He always appeared to have a smile on his face and seemed a quite cheery
individual and to be sure he was adept at playing that type character. Wide-eyed,
and round-faced with a neat mustache and smooth voice, he most often played
authority figures: sheriffs, lawyers, detectives, senators and the like.
Born Donald T. Beddoe in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1903 the son
of a leading tenor and voice coach, he was raised in New York and Cincinnati
where his father taught voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He
was educated at the University of Cincinnati in Business and Journalism
but was bitten by the acting bug while performing in stock theatres. Eventually
he made his debut on Broadway and later in films. Among his film credits
were: "Three Sappy People" (1936) a Three Stooges short and his
film debut; "Outside These Walls" (1939) as Dinky; "Mandrake
the Magician" (1939) as Frank Raymond; "Blondie Meets the Boss"
(1939) as Marvin; "Golden Boy" (1939) with William Holden, as
Borneo; "This Thing Called Love" (1940) as Tom Hawland; "Charlie
Chan's Murder Cruise" (1940) as Frederick Ross; "Talk of the Town"
(1942) with Cary Grant, as Police Chief; "Crime, Inc." (1945)
as Dixon; "The Farmer's Daughter" (1947) as Einar; "The Bachelor
and the Bobby-Soxer" (1947) as Joey; "Cyrano de Bergerac"
(1950) as The Meddler; "Caged" (1950) with Eleanor Parker, as
Commissioner Walker; "The Enforcer" (1951) with Humphrey Bogart,
as Thomas O'Hara, his personal favorite role; "The Big Sky" (1952)
with Kirk Douglas, as a Horse Trader; "The Joker is Wild" (1957)
in an unbilled role as a Heckler; "Texas Across the River" (1966)
as Mr. Naylor; "How Do I love Thee?" (1970) as Dr. Littlefield
and "Nickel Mountain" (1985) as Henry Soames, his final film.
On TV he was a regular on "The Second Hundred Years" (1967) as
Mr. Tolliver and appeared in the TV movie "Our Town" (1977) as
Constable Warren. He guest starred on such TV series as: "Broken Arrow";
"Circus Boy"; "Perry Mason"; "Maverick"; "F-Troop";
"Bewitched"; "Little House on the Prairie" and "Highway
to Heaven" his last role. He was married twice; to Evlyn in 1943 thru
her death in 1974 and later to actress Joyce Matthews. He died on January
19, 1991 in Laguna Hills, California of natural causes at age 87.
