Gil Stratton Jr. (June 2, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an actor and sportscaster who was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York.
He most recently resided in
Toluca Lake, California, until his death from
congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to fill with and pump blood.
Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF typically pr ...
.
Early life
Stratton was born June 2, 1922, in Brooklyn and attended
Poly Prep. He later attended
St. Lawrence University
St. Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college in the village of Canton in St. Lawrence County, New York. It has roughly 2,100 undergraduate and 100 graduate students.
Though St. Lawrence today is nonsectarian, it was founded in 1 ...
in Canton, New York, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree, and starred as goalie of the SLU hockey team.
Stage career
He first became interested in acting as a teenager. He debuted on Broadway at the age of 19 as Bud Hooper in the
George Abbott
George Francis Abbott (June 25, 1887January 31, 1995) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, film director and producer whose career spanned eight decades. He received numerous honors including six Tony Awards, the ...
musical ''
Best Foot Forward''. The musical ran from October 1, 1941, to July 4, 1942.
Film career
As a result of Stratton's appearance in ''Best Foot Forward'',
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
hired him as a contract player. His first job for MGM was in the film
''Girl Crazy'' with
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...
and
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...
, singing "Embraceable You" in a duet with Garland.
After completing ''Girl Crazy'', he had a short film hiatus due to having enlisted in the
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...
upon the US entry to World War II. He later noted that he ended up spending much of his service umpiring baseball. During this time he began umpiring for the
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
(PCL). While umpiring in the PCL he began using the line, "time to call 'em as I see 'em."
When Stratton completed his time with the Army, he returned to film, appearing in such features as ''Stalag 17
''Stalag 17'' is a 1953 American war film directed by Billy Wilder. It tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp "somewhere on the Danube". Their compound holds ...
'' (1953) (as the narrator Cookie), a role in ''The Wild One
''The Wild One'' is a 1953 American crime film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. The picture is most noted for the character of Johnny Strabler, portrayed by Marlon Brando, whose persona became a cultural icon of the ...
'' (1953), and '' Bundle of Joy'' (1956). He starred in a total of 40 films during his film career, sharing the big screen with other notable actors such as Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he ...
, Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...
, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...
, and William Holden
William Franklin Holden (né Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film '' Stalag 17'' (1953) and the Pri ...
.[
]
Radio/television actor
In addition to acting in several films, Stratton began working as a radio actor in the late 1940s, performing in such shows as ''Lux Radio Theater
''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...
'', ''The Great Gildersleeve
''The Great Gildersleeve'' was a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was buil ...
'', and ''My Little Margie
''My Little Margie'' is an American television sitcom starring Gale Storm and Charles Farrell that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California, at Hal Roach Stud ...
'' He worked opposite Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...
in the 1950 radio adaptation of ''The Wizard of Oz
''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1939 American Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Based on the 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left pro ...
'',[ and acted opposite ]Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...
in a radio version of '' The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer''.[
In the 1950s, Stratton appeared in several episodes of ]Jack Webb
John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, Television director, director, and screenwriter, most famous for his role as Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise), ''Dragnet'' franchise ...
's '' Dragnet''. In 1956 he was in two episodes of the Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
''Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'' is a radio drama that aired on CBS Radio from February 18, 1949 to September 30, 1962.
The first several seasons imagined protagonist Johnny Dollar as a private investigator drama, with Charles Russell, Edmond O ...
radio drama, “The Laughing Matter” (as an ill-fated up-and-coming TV comedy actor) and “The Alder Matter” (as an insurance chief puzzled by suspicious behavior of a wealthy client). He also starred in ''Waldo'', an unsold television pilot
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...
that aired as an episode of the 1960 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 ...
'' New Comedy Showcase''.
In the 1970s and 1980s he made occasional guest appearances on many television series, usually portraying a sports announcer.
Sportscasting career
Stratton was hired by Los Angeles television station KNXT (now KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the n ...
) in 1954 as a sportscaster and sports news anchor
A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...
. He spent sixteen years as sports anchor of the show ''The Big News'' during the 1960s and 1970s. This was the first hour-long news program for the region. While there, he became recognized for his signature phrase "Time to call 'em as I see 'em", which he had started saying during his years as a baseball umpire. Within a year, ''The Big News'' was earning a 28 percent share in the Los Angeles ratings and the show format became the standard that was copied by other local TV stations across the country. Stratton was the last-surviving member of ''The Big News'' team prior to his death.
He also served as a sportscaster for California CBS AM radio station, KNX 1070, from 1967 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1997 and for KTTV
KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned a ...
for a time in the 70's and 80's.
While working for CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...
in both television and radio, he covered the 1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...
from Rome. He also covered the NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
as "the voice" of the Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...
in the 1960s, and called Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
games, Kentucky Derbies, and feature races from Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, and Del Mar. He also covered many other sports, such as hockey, tennis, track and field and golf.
MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and ra ...
worked with Stratton at both KCBS/KNXT and at KNX 1070. He said of Stratton, "There aren't many renaissance men in any age, but Gil was one of them." Stratton won five local Emmys during his television career, and was also awarded seven Golden Mike awards from the Radio-Television News Association.
Retirement and later life
Stratton first retired from TV and radio in 1984, and traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii, where he became Owner/General Manager of a small radio station, 790 AM KKON, in Kealakekua, Hawaii. But being behind the desk was not for Stratton - he wanted to get behind the microphone again. Stratton sold the station to Bill Evans and returned again to KNX 1070 radio in 1986 as a weekend sports anchor. He retired again in 1997 but continued doing charity work, such as hosting many charity golf tournaments to raise funds for Henry Mayo Hospital in Santa Clarita, California
Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most popul ...
. The hospital later named a newborn nursery after him in appreciation of his work. He also taught classes in broadcasting at California State University Northridge
California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...
.
Stratton died on October 11, 2008, at the age of 86.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stratton, Gil
1922 births
2008 deaths
Major League Baseball broadcasters
American golf commentators
American tennis commentators
American male radio actors
American male stage actors
American sports announcers
Los Angeles Rams announcers
Minor league baseball umpires
NFL announcers
Male actors from Brooklyn
Male actors from Los Angeles
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
American horse racing announcers
Track and field broadcasters
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) commentators