Richard Denning
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Richard Denning (March 27, 1914 – October 11, 1998) was an American actor best known for starring in science fiction films of the 1950s, including "Unknown Island" (1948), "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954), "Target Earth" (1954), "Day the World Ended" (1955), "Creature with the Atom Brain" (1955), and "The Black Scorpion" (1957). Denning also appeared in the film "An Affair to Remember" (1957) with Cary Grant and on radio with Lucille Ball in "My Favorite Husband" (1948–1951), the forerunner of television's I Love Lucy.
He was married to Evelyn Ankers.
Recognition
Denning has a star at 6932 Hollywood Boulevard in the Television section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.
Personal life
In 1942, Denning married 1940s horror film queen Evelyn Ankers (co-star of The "Wolf Man", "Ghost of Frankenstein" and "Son of Dracula)", who retired from films at the age of 32 after they were married. He and Ankers had a daughter, Diana Denning (later Dwyer). After Ankers' death from cancer in 1985, Denning remarried, to Patricia Leffingwell. Denning died of a heart attack at the age of 84 on October 11, 1998 while visiting relatives in Southern California. Denning and Ankers are buried at Makawao Veterans' Cemetery in Makawao, Hawaii.
Findagrave.com website Updated: 2001 |
Richard Denning - Actor. Born Louis Albert Denninger, Jr, he originally studied business management in Los Angeles but decided to break into acting instead. He won a radio contest called "Do You Want to Be an Actor", and was awarded a Warner Bros. screen test. Warner rejected him, but Paramount Pictures took him on the condition that he change his name to Denning. (Studio execs worried that "Denninger" sounded too much like gangster John Dillinger). He went on to appear in films like "North West Mounted Police" (1940), "The Glass Key" (1942), "Black Beauty" (1946), "No Man of Her Own" (1950), "Creature From The Black Lagoon" (1954), and "An Affair To Remember" (1957). He also worked in radio, most notably alongside Lucille Ball in "My Favorite Husband", becoming one of the most popular male leads in radio. He hoped continue this role in television, but Ball wanted to work with her then husband Desi Arnaz. Denning married Evelyn Ankers, an actress famous for horror pictures in 1942, and they had one child, a daughter. During World War II, Denning enlisted in the United States Navy and served on submarines. He later played the recurring role of the Hawaiian Governor in the popular television series "Hawaii five-0". Ankers passed away in 1985, and in 1986 Denning married Patricia Leffingwell. He died of a heart attack in Escondido, California, and was interred beside his first wife in Maui Veterans cemetery.
External Links
Richard Denning @ Find A Grave
- Also see the Wikipedia page [ Richard Denning ]
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