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Bradford Dillman

Bradford Dillman built the kind of career that rewards a long look: substantial stage beginnings, prominent early film roles and decades of television appearances across nearly every corner of the schedule. Born in San Francisco on April 14, 1930, he studied English Literature at Yale before serving in the United States Marine Corps from 1951 to 1953, leaving with the rank of first lieutenant. After studying with the Actors Studio and apprenticing at Connecticut’s Sharon Playhouse, Dillman chose an Off-Broadway role in The Scarecrow over a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His Broadway breakthrough came in the 1956 U.S. premiere of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. Playing Edmund Tyrone alongside Fredric March, Florence Eldridge and Jason Robards Jr., he earned a Theatre World Award. Hollywood soon followed. Dillman appeared in A Certain Smile and In Love and War, earning a Golden Globe for the latter. In Richard Fleischer’s Compulsion, he shared the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor award with Dean Stockwell and Orson Welles. Further studio assignments included Crack in the Mirror, Sanctuary and the title role in Francis of Assisi. Once he left 20th Century Fox, television became the steady center of his career. Dillman could move between continuing roles and sharp guest appearances, with credits including Court Martial, Dr. Kildare, The F.B.I., Mission: Impossible, Columbo, Night Gallery, Barnaby Jones, The Incredible Hulk and Murder, She Wrote. He also appeared in Falcon Crest and Dynasty. His film work remained varied, stretching from The Bridge at Remagen and Escape from the Planet of the Apes to The Way We Were, The Enforcer, Piranha and Sudden Impact. That range suited an actor capable of playing authority, anxiety, calculation or menace without needing to dominate the frame. Dillman’s last known acting appearance came in a 1995 episode of Murder, She Wrote. He also wrote Inside The New York Giants and the 1997 autobiography Are You Anybody?: An Actor’s Life. He died in 2018.