasons. Once that show ended, he mainly played one-off parts on TV series through the '70s. His final appearance came in 1984 in an episode of "Fantasy Island." In his personal life, Erickson gained some notoriety for trading actress wives in 1942, divorcing Frances Farmer and marrying Margaret Hayes on the same day.

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

My Life As A Dog (1985)

Abduction (1981)

Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)

Force Five (1975)

Winterhawk (1975)

Man and Boy (1972)

Family Rico (1972)

The Daughters of Joshua Cabe (1972)

Terror in the Sky (1971)

Marty Treleavek

The Deadly Dream (1971)

Dr Harold Malcolm

I Saw What You Did (1965)

The Carpetbaggers (1964)

Jonas Cord, Sr.

Strait-Jacket (1964)

Roustabout (1964)

A Gathering of Eagles (1963)

Shoot Out at Big Sag (1962)

Twilight for the Gods (1958)

Once Upon a Horse... (1958)

Kiss Them for Me (1957)

Istanbul (1957)

The Vintage (1957)

Star in the Dust (1956)

The Fastest Gun Alive (1956)

Tea and Sympathy (1956)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Paris Model (1953)

Invaders from Mars (1953)

Never Wave at a WAC (1953)

Sgt. Norbert "Noisy" Jackson

Trouble Along the Way (1953)

Father Provincial

Captain Scarface (1953)

Fort Algiers (1953)

A Perilous Journey (1953)

Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)

My Wife's Best Friend (1952)

Sailor Beware (1952)

Carbine Williams (1952)

The Cimarron Kid (1952)

Marshal John Sutton

With a Song in My Heart (1952)

Born to the Saddle (1952)

Reunion in Reno (1951)

B. Frederick Linaker

Show Boat (1951)

The Tall Target (1951)

The Showdown (1950)

"Big Mart" Stores

Mother Didn't Tell Me (1950)

Dr. Bruce Gordon

Martin Weatherby

Three Secrets (1950)

Love That Brute (1950)

Military school commandant

The Lady Gambles (1949)

Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949)

Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948)

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

The Snake Pit (1948)

The Gay Intruders (1948)

Dr. Harold Matson

Joan of Arc (1948)

Dunois, Bastard of Orleans

The Gangster (1947)

Blonde Savage (1947)

Are Husbands Necessary? (1942)

The Fleet's In (1942)

Arabian Nights (1942)

Kamar [al Zaman]

Pardon My Sarong (1942)

Eagle Squadron (1942)

Johnny [M.] Coe

Night Monster (1942)

H. M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)

Rodney "Bo Jo" Brown

Nothing But the Truth (1941)

Van [Tom Van Dusen]

The Blonde from Singapore (1941)

...one third of a nation... (1939)

The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)

Ride a Crooked Mile (1938)

[Montgomery] Johnny Simpkins

Conquest (1937)

Waikiki Wedding (1937)

College Holiday (1936)

Girl of the Ozarks (1936)

The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1933)

Film Production - Main (Feature Film)

Mr. Atlas (1997)

Cast (Special)

Savage: In the Orient (1983)

Major; His Assistant In The Paul Savage Antique Shop

Hunter's Moon (1979)

The New Healers (1972)

Hard Case (1960)

Cash Wilson (Guest)

The Claudette Colbert Show (1958)

The Sharpshooter (1958)

Jim Lewis (Guest)

Cast (TV Mini-Series)

Wild Times (1980)

Life Events

1935

Film acting debut (bit)

Photo Collections

Tea and Sympathy - Movie Poster

Here is the American one-sheet movie poster for Tea and Sympathy (1956). One-sheets measured 27x41 inches, and were the poster style most commonly used in theaters.

Videos

Night Monster (1942) -- (Movie Clip) After What I've Seen And Heard Joining the expository opening for this semi-ensemble Universal programmer, Millie (Janet Shaw), maid in the mansion, expresses her discontent to Bela Lugosi as the butler Rolf, who’s not happy with her or the chauffeur Laurie (Leif Erikson), in the first feature by the noted Hollywood craftsman Ford Beebe, Night Monster, 1942.

