Wendell Corey was a hard-working American character actor who appearedin numerous movies and television productions in the 1940s, '50s and'60s. Born on March 20, 1914 in Dracut, Massachusetts, in thenortheastern part of the Commonwealth near the New Hampshire border,Corey was the son of a Congregationalist clergyman. After receiving hiseducation, Corey began his acting career in summer stock. During theDepression he worked with the Federal Theater Project, part of theWorks Progress Administration that had been created by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt toput the unemployed to work. It was while working with the FederalTheater Project in the late 1930s that he met his wife, Alice Wiley.

He made his Broadway debut in "Comes the Revelation" in 1942, a flopthat lasted only two performances. His next play, "Strip for Action"(1942-43), was more successful, lasting 110 performances. He appearedin more plays in supporting roles from 1943-45, before making hisreputation as the cynical newspaperman inElmer Rice's hit comedy "Dream Girl," whichran for 341 performances in the 1945-46 season. He was discoveredduring the run of the play by producerHal B. Wallis, the former head ofproduction at Warner Bros. who was an independent producer affiliatedwith Paramount Pictures. Wallis, who discoveredBurt Lancaster shortly after the war,signed Corey to a Paramount contract.

It was at Paramount that he made his movie debut inDesert Fury (1947). He went on to acareer as a supporting player in the '40s and '50s in A-levelproductions with top Hollywood stars. He also carved a niche forhimself in television and in the late 1950s starred in the TV seriesPeck's Bad Girl (1959). Inthe 1960s he worked mostly in television.

LikeRonald Reagan, who was then aDemocrat, the Republican Corey was interested in politics. He waselected to membership on the board of directors of the Screen ActorsGuild and served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts andSciences from 1961 to 1963. As a Republican, he was elected to the CityCouncil in Santa Monica, California, in 1965. He made a bid for theRepublican nomination to contest a seat in Congress in 1966, but wasdefeated in the primary.

Corey was still serving on the Santa Monica City Council when he diedon November 8, 1968 at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital inWoodland Hills, California. He was 54 years old.