Ed Kemmer (October 29, 1921 – November 9, 2004) was an American motion picture and television actor.

Life

Kemmer was born in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, as Edward William Kemmerer, and served as a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

with the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was shot down over France and spent 11 months in a

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

camp Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

. He briefly escaped from the camp for two weeks before being recaptured. Kemmer made his television debut in 1951 and starred as Buzz Corry in the

live television Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television where all viewers watch the same stream simultaneously, rather than watching vide ...

science fiction action-drama '' Space Patrol'' (1951-1956). Kemmer made his film debut in 1956 (''Behind the High Wall''). He had a starring role as a pilot in the film ''

The Hot Angel ''The Hot Angel'' is a 1958 American drama film directed by Joe Parker and written by Stanley Kallis. The film stars Jackie Loughery, Ed Kemmer, Mason Alan Dinehart, Emory Parnell, Lyle Talbot and Boyd Santell. It was released in December 19 ...

'' (1958), but his big-screen work was mostly small roles in low-budget

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

s such as ''

Giant from the Unknown ''Giant from the Unknown'' (working titles ''Giant from Devil's Crag'' and ''The Diablo Giant'' ) is a 1957 independently made American black-and-white science fiction-horror film drama, produced by Marc Frederic and Arthur A. Jacobs, directed by ...

'' (1958). The bulk of Kemmer's work was for the small screen. After ''Space Patrol'', Kemmer was a guest star in various prime-time television series, including the classic '' Twilight Zone'' episode " Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", in which former space hero Kemmer co-starred with future space hero

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

. He also made two guest appearances on ''

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 four short stories, all of which involve a ...

''. In 1960 he played Roger Porter in "The Case of the Frantic Flyer," and in 1961 he played murder victim Leslie Hall in "The Case of the Pathetic Patient." In 1964 he played a major part in ”The Impostor”, a tense Sutton Roley-directed episode of ''

Combat! ''Combat!'' is an American television drama that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers ...

'' (S3, E10). Kemmer starred for two years as an American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

in the

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

The Clear Horizon ''The Clear Horizon'' is an American soap opera which ran on CBS Daytime from July 11, 1960, to March 10, 1961, and February 26 to June 15, 1962. Manya Starr created the program and was its head writer. Premise ''The Clear Horizon'' (titled ''T ...

,'' leading to the later phase of his career as a leading player in various daytime drama series, including ''

The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American mystery crime drama soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network for most of its ...

'' (on which he met his wife, actress Fran Sharon) as Malcolm Thomas, ''

The Secret Storm ''The Secret Storm'' is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from February 1, 1954, to February 8, 1974. It was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas '' Search for Tomorrow'' and '' Love of Life''. ...

'' as Paul Britton #2, ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other so ...

'' as attorney Dick Martin, and ''

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

'' as attorney Ben Grant. He also made appearances as a doctor on ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2 ...

''. In 1962, Kemmer was cast as the historical investigative journalist

Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...

in the episode, "The Truth Teller," on the

syndicated television Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

Anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...

, ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American Western (genre), Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was ...

'', hosted by

Stanley Andrews Stanley Martin Andrews (born Andrzejewski; August 28, 1891 – June 23, 1969) was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program ''Little Orphan Annie'' and later as "The Old Ranger", the first host of ...

. The episode is a study of the Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty. Stanley arrives at

Fort Larned Fort Larned National Historic Site preserves Fort Larned which operated from 1859 to 1878. It is approximately west of Larned, Kansas, Larned, Kansas, United States. History The Camp on Pawnee Fork was established on October 22, 1859, to pr ...

, Kansas, to assess Hancock's effort to avoid war on the frontier. Charles Carlson filled the role of

Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, reconnaissance, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, s ...

, long after Guy Madison played Hickok in a weekly syndicated series. Kemmer was twice married and had three children, Jonathan, Todd, and Kimberly. On November 5, 2004, Kemmer had a stroke in New York City; he died four days later.

Filmography

References

Edward Kemmer acted in S4 E22 of the TV western Rawhide.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kemmer, Ed 1921 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American male actors Actors from Reading, Pennsylvania American male film actors American male television actors American prisoners of war in World War II American World War II fighter pilots Male actors from Los Angeles Military personnel from Pennsylvania Shot-down aviators United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany