Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 â€" October 20, 1990) was an
American actor whose career spanned almost five decades, appearing in
more than one hundred films. These films include Alfred Hitchcock's
espionage thriller Foreign Correspondent (1940), Preston Sturges'
comedy classics Sullivan's Travels (1941), and The Palm Beach Story
(1942), the romance film Bird of Paradise (1932), the adventure
classic The Most Dangerous Game (1932), Gregory La Cava's bawdy comedy
Bed of Roses (1933), George Stevens' romantic comedy The More the
Merrier (1943), William Wyler's These Three, Come and Get It (both
1936) and Dead End (1937), Howard Hawks' Barbary Coast (1935), and a
number of western films, including Wichita (1955) as Wyatt Earp and
Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962), opposite Randolph
Scott.With the exception of the British thriller film Rough Shoot
(1953), McCrea appeared in Western films exclusively from 1946 until
his retirement in 1976.McCrea was born in South Pasadena, California,
the son of Thomas McCrea, who was an executive with the L.A. Gas &
Electric Company, and Louise "Lou" Whipple. As a boy, he had a paper
route, and delivered the Los Angeles Times to Cecil B. DeMille and
other people in the film industry. He also had the opportunity to
watch D. W. Griffith filming Intolerance, and was an extra in a serial
starring Ruth Roland.McCrea graduated from Hollywood High School and
then Pomona College (class of 1928), where he had acted on stage and
took courses in drama and public speaking, while appearing regularly
at the Pasadena Playhouse. As a high school student, he worked as a
stunt double and held horses for cowboy stars William S. Hart and Tom
Mix.
American actor whose career spanned almost five decades, appearing in
more than one hundred films. These films include Alfred Hitchcock's
espionage thriller Foreign Correspondent (1940), Preston Sturges'
comedy classics Sullivan's Travels (1941), and The Palm Beach Story
(1942), the romance film Bird of Paradise (1932), the adventure
classic The Most Dangerous Game (1932), Gregory La Cava's bawdy comedy
Bed of Roses (1933), George Stevens' romantic comedy The More the
Merrier (1943), William Wyler's These Three, Come and Get It (both
1936) and Dead End (1937), Howard Hawks' Barbary Coast (1935), and a
number of western films, including Wichita (1955) as Wyatt Earp and
Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962), opposite Randolph
Scott.With the exception of the British thriller film Rough Shoot
(1953), McCrea appeared in Western films exclusively from 1946 until
his retirement in 1976.McCrea was born in South Pasadena, California,
the son of Thomas McCrea, who was an executive with the L.A. Gas &
Electric Company, and Louise "Lou" Whipple. As a boy, he had a paper
route, and delivered the Los Angeles Times to Cecil B. DeMille and
other people in the film industry. He also had the opportunity to
watch D. W. Griffith filming Intolerance, and was an extra in a serial
starring Ruth Roland.McCrea graduated from Hollywood High School and
then Pomona College (class of 1928), where he had acted on stage and
took courses in drama and public speaking, while appearing regularly
at the Pasadena Playhouse. As a high school student, he worked as a
stunt double and held horses for cowboy stars William S. Hart and Tom
Mix.
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