Biography for
Lyle Talbot More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

8 February 1902, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Date of Death

2 March 1996, San Francisco, California, USA

Birth Name

Lysle Henderson

Height

5' 11½" (1.82 m)

Mini Biography

Lyle Talbot, who appeared in scores of movies from leads in Warner Bros.' B-movies to supporting roles in Edward D. Wood Jr.'s legendary kitsch was born Lysle Hollywood Henderson on February 8, 1902 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Performing was in his blood, as he was the off-spring of two Mississippi Riverboat performers. He grew up in Nebraska, but after the death of his mother, he was raised by her mother, Mary Hollywood Talbot, whose name he later bore professionally.

Talbot's incredibly long and varied show business career began right after high school, when he joined a traveling tent show. Starting out as a magician-hypnotist's assistant, he worked his way up to magician before quitting the carny's life for that of the stock theater.

He learned to act with stock companies, and even formed his own company in Memphis, Tennesse, "The Talbot Players." By 1931, he was in Hollywood as the talkies were maturing. He had the good looks of a star, but more importantly, he had the rich baritone voice the talkies needed. He appeared in a short and followed it up with a role in a featured picture in support of fading star H.B. Warner (Cecil B. DeMille's Christ in the first "King of Kings") before being signed by Warner Bros.-First National. The studio gave him a plum part in William A. Wellmans "Love is a Racket," co-staring with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Ann Dvorak, and the fast-talking Lee Tracy. He appeared in A-pictures in the 1930s in supporting roles, including "Three on a Match," "20,000 Years in Sing Sing" and 42nd Street (1933), but his work was mostly in B-pictures, in which he frequently played leads. Although he thoroughly enjoyed the work, acting was practiced as an assembly line operation at the time. Actors would be assigned work--- usually based on 6-day, 12-hour weeks and commit themselves to the infamous 7-year exclusive contract that included draconian suspension penalties in the fine print. Talbot, along with James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis (ironically all WB contract players) were outspoken in their commitment to change working conditions for actors. He was one of the founders of the Screen Actors Guild, and the first employee of the Brothers Warners to join the union, much to their ire.

Talbot appeared as Commissioner Gordon in the 1949 movie serial "Batman and Robin" and was Lex Luthor in 1950's "Superman vs. the Atom Man." Virtually indiscriminate (or oblivious, possibly clueless--- who knows?) in his choice of roles, he the early 1950s, he appeared in several of 'Ed Wood''s most notorious films, including the infamous transvestite tear-jerker Glen or Glenda (1953) and the famously inept Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)--- aside from the recently deceased Bela Lugosi, he was Wood's most famous star. Talbot's acting career thrived on television, in which he appeared on from the beginning of the medium until the 1980s. He co-starred as Ozzie Nelson's friend Joe Randolph on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," and also made guest appearances on a plethora of TV series, including "Leave it to Beaver," "The Lone Ranger," ""Perry Mason," "Rawhide," "Wagon Train," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Green Acres," "Charlie's Angels," "Newhart," "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Who's the Boss?"

Lyle Talbot died of natural causes on March 3, 1996 in his home in San Francisco, California at the age of 94, the last of the SAG founders to shuffle off this mortal coil.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood

Spouse

Margaret Epple	(1948 - 1989) (her death) 4 children
Abigail Adams	(22 January 1942 - September 1942) (annulled)
Marjorie Kramer	(1937 - ?) (divorced)

Trivia

Father of journalist David Talbot, founding editor of Salon.com.

Father of public television producer Stephen Talbot.

He was the last of the surviving original members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He was also the first Warner Brothers contract player to join SAG.

Directed his former TV bosses Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard in a 1972 production of "The Marriage-Go-Round" in Florida.

Between 1932 and 1934 he appeared in 28 films, mostly for Warner Bros.

Founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, which angered many studio heads but did not result in a loss of work.

Was working on his memoirs when he died in 1996 at the age of 94.

In the span of two years (1950-1951), he appeared in 29 films.

Father of New Yorker magazine staff writer Margaret Talbot

Played Commissioner Gordon in the 1949 Batman serial (Batman and Robin (1949)), before becoming a staple in the films of Edward D. Wood Jr. Director Tim Burton later did his own version of "Batman" (Batman (1989)) and a biopic of Wood (Ed Wood (1994)).

Was the first actor to play Commissioner Gordon from Batman, and the first actor to play Lex Luthor from Superman.

Two pairs of his successors in his DC Comics roles have worked together in two separate movies. Pat Hingle and Gene Hackman appear together in The Quick and the Dead (1995). Gary Oldman and Kevin Spacey appear together in Henry & June (1990).

During a busy stretch of work in movie serials and live television in the early-1950s, he lived at the Highland Towers Apartments at 1922 N. Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA. The building is a registered landmark today. From 1955-1989 Talbot and his family lived at 3942 Goodland Avenue in Studio City, CA. where he was the town's "honorary mayor" in the 1960s.

Lyle's granddaughter, Caitlin Talbot, studied acting in the Master's program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she starred in the play, "Orlando.".

Pulled double duty doing voice over work for Warner Brothers' coming attractions in the early 1930's. That's Talbot's voice on the Jewel Robbery (1932) coming attraction reel.

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