Edward Binns

Edward Binns (September 12, 1916 – December 4, 1990) was an American stage, film and television actor. He had a wide-spanning career in film and television, often portraying competent, hard working and purposeful characters in his various roles.

Edward Binns
Binns in 1959
Born(1916-09-12)September 12, 1916
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedDecember 4, 1990(1990-12-04) (aged 74)
Brewster, New York
OccupationFilm, stage, television actor
Years active1948–1988
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Franz (1984–1990; his death)

Early life

Binns was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Esther (Bracken) and Edward Thomas Binns.[1] His family were Quakers.[2] He graduated from the Pennsylvania State University[3] in 1937.[4]

Career

Stage

Binns's theatrical career began shortly after his 1937 college graduation, when he participated in a repertory theatre in Cleveland. He followed that with a year as actor and director of the Pan-American Theatre in Mexico City. Next, he went to the University of Pennsylvania as an instructor, directing stock theater companies.[4]

One of the first members of the newly formed Actors Studio, Binns began studying with Elia Kazan in late 1947.[5] His Broadway credits include Ghosts (1982), Caligula (1959) and Command Decision (1947).[6]

Military service

Beginning in 1942, Binns served in the Army Air Force. After graduating from Officer Candidate School, he was an armament officer in the China-Burma-India Theater.[4]

Film

After appearing in a number of Broadway plays, Binns began appearing in films in the early 1950s. Some of his notable roles include playing Juror No. 6 in Sidney Lumet's directorial debut 12 Angry Men (1957) and Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith in the Academy Award-winning film Patton (1970) starring George C. Scott.

Binns was featured as a police detective in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) and played a key role as bomber pilot Colonel Grady in Fail-Safe (1964). His other films include Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), The Americanization of Emily (1964), The Plainsman (1966), Night Moves (1975) and The Verdict (1982).

Television

Binns starred as Lieutenant Roy Brenner in Brenner, a crime drama on CBS (1959–1962).[7]

He also appeared in "more than 500 television programs, live, taped and film"[3] including NBC's legal drama Justice, Rod Cameron's syndicated State Trooper, the syndicated adventure series Whirlybirds, the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, The Dakotas, the ABC rodeo drama, Stoney Burke, and ABC's war drama 12 O'Clock High. He was cast in CBS's Richard Diamond, Private Detective (as Larrabee in the 1958 episode "Pension Plan"), The Investigators and Thriller.

Binns appeared as Colonel Robert Baldwin with June Allyson as his screen wife, Eleanor Baldwin, in the 1961 episode "Without Fear" of Allyson's CBS anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Also that year he made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, first as Lloyd Castle in "The Case of the Angry Dead Man," then as Charles Griffin in "The Case of the Malicious Mariner," and in an episode of The Asphalt Jungle. He had a leading role in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone in the 1960 episode "I Shot an Arrow into the Air". He portrayed a marine biologist obsessed with a whale in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "The Ghost of Moby Dick".

Binns also appeared in two episodes of ABC's The Untouchables as gunman Steve Ballard and in a later episode as a doctor.

He was a cast member of CBS's The Nurses from 1962 through 1964. He appeared in an episode of the ABC espionage drama Blue Light early in 1966, and in ABC's It Takes a Thief (1969–1970) with Robert Wagner. Binns also appeared in one episode of the ABC series A Man Called Shenandoah, with Robert Horton, as General Korshak on CBS's M*A*S*H, in an episode of NBC's The Brian Keith Show, an episode of The Rockford Files, and in three episodes of ABC's The Fugitive. His distinctive voice was also heard in hundreds of radio and television commercials.

Personal life

Binns married journalist Marcia Legere in December 1956. He had one daughter with her and two daughters from a previous marriage.[4] At the time of his death, he was married to actress Elizabeth Franz.[8]

Death

Binns died from a heart attack at the age of 74 while traveling from New York City to his home in Connecticut. His ashes were scattered at his residence.[9]

Partial filmography
Virginia Gregg and Edward Binns in Portland Exposé (1957)
Edward Binns (right) in Fail-Safe (1964)

References and notes
  1. Aaker, Everett (2006). Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6409-8. Pp. 54–56.
  2. http://www.supportingtvcast.com/EdwardBinns.html
  3. "Life of Free-Lance TV Actor Precarious, Almost Impossible". The Lincoln Star. Nebraska, Lincoln. Associated Press. November 24, 1963. p. 27. Retrieved September 30, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "2 Veteran Actors Form TV Dad-Son Police Team". The Daily Reporter. Ohio, Dover. July 11, 1959. p. 16. Retrieved September 30, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Robert Lewis (1996) [1984]. "Actors Studio, 1947". Slings and Arrows: Theater in My Life. New York: Applause Books. p. 183. ISBN 1-55783-244-7. At the end of the summer, on Gadget's return from Hollywood, we settled the roster of actors for our two classes in what we called the Actors Studio – using the word 'studio' as we had when we named our workshop in the Group, the Group Theatre Studio. Kazan's people met twice a week and included, among others, Julie Harris, Jocelyn Brando, Cloris Leachman, James Whitmore, Joan Copeland, Steven Hill, Lou Gilbert, Rudy Bond, Anne Hegira, Peg Hillias, Lenka Peterson, Edward Binns, and Tom Avera.
  6. "("Edward Binns" search results)". Playbill Vault. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  7. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7. P. 134.
  8. "Actor Edward Binns, 74". Chicago Tribune. New York Times News Service. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  9. "Deaths: Edward Binns". Daily Sitka Sentinel. Alaska, Sitka. Associated Press. December 6, 1990. p. 2. Retrieved September 30, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
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