Joel McCrea | |
|---|---|
 McCrea inFour Faces West (1948) | |
| Born | Joel Albert McCrea (1905-11-05)November 5, 1905 |
| Died | October 20, 1990(1990-10-20) (aged 84) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Remains scattered into thePacific Ocean |
| Alma mater | Pomona College |
| Years active | 1927–1976 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingJody McCrea |
Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, andWesterns, for which he became best known.
He appeared in over one hundred films,[1] starring in over eighty, among themAlfred Hitchcock'sespionage thrillerForeign Correspondent (1940),Preston Sturges'comedy classicsSullivan's Travels (1941), andThe Palm Beach Story (1942), theromance filmBird of Paradise (1932), theadventure classicThe Most Dangerous Game (1932),Gregory La Cava's bawdy comedyBed of Roses (1933),George Stevens' six-time Academy Award nominated romantic comedyThe More the Merrier (1943),William Wyler'sThese Three,Come and Get It (both 1936) andDead End (1937),Howard Hawks'Barbary Coast (1935), and a number of Westerns, includingWichita (1955) asWyatt Earp andSam Peckinpah'sRide the High Country (1962), oppositeRandolph Scott.
He starred in a total of three Best Picture Oscar nominees:Dead End (1937),Foreign Correspondent (1940), andThe More the Merrier (1943).
With the exception of theBritishthrillerRough Shoot (1953) and film noirHollywood Story (1951), McCrea appeared in Western films exclusively from 1946 until his retirement in 1976.
McCrea was born inSouth Pasadena, California, the son of Thomas McCrea, an executive with the L.A. Gas & Electric Company,[2] and Louise "Lou" Whipple.[3] As a boy, he had a paper route delivering theLos Angeles Times toCecil B. DeMille and other people in the film industry. He also had the opportunity to watchD. W. Griffith filmingIntolerance, and was an extra in a serial starringRuth Roland.[2][4]
McCrea graduated fromHollywood High School and thenPomona College (class of 1928.[5]) There he had acted on stage and took courses in drama and public speaking, while also appearing regularly at thePasadena Playhouse. In 1928 he also metWyatt Earp in Hollywood – later in 1955, McCrea would portray Earp in the film,Wichita. As a high school student McCrea worked as a stunt double[4] and held horses for Hollywood cowboy starsWilliam S. Hart andTom Mix.[2] McCrea had a love and understanding of horses from an early age, and later he was considered one of the best riders in Western films.[6][7]
The strapping 6'2½" McCrea variously worked as an extra, stunt man, and bit player from 1927 to 1928, when he signed a contract withMGM. He was cast in a major role inThe Jazz Age (1929), and got his first leading role that year inThe Silver Horde.[2] He moved toRKO in 1930, where he established himself as a handsome and versatile leading man capable of starring in both dramas and comedies.[6]
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In the 1930s, McCrea starred in the pre-code filmBird of Paradise (1932), directed byKing Vidor, co-starring withDolores del Río. In RKO'sThe Sport Parade (1932), McCrea andWilliam Gargan are friends on the Dartmouth football team, who are shown snapping towels at each other in the locker room, while other players are taking a shower. In 1932 he starred withFay Wray inThe Most Dangerous Game – which used some of the same jungle sets built forKing Kong (1933) as well as cast members Wray andRobert Armstrong, and was filmed at night whileKing Kong was filmed during the day. He was originally intended for the characterJack Driscoll inKing Kong, but he turned down the role which subsequently went toBruce Cabot.[8][9][10]
In 1934 he made his first appearances with two leading ladies he would be paired with often,Miriam Hopkins inThe Richest Girl in the World, the first of their five films together,[11] andBarbara Stanwyck inGambling Lady, the first of their six pairings.[12]
Later in the decade he was the first actor to play "Dr. Kildare", in the filmInternes Can't Take Money (1937), and starred in two large-scale Westerns,Wells Fargo (1937) with his wifeFrances Dee, and Cecil B. DeMille'sUnion Pacific (1939).
McCrea reached the peak of his early career in the early 1940s, inAlfred Hitchcock's thrillerForeign Correspondent (1940), a romantic comedy,The More the Merrier (1943), directed byGeorge Stevens, and two comedies byPreston Sturges:Sullivan's Travels (1941) andThe Palm Beach Story (1942).[13] While shootingSullivan's Travels, it was an on-set joke that tall McCrea's leading lady, Veronica Lake, had to stand on a box for some shots, as she was reportedly 16 inches shorter than McCrea, and it was otherwise impossible to get both of their heads in the same shot.
McCrea turned down playing in a number of films; he was offered the lead role inThe Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) but he refused, saying "This character is too much of a gigolo. I don't like his moral standards." Among other movies he declined wereSpitfire (1934),The Impatient Years (1944),Intruder in the Dust (1949), andThe Story of Will Rogers (1952). DuringWorld War II, McCrea refused to portray military heroes, with the explanation, "Since I was too old to be called, I was too old for that kind of a show".[6] He was also notoriously modest about his acting abilities, and would say that he didn't feel good enough to play certain parts. He also preferred playing roles that he could see himself in. Despite his own opinion of his acting, Katharine Hepburn reportedly felt that he was one of the best actors with whom she had worked.[citation needed] She believed McCrea should have been ranked alongsideSpencer Tracy orHumphrey Bogart.
