Booth Colman (March 8, 1923 – December 15, 2014) was an American film, television and stage actor. In his later years he played older authority figures, such as doctors and lawyers. Colman appeared in films since 1952, when he debuted (uncredited) in '' The Big Sky'' directed by Howard Hawks.

Life and career

Colman was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. As a child actor in local productions, he became active in local radio. He studied Oriental language at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

and

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. During World War II, he enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

on May 12, 1943, and attended language training at the University of Michigan from 1943 to 1944. After language training, he worked in New York City and was discharged from the army in 1944 at Fort Dix, New Jersey.''High Council - An Interview with Booth Colman''
by Jeff Krueger - 'Simian Scrolls' #12 While in New York, he began a long career in Broadway theater, first appearing in a production of Irwin Shaw's war drama ''The Assassin''. He was soon invited to join Maurice Evans' acting company, where he continued to act on stage, and later in films. His other Broadway credits include ''Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep'' (1950), ''Tonight at 8:30'' (1948), and ''Hamlet'' (1945). He appeared dozens of times on prime-time television dramas and comedies. In 1964, he appeared in two full episodes of ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a c ...

'', one as a doctor in police investigations and the other as a prosecuting attorney. Other televisions appearances include ''

My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seasons. ''My Three Sons'' chroni ...

'' (1962), ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee (as Grub ...

'', '' Gilligan's Island'', '' McCloud'' and ''

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...

''. Films include ''

Them! ''Them!'' is a 1954 American black-and-white science fiction film, science fiction monster film from Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by David Weisbart, directed by Gordon Douglas (director), Gordon Douglas, and starring James Whitmore, Edmund ...

'' (1954), ''

The Silver Chalice ''The Silver Chalice'' is a 1952 English language historical novel by Thomas B. Costain. It is the fictional story of the making of a silver chalice to hold the Holy Grail (itself here conflated with the Holy Chalice) and includes 1st century b ...

'' (1954), '' Moonfleet'' (1955), '' My Gun Is Quick'' (1957), '' Wild on the Beach'' (1965), '' Maryjane'' (1968), ''

The Lawyer ''The Lawyer'' is a legal business information product for law firm leaders, commercial lawyers, barristers A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. The ...

'' (1970), '' Scandalous John'' (1971), ''

Time Travelers Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to co ...

'' (1976), ''

Norma Rae ''Norma Rae'' is a 1979 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton— which was told in the 1975 book ''Crystal Lee, a W ...

'' (1979) and ''

Intolerable Cruelty ''Intolerable Cruelty'' is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed and co-written by Joel and Ethan Coen, and produced by Brian Grazer and the Coens. The script was written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone and Ethan and Joel Coen, with th ...

'' (2003). In 1983, he portrayed the kindly scientist, Professor Hector Jerrold, in the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

daytime melodrama '' General Hospital''. In 1974, Colman played the role of Dr. Zaius in the popular short-lived TV series, ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

''; the role made famous on the big screen by his former teacher, Maurice Evans. In the six episodes in which he appeared, he wore the original costume Evans used in ''

'' and ''

Beneath the Planet of the Apes ''Beneath the Planet of the Apes'' is a 1970 American science fiction film directed by Ted Post and written by Paul Dehn. It is the second of five films in the original ''Planet of the Apes'' series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs. The film stars Ja ...

''. Colman played Scrooge over 600 times on stage in '' A Christmas Carol'' at the Meadow Brook Theatre in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

area. He died in his sleep in Los Angeles at the age of 91 on December 15, 2014.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * *
Obituary - Los Angeles Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colman, Booth 1923 births 2014 deaths American male stage actors American male film actors American male television actors University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American male actors Male actors from Portland, Oregon University of Washington alumni 21st-century American male actors United States Army soldiers