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John Archer

Highest Rated: 100% Decision at Sundown (1957)

Lowest Rated: 22% Blue Hawaii (1961)

Birthday: May 8, 1915

Birthplace: Osceola, Nebraska, USA

John Archer--father of actress Anne Archer--is best known as the radio announcer for the weekly crime series "The Shadow," sinisterly intoning before every episode, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows." He was already a radio veteran by the time he worked on "The Shadow" in the mid-1940s, switching regularly between that medium and movies, but fans of Poverty Row B movies will also remember him from his starring roles in the cheapie Monogram pictures "King of the Zombies" and "Bowery at Midnight," the latter co-starring Bela Lugosi and Tom Neal. When not acting in B movies, he landed smaller supporting roles in major studio productions like the war drama "Guadalcanal Diary" and the gangster picture "White Heat." In 1950, he starred in one of the first real Hollywood science fiction movies, "Destination Moon," co-scripted by novelist Robert A. Heinlein." The movie, which at the time featured groundbreaking special effects in an effort to show what a moon landing would actually be like, won an Academy Award for visual effects and remains a historic milestone for the genre. Archer died in 1999 of lung cancer.

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Highest rated movies

100% 76% Decision at Sundown
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94% 93% White Heat
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67% 49% Destination Moon
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22% 67% Blue Hawaii
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The Purple V
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26% Santa Fe
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Police Bullets
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Shantytown
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Sea Tiger
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Gangs, Inc.
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Amelia Earhart Dr. Paterson (Character) - 1976
No Score Yet 70% Thursday's Game Mr. Wood (Character) - 1974
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hanford's Point Dr. Ed Bryce (Character) - 1967
No Score Yet No Score Yet Voyager Dr. Ed Bryce (Character) - 1966
No Score Yet 46% I Saw What You Did John Austin (Character) - 1965
22% 67% Blue Hawaii Jack Kelman (Character) - 1961
No Score Yet 38% City of Fear Lt. Mark Richards (Character) - 1959
100% 76% Decision at Sundown Dr. John Storrow (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet 12% Ten Thousand Bedrooms Bob Dudley (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet Affair in Reno Tony Lamarr (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet 33% No Man's Woman Harlow Grant (Character) - 1955
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Stars Are Singing Dave Parish (Character) - 1953
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dragon's Gold Mack Rossiter (Character) - 1953
No Score Yet 32% The Big Trees Frenchy LeCroix (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sea Tiger Ben McGrun (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rodeo Slim Martin (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Yank in Indo-China Mulvaney (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sound Off Maj. Paul Whiteside (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet 60% My Favorite Spy Henderson (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet 23% Best of the Badmen Curley Ringo (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet 26% Santa Fe Clint Canfield (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet No Score Yet High Lonesome Pat Farrell (Character) - 1950
67% 49% Destination Moon Jim Barnes (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Great Jewel Robber Police Detective Lou Sampter (Character) - 1950
No Score Yet 69% Colorado Territory Reno Blake (Character) - 1949
94% 93% White Heat Philip Evans (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet 52% Sherlock Holmes in Washington Naval Lt. Pete Merriam (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet 60% Hello, Frisco, Hello Ned Clark (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet 60% Guadalcanal Diary Lt. Thurmond (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Purple V Jimmy Thorne (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet No Score Yet Shantytown Bill Allen (Character) - 1943
No Score Yet 16% Bowery at Midnight Richard Dennison (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet Police Bullets Prof. J. Thomas Quincy (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hi, Neighbor Dr. Hall (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet Scattergood Survives a Murder Dunker Gilson (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch Dr. Robert Redmond (Character) - 1942
No Score Yet No Score Yet City of Missing Girls James Horton (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet 41% King of the Zombies Bill Summers (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet No Score Yet Gangs, Inc. Bob Elliott (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet No Score Yet Scattergood Baines Johnny Bones (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sucker List William Allen (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet No Score Yet Always Tomorrow Jim Westlake (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet 38% Overland Stage Raiders Bob Whitney (Character) - 1938

TV

Credit
92% 96% The Twilight Zone Trooper Bill Padgett (Character) 2013
No Score Yet 80% Columbo Paul (Character) 1973
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mannix Judge Y. Franklin Leigh (Guest Star) 1969
No Score Yet No Score Yet Bonanza Unknown (Guest Star) 1962-1963 1965-1966 1968
No Score Yet No Score Yet Lassie Dr. Ed Bryce (Guest Star) 1961 1966-1968
No Score Yet No Score Yet Perry Mason J. R. Bradbury (Guest Star) 1957-1960 1965
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hazel Unknown (Guest Star) 1963-1964
No Score Yet No Score Yet Wagon Train Unknown (Guest Star) 1961 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet 77 Sunset Strip Thayer (Guest Star) 1961-1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tales of Wells Fargo Dean Chase (Guest Star) 1960-1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet Surfside 6 Unknown (Guest Star) 1961-1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet Timmy & Lassie Unknown (Guest Star) 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Tall Man Ben Webster (Guest Star) 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet Lock Up Unknown (Guest Star) 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Cheyenne Unknown (Guest Star) 1957 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Laramie Arnold DeWalt (Guest Star) 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet Bat Masterson Jim (Guest Star) 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet Zane Grey Theatre Unknown (Character) 1958
No Score Yet No Score Yet Screen Directors Playhouse Unknown (Character) 1956
No Score Yet No Score Yet Suspense Unknown (Character) 1954
No Score Yet No Score Yet Showcase 39 Martin Baxter (Character) 1952