Melville Ruick (July 8, 1898 – December 24, 1972) was an American actor.

Early years

Ruick was born in

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

, in 1898. His father was a U.S.

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

in Idaho, and Ruick studied law at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

Military service

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

changed Ruick from a student lawyer to a student pilot. Ruick won his wings in the Air Service, Signal Corps, two weeks before the end of the war. He was the United States' youngest flier in the war at age 17 and became a lieutenant at age 18. During World War II, Ruick returned to uniform as a captain in the USAFF, attached to the Radio Production Unit as a producer-director.

Career

Ruick worked five years as master of ceremonies for the Fanchon and Marco shows. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, Ruick doubled as a bandleader and as an actor in theatrical stock. An offer came from

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

to work as a local radio announcer while Ruick was leading a dance band in Los Angeles. He later won an audition for the spot of announcer on the CBS radio show ''

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 ...

'', staying with the show for six years. After World War II, Ruick reentered show business, touring with Leo Carrillo in a revival of ''The Bad Man''. While trying his luck on Broadway, Ruick received an offer to direct

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American Jazz bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 193 ...

's radio show for the U.S. National Guard. Ruick starred as Chief John Randolph on the NBC adventure series '' The Door with No Name'' (1951) and as Dr. Barton Crane on the dramatic series '' City Hospital'' (1951) on ABC-TV and CBS radio. He also guest-starred in a number of popular 1960s shows, including '' The Fugitive'', ''

The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...

'' and '' The Invaders''.

Personal life

He was married to actresses

Lurene Tuttle Lurene Tuttle (August 29, 1907 – May 28, 1986) was an American actress and acting coach, who made the transition from vaudeville to radio, and later to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's more versatil ...

and Claire Niesen (the former of whom he had a daughter with, actress Barbara Ruick). He was also the father-in-law of composer-conductor

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

and the maternal grandfather of Joseph Williams.

Death

Ruick died in Los Angeles on December 24, 1972, aged 74.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruick, Melville 1898 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century people from California 20th-century people from Idaho 20th-century people from New York (state) American bandleaders American male film actors American male radio actors American male stage actors American male television actors American military personnel of World War I American military personnel of World War II American radio hosts Broadway theatre people Male actors from Boise, Idaho Male actors from Los Angeles Male actors from Manhattan Mass media people from Idaho Masters of ceremonies Military personnel from Idaho Military personnel from Los Angeles Military personnel from Manhattan Radio personalities from Los Angeles Radio personalities from New York City University of California, Berkeley alumni