John Craven (June 22, 1916 – November 24, 1995) was an American actor in theater, film, and television.

Biography

Craven was born on June 22, 1916, in New York City. He was a third-generation actor, following in the profession of his father, Frank Craven, and his grandfather, John T. Craven. His mother, Mary Blythe, was an actress prior to marriage. He had an older sister, Blyth Daly (1901-1965), born when the family lived in England. His baby picture was printed in the March, 1922 edition of ''

Success Success is the state or condition of meeting a defined range of expectations. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. The criteria for success depend on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One person mi ...

'' magazine in an article about his father's career. He attended

Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills High School (shortly as BHHS or Beverly) is a public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills is Moreno High School, a small alternative school located on Beverly Hills High School's c ...

in 1935. Craven began on Broadway as assistant stage manager for

Babes in Arms ''Babes in Arms'' is a 1937 coming-of-age musical comedy with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and book by Rodgers and Hart. It concerns a group of small-town Long Island teenagers who put on a show to avoid being sent to a work ...

in 1937. Then he returned to Beverly Hills, starring in " The Thirteenth Chair" and Noël Coward's "

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" at Harold Lloyd's Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals. He was originally slated to play a townsperson in the original stage version of ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 ...

'' at the

Morosco Theatre The Morosco Theatre was a Broadway theatre near Times Square in New York City from 1917 to 1982. It housed many notable productions and its demolition, along with four adjacent theaters, was controversial. History Located at 217 West 45th Stre ...

, in which his father played the stage manager. After director

Jed Harris Jed Harris (born Jacob Hirsch Horowitz; February 25, 1900 – November 15, 1979) was an Austrian-born American theatrical producer and director. His many successful Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s include '' Broadway'' (1926), ''Coqu ...

heard him read, however, he gave him the juvenile leading role of George. Craven was overlooked in the movie version, however, with the part going to the then-unknown

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 ...

. He married actress Evelyn R. Barrows in New York on September 16, 1938, when they were both 22. He later married Dorothy Langan in the 1950s, and they had a son, Frank Craven, in 1955, thus continuing a pattern of alternating generations of men named Frank and John. Craven registered for the draft in WWII on October 16, 1940. He was stationed in

Naples, Italy Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

during World War II as a private, and put on shows for the

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

. On his WWII draft card he listed his employer as the Henry Miller Theater, which today is the Stephen Sondheim Theater. On November 24, 1995, Craven died at his home in

Salt Point, New York Salt Point is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 202. It lies northeast of Poughkeepsie following New York ...

.(27 November 1995)
Actor John Craven Dies at 79
''Buffalo News''

Broadway (selected)

Filmography (selected)

Television (selected)

References

External links

* *

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' *
Our Town
presented on '' The Campbell Playhouse'', with

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

and guest star John Craven (May 12, 1939) {{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, John 1916 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male film actors American male stage actors Male actors from New York City