Jack Webb
Birth : 1920-04-02, Santa Monica, California, USA
Death : 1982-12-23
History
John Randolph 'Jack' Webb, also known by the pen name John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet. He was also the founder of his own production company, Mark VII Limited.
Born in Santa Monica, California, Webb grew up in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles as the child of a single mother after his father left home before he was born.
During World War II, Webb enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, but he "washed out" of flight training and was granted a hardship discharge to care for his family. Following his discharge, he moved to San Francisco, where a wartime shortage of announcers led to a temporary appointment to his own half-hour comedy radio show on ABC's KGO Radio in 1946. By 1949 he had abandoned comedy for drama, and starred in numerous radio shows until finding success in film and television in the late 1950s.
Webb had a featured role as a crime lab technician in the 1948 film He Walked by Night, a thinly-fictionalized recounting of the 1946 Walker crime spree. This experience gave Webb the idea for Dragnet: a recurring series based on real cases from LAPD police files, featuring authentic depictions of the modern police detective, including methods, mannerisms, and technical language. Following the success of Dragnet, Webb appeared in numerous television shows and specials, including the well-known 1972 series Emergency!
During his work on a revival of Dragnet in 1982, Webb suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 62. His funeral was given full police honors, and then LAPD Chief Daryl Gates retired the badge number 714 used by Webb's Joe Friday of Dragnet fame.
Joe Friday (archive footage)
Proof-of-Concept for the original series Electric Television.
Executive Producer
Biopic about tennis great Maureen Connolly who, as a teenager, was the first woman to win the Grand Slam of Tennis, became world-renowned as "Little Mo," and died of cancer in 1969 at the age of 34.
Executive Producer
A TV reporter whose career was ruined by his drinking gets another chance when he is hired by a TV news program.
Executive Producer
A young stockbroker, Christopher Sand, inherits an old ship named "Black Pearl" along with a medallion that is the key to a sunken Nazi treasure. But there are other people looking for the sunken treasure, people who will stop at nothing to gain access to the medallion.
Producer
A special police unit goes after a cop-killer in this pilot film to the short-lived series.
Director
A special police unit goes after a cop-killer in this pilot film to the short-lived series.
Executive Producer
The pilot movie to the hit series about Los Angeles paramedics and their interaction with the fire department and hospital system.
Director
The pilot movie to the hit series about Los Angeles paramedics and their interaction with the fire department and hospital system.
Narrator
Suddenly widowed by an accident, a deputy sheriff from the Midwest becomes a customs agent and cracks a narcotics ring. Pilot movie for the series "O'Hara, U.S. Treasury."
Director
Suddenly widowed by an accident, a deputy sheriff from the Midwest becomes a customs agent and cracks a narcotics ring. Pilot movie for the series "O'Hara, U.S. Treasury."
Self (archive footage)
The Selling of the Pentagon, was an important documentary aired in primetime on CBS on 23 February 1971. The aim of this film, produced by Peter Davis, was to examine the increasing utilization and cost to the taxpayers of public relations activities by the military-industrial complex in order to shape public opinion in favor of the military.
Executive Producer
D.A. Paul Ryan doesn't buy self-defense when a pharmacist fatally shoots an armed robber and brings the man up on manslaughter charges, for which he's convicted. However, when Ryan discovers the pharmacist's double life--he's been running a burglary ring out of the pharmacy, and the dead man may have been a member of said ring, he vacates the manslaughter conviction and sets out to nail him for murder instead.
Producer
Also known as "Dragnet 1966," this TV movie was originally the pilot for the 1967 relaunch of the original 1950s "Dragnet" radio show and TV show (which also had it's own movie in 1954, from the same creative team). However, the pilot wasn't actually aired until 1969. In this feature-length entry, Sgt. Joe Friday is called back from vacation to work with his partner, Officer Bill Gannon, on a missing persons case. Two amateur female models and a young war widow have vanished, having been last seen with one J. Johnson. In the course of tracking down Johnson and the young ladies, the detectives wind up with two different descriptions of the suspect, one of which closely resembles a dead body found in a vacant lot. But the dead man, later identified as Charles LeBorg of France, proves not to be J. Johnson, when a third young model disappears.
Joe Friday
Also known as "Dragnet 1966," this TV movie was originally the pilot for the 1967 relaunch of the original 1950s "Dragnet" radio show and TV show (which also had it's own movie in 1954, from the same creative team). However, the pilot wasn't actually aired until 1969. In this feature-length entry, Sgt. Joe Friday is called back from vacation to work with his partner, Officer Bill Gannon, on a missing persons case. Two amateur female models and a young war widow have vanished, having been last seen with one J. Johnson. In the course of tracking down Johnson and the young ladies, the detectives wind up with two different descriptions of the suspect, one of which closely resembles a dead body found in a vacant lot. But the dead man, later identified as Charles LeBorg of France, proves not to be J. Johnson, when a third young model disappears.