McCrea also starred in twoWilliam A. Wellman Westerns,The Great Man's Lady (1942), again with Stanwyck, andBuffalo Bill (1944), with character actorEdgar Buchanan and a youngMaureen O'Hara. After the success of the filmThe Virginian in 1946, McCrea made Westerns exclusively for the rest of his career, with two exceptions: an uncredited role in the 1951 film noirHollywood Story and the British-madeRough Shoot (1953).[14][15]
By that time the multi-millionaire McCrea had long been working his own ranch inVentura County outside of L.A.. Specializing in Westerns was not merely a return to what he had done earlier in his career, but a genre he immensely enjoyed. As he described it (in a 1978 interview):
I liked doing comedies, but as I got older I was better suited to do Westerns. Because I think it becomes unattractive for an older fellow trying to look young, falling in love with attractive girls in those kinds of situations.... Anyway, I always felt so much more comfortable in the Western. The minute I got a horse and a hat and a pair of boots on, I felt easier. I didn't feel like I was an actor anymore. I felt like I was the guy out there doing it.[2]
On November 19, 1950, McCrea appeared onTelevision Theatre in an adaptation ofForeign Correspondent.[16] In the early 1950s, McCrea starred as Jace Pearson on the radio series Western,Tales of the Texas Rangers.[17][18] In 1955 he was Wyatt Earp inWichita directed byJacques Tourneur. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded the film with "Best Picture – Outdoor Drama" that year.
In1959, McCrea and his sonJody starred in the briefNBC-TV seriesWichita Town. Earlier he had turned down the lead inRawhide, feeling it would make too heavy a workload. A few years later, McCrea united with fellow veteran of WesternsRandolph Scott inRide the High Country (1962), directed bySam Peckinpah, after which he did not make another feature film untilThe Young Rounders (1966). Four more years were to pass before his next film, but 1970 saw the release of two:Cry Blood, Apache, again with his son Jody, andSioux Nation. He made his final film appearance in 1976, inMustang Country.
In 1968, McCrea received a career achievement award from the L.A. Film Critics Association,[19] and the following year he was inducted into theHall of Great Western Performers at theNational Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum inOklahoma City, Oklahoma.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, McCrea has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Blvd. and another star at 6241 Hollywood Blvd. for his contribution to radio.
He was also a winner of the Golden Boot Award in 1987, the Golden Laurel Award in 1951, a Photoplay Award in 1939 for his performance inUnion Pacific, the Silver Medallion Award in 1982, and the Trustees Award in 1976 for the film,Mustang Country.
McCrea married actressFrances Dee inRye, New York, on October 20, 1933,[20][21] after they met while filmingThe Silver Cord.[2][22] Coincidentally, Dee was born only a few blocks away from McCrea's home, but she moved to Chicago during her childhood. They had three sons, Jody, Peter and David. They were married until McCrea's death on their 57th wedding anniversary.[7]
McCrea – who was an outdoorsman who had once listed his occupation as "rancher" and his hobby as "acting" – had begun buying property as early as 1933, when he purchased his first 1,000 acres (400 ha) in a then unincorporated area of easternVentura County, California, which later becameThousand Oaks. This was the beginning of what evolved into a 3,000-acre (1,200 ha)spread where McCrea and his wife lived, raised their sons, and rode their horses.[2][23] At one point, McCrea's ranch produced 200,000 pounds of beef every year. He was noted for being a hard worker on his ranch; he was very active in the management, including riding, roping and branding.
By the end of the 1940s, McCrea was a multi-millionaire, as much from his real-estate dealings as from his movie stardom. It is said that McCrea once joked that he "only acted so he could afford to ranch." In the early 1960s, he sold 1,200 acres (490 ha) of land to an oil company on the condition that they would not drill within sight of his home.[4] McCrea's perspicacity may have stemmed from his friendship in the 1930s with fellow personality and sometime actorWill Rogers. McCrea recounted that "the Oklahoma Sage" gave him a profound piece of advice: "Save half of what you make, and live on just the other half."[24]
McCrea supportedThomas Dewey in the1944 United States presidential election,Barry Goldwater in the1964 United States presidential election, andRonald Reagan in the1966 California gubernatorial election.[25][26]
In a story originally published in 1954, McCrea said he was a man of faith, who relied on the guidance of God in his personal life and career, saying that through the years he followed the principle of "asking my way of Him." At the end of the article, McCrea added, "I don't claim I haven't made mistakes. I have. But most of my mistakes were due to trusting 'luck' or my own judgment instead of His."[27]
McCrea made his final public appearance on October 3, 1990, at a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidatePete Wilson inBeverly Hills.[2] He died less than three weeks later on October 20, at theMotion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital inWoodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, frompneumonia at the age of 84.[6]
After his death his family ultimately donated thirty-five acres (14 ha) of McCrea's former ranch to the newly formed Conejo ValleyYMCA for the city ofThousand Oaks.[28] They also donated 75 acres (30 ha) to the Conejo Open Space Conservancy Agency (COSCA), which designated it the Joel McCrea Wildlife Preserve;[29] and five acres (2.0 ha) to the Boys and Girls Club ofCamarillo.
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