William Whitney Talman, Jr. (February 4, 1915 â€" August 30, 1968) was
an American television and movie actor, best known for playing Los
Angeles District Attorney Hamilton Burger in the television series
Perry Mason.William Talman was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Ada
Barber and William Whitney Talman, a vice president of an electronics
company. His maternal grandparents, Catherine Gandy and James Wells
Barber, were immigrants from England.Talman founded the drama club at
the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He continued to
act at Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan. After
college, he worked in summer stock and at an iron foundry, paper
mills, boat yards, and as an automobile salesman. Talman served for 30
months in the United States Army in the Pacific Theatre of World War
II, beginning his service as a private on February 4, 1942, at Camp
Upton in Yaphank, Long Island, New York. He was ultimately
commissioned a major during the war.Talman began his acting career on
the stage. He was the leading man in the summer stock company at
Ivoryton, Connecticut, where he met his first wife, and he played the
male lead in Dear Ruth during part of the play's New York run. He
appeared on Broadway in Beverly Hills, Spring Again and A Young Man's
Fancy, and toured with the road companies of Yokel Boy and Of Mice and
Men.
an American television and movie actor, best known for playing Los
Angeles District Attorney Hamilton Burger in the television series
Perry Mason.William Talman was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Ada
Barber and William Whitney Talman, a vice president of an electronics
company. His maternal grandparents, Catherine Gandy and James Wells
Barber, were immigrants from England.Talman founded the drama club at
the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He continued to
act at Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan. After
college, he worked in summer stock and at an iron foundry, paper
mills, boat yards, and as an automobile salesman. Talman served for 30
months in the United States Army in the Pacific Theatre of World War
II, beginning his service as a private on February 4, 1942, at Camp
Upton in Yaphank, Long Island, New York. He was ultimately
commissioned a major during the war.Talman began his acting career on
the stage. He was the leading man in the summer stock company at
Ivoryton, Connecticut, where he met his first wife, and he played the
male lead in Dear Ruth during part of the play's New York run. He
appeared on Broadway in Beverly Hills, Spring Again and A Young Man's
Fancy, and toured with the road companies of Yokel Boy and Of Mice and
Men.
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