Director
Also known as "Dragnet 1966," this TV movie was originally the pilot for the 1967 relaunch of the original 1950s "Dragnet" radio show and TV show (which also had it's own movie in 1954, from the same creative team). However, the pilot wasn't actually aired until 1969. In this feature-length entry, Sgt. Joe Friday is called back from vacation to work with his partner, Officer Bill Gannon, on a missing persons case. Two amateur female models and a young war widow have vanished, having been last seen with one J. Johnson. In the course of tracking down Johnson and the young ladies, the detectives wind up with two different descriptions of the suspect, one of which closely resembles a dead body found in a vacant lot. But the dead man, later identified as Charles LeBorg of France, proves not to be J. Johnson, when a third young model disappears.
Security Man
A collection of television celebrities pitch United States Savings bonds.
Narrator
Narrator
Follows U. S. Marines and sailors on a "typical" day in Vietnam
Executive Producer
Circuit-riding Texas lawyer Timothy Higgins defends a former girlfriend against a murder charge stemming from an extortionist's threat to reveal her shady past. Through adroit courtroom work, Higgins is able to acquit her and reveal who actually shot the fatal bullet.
On-Camera Narrator
A man takes his American freedoms for granted, until he wakes up one morning to find out that the United States Government has been replaced with a Communist system. The basis for this short film, narrated by Jack Webb, is the alleged Soviet re-creation of US communities for the purpose of training infiltrators, spies, and moles.
Narrator
John Glenn's first flight ushered in the modern era of space exploration for America. His landmark return to space represented the final chapter of space exploration in the 20th century.
Director
Two Air Force friends have fun during their enlistment.
William 'Bill' Bowers
Two Air Force friends have fun during their enlistment.
Awarded an honorary Oscar to William L. Hendricks "for his outstanding patriotic service in the conception, writing and production of the Marine Corps film, A Force in Readiness, which has brought honor to the Academy and the motion picture industry."
Producer
A newspaper editor deals with a particularly stressful day in the newsroom.
Sam Gatlin
A newspaper editor deals with a particularly stressful day in the newsroom.
Director
A newspaper editor deals with a particularly stressful day in the newsroom.
Director
Gunnery Sergeant Jim Moore is one of the toughest Drill Instructors on Parris Island. But he's got a thorn in his side: Pvt. Owens, who always seems to foul up when the pressure's on. Convinced that "there's a man underneath that baby powder," Sgt. Moore drives Owens to the point of desertion. Making things worse, Capt. Anderson has given Moore three days to make the scared private into Marine material, "or I'll personally cut the lace off his panties and ship him out!" Adding to the pressure, Moore also juggles a budding romance with a shop girl.
Gunnery Sgt. Jim Moore
Gunnery Sergeant Jim Moore is one of the toughest Drill Instructors on Parris Island. But he's got a thorn in his side: Pvt. Owens, who always seems to foul up when the pressure's on. Convinced that "there's a man underneath that baby powder," Sgt. Moore drives Owens to the point of desertion. Making things worse, Capt. Anderson has given Moore three days to make the scared private into Marine material, "or I'll personally cut the lace off his panties and ship him out!" Adding to the pressure, Moore also juggles a budding romance with a shop girl.
Himself
This short film looks at the purpose and methods of the U.S. Air Force, and the difficulties of getting along with civilian neighbors. The story involves members of an Air Force base proving their worth to the mayor of a nearby town who would like to see them gone due to noise pollution.
Producer
In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.
Pete Kelly
In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.
Director
In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.
Director
Two homicide detectives try to find just the facts behind a mobster's brutal murder.
Sergeant Joe Friday
Two homicide detectives try to find just the facts behind a mobster's brutal murder.
Ens. Anthony 'Tony' Barbo
When Lt. John Harkness is assigned as the new skipper of a submarine chaser equipped with an experimental steam engine, he hopes that the U.S.S. Teakettle's veterans will afford him enough help to accomplish the ship's goals. Unfortunately, he finds the crew and its officers share his novice status or only have experience in diesel engines.
Correspondent Dickerman
Richard Widmark leads an all star cast of marine leathernecks including Jack Palance, Robert Wagner, Karl Malden, Richard Boone and Jack Webb into battle on a heavily fortified island. This action-packed story follows the squad as they pick their way through enemy-infested jungles on a time sensitive mission to find the source of the enemy rockets. As the mission progresses, the squad and leader overcome many challenges as they are transformed into an effective and efficient fighting unit.
Augie
Gamblers who "took" an out-of-town sucker in a crooked poker game feel shadowy vengeance closing in on them.
Norm
Ken, an ex-WWII GI, returns home after he's paralyzed in battle. Residing in the paraplegic ward of a veteran's hospital and embittered by his condition, he refuses to see his fiancée and sinks into a solitary world of hatred and hostility. Head physician, Dr. Brock cajoles the withdrawn Ken into the life of the ward, where fellow patients Norm, Leo and Angel begin to pull him out of his spiritual dilemma.
Artie Green
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
Joe Regas
Al Goddard, a detective who works for the United States Postal Inspection Service, is assigned to arrest two criminals who've allegedly murdered a U.S. postal detective.
Lee Whitey
This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop.
Bullseye (uncredited)
Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity—with unfortunate results.
Boy in Schoolyard (uncredited)
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
