WHAT A CHARACTER: EVERETT SLOANE

The face of Everett Sloane graced many great movies and appeared in many great television shows, but I always forget his name when I see him. He could transform himself in each role he performed in. Everett H. Sloane was born in Manhattan October 1, 1909, to Nathaniel I. Sloane and Rose (Gerstein) Sloane. At age seven he played Puck in a play at Manhattan's Public School 46 and decided to become an actor. He completed two years at the University of Pennsylvania, and left in 1927 to join Jasper Deeter's Hedgerow Theatre repertory company. He made his New York stage debut in 1928. Sloane took a Wall Street job as a stockbroker's runner, but when his salary was cut in half after the stock market crash of 1929 he began to supplement his income with radio work. He became the sleuth's assistant on WOR's Impossible Detective Mysteries, played the title character's sidekick, Denny, in Bulldog Drummond and went on to perform in thousands of radio programs.

Sloane made his Broadway debut in 1935, playing Rosetti the agent in George Abbott's hit comedy, Boy Meets Girl. Everett eventually joined Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre, and acted in Welles' films in roles such as Bernstein in Citizen Kane in 1941 and Arthur Bannister in The Lady from Shanghai in 1947. He played an assassin in Renaissance-era Italy opposite Welles' Cesare Borgia in Prince of Foxes (1949).

Sloane also worked extensively in television; in November 1955 he starred in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Our Cook's a Treasure"; he appeared on the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show, also known as On Trial, in the 1956 episode "Law Is for the Lovers", with co-star Inger Stevens.

In 1961, Sloane appeared in an episode of The Asphalt Jungle. In the early 1960s, he voiced the title character of The Dick Tracy Show in 130 cartoons. Beginning in 1964, he provided character voices for the animated TV series Johnny Quest. He also starred in the ABC sci-fi television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the episode "Hot Line". He wrote the unused lyrics to "The Fishin' Hole", the theme song for The Andy Griffith Show. Sloane guest starred on the show in 1962, playing Jubal Foster in the episode "The Keeper of the Flame". He starred in both the film and television versions of Rod Serling's Patterns, and in the first season of The Twilight Zone in the episode "The Fever".

Sloane's last movie role was in the horrible Jerry Lewis comedy The Disorderly Orderly in 1964. Sadly, Everett Sloane committed suicide at age 55 on August 6, 1965 because he feared he was going blind. He is buried at Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. It was a sad end to such an accomplished and talented character actor...