Strait-Jacket (1964) -- (Movie Clip) She's Dying To Meet You After an edgy return to family after serving 20-years, axe-murderess Lucy (Joan Crawford), with roast beef, brother and wife (Leif Erickson, Rochelle Hudson) and daughter Carol (Diane Baker), who witnessed her crime, getting ready to meet beau Michael (John Anthony Hayes), early in William Castle’s Strait-Jacket, 1964.

Tea and Sympathy (1956) -- (Movie Clip) Are Women Verboten? Laura (Deborah Kerr) visits her coach-husband Bill (Leif Erickson) at the beach then worries about young boarder Tom (John Kerr) in Vincente Minnelli's Tea and Sympathy, from Robert Anderson's play.

Tea And Sympathy (1956) -- (Movie Clip) -- He Is An Off Horse Faculty wife Laura (Deborah Kerr) is just meeting Herb (Edward Andrews), father of their boarder, who is ridiculed by his peers as "Sister Boy," when her husband (Leif Erickson), Herb's old classmate, arrives, in Vincente Minnelli's Tea And Sympathy, 1956.

Strait-Jacket (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Raised On A Farm Carole (Diane Baker) chats with Aunt & Uncle (Rochelle Hudson, Leif Erickson) about the bad dream her reformed axe-murderess mother Lucy (Joan Crawford) had, she meantime visiting farm hand Leo (George Kennedy), in William Castle's Strait-Jacket, 1964.

Strait-Jacket (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Quit Squirming! Persuaded by daughter Carol (Diane Baker) that she's ready to meet her potential in-laws, recovering axe-murderess Lucy (Joan Crawford) travels with brother Bill (Leif Erickson) and his wife Emily (Rochelle Hudson), in William Castle's Strait-Jacket, 1964.

Abbott And Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952) -- (Movie Clip) We Owe It To The Skipper Dressing up with color and musical comedy, the opening to Abbott And Costello's largely self-financed Abbott And Costello Meet Captain Kidd, 1952, Leif Erickson leading the pirate chorus and Charles Laughton spoofing his own role from 1945, the boys found bumbling around Tortuga.

Tall Target, The -- (Movie Clip) The Man Went Away Policeman Kennedy (Dick Powell), suspecting a plot against president-elect Lincoln, just catches the Washington train, dodges conductor Crowley (Will Geer), and seeks his missing boss, early in Anthony Mann's The Tall Target, 1951.

Tall Target, The -- (Movie Clip) One Shot And You're Through Taken hostage by the man (Leif Erickson) impersonating him, policeman Kennedy (Dick Powell) tries to turn the tables and is rescued by Jeffers (Adolphe Menjou), in Anthony Mann's Lincoln assassination-attempt drama The Tall Target, 1951.

Dallas (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Fry You For Breakfast First scene for Gary Cooper (as "Blayde Hollister") in which the great man gets himself shot, by Wild Bill Hickock (Reed Hadley), new-in-town marshal Weatherby (Leif Erickson), and others, baffled, from Dallas, 1950.

H.M. Pulham, Esq. -- (Movie Clip) Radicals All Over Harvard football star "Bo Jo" (Leif Erickson) offers expansive comments on the Dartmouth game ca. 1916, non-jock Harry (Robert Young) attentive, his acquaintance Bill (Van Heflin) checking in, Joe (Phil Brown) joining them in further discussion, in King Vidor's H.M. Pulham Esq., 1941.

Dallas (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Father Kept Him Hidden Hollister (Gary Cooper) and Weatherby (Leif Erickson), who've swapped identities, ride up to the Texas ranch where Senor Robles (Antonio Moreno) presides, his daughter Tonia (Ruth Roman), expecting her fiance`, in Dallas, 1950.

Companions

Frances Farmer

Wife

Actor. Married 1934-42.

Bibliography

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