American actor
Dick Hogan |
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| Born | Dixon Howard Hogan
(1917-11-27)November 27, 1917
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| Died | August 18, 1995(1995-08-18) (aged 77)
Little Rock, Arkansas, United States |
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| Occupation | Actor |
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| Years active | 1937–48 |
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Dixon Howard "Dick" Hogan (November 27, 1917 – August 18, 1995)[1] was an American actor of the 1930s and 1940s. During his 12-year career he appeared in over three dozen films, in roles which varied from unnamed bellhops to featured and starring roles. His final film performance was as the murder victim in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948).
Life and career
Hogan was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on November 27, 1917. While he attended the University of Arkansas, he sang in local venues and modeled for department stores.[2]
He entered the film industry at the age of 19, his first role in the small part of one of the young men in a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in the 1937 drama Blazing Barriers.[3] His next film had him in the featured role of Bob D. Wilson in Annapolis Salute, directed by Christy Cabanne.[4] After small roles in Saturday's Heroes (1937),[5] and The Storm (1938),[6] he was again seen in a principal role in the 1938 John Ford comedy-drama, Submarine Patrol.[7] In 1939 he appeared in Charlie Chan in Reno (1939).[8]
The early 1940s had Hogan appearing in lead and featured roles in numerous films. In 1940, he was featured in The Marines Fly High (1940), starring Richard Dix and Lucille Ball, as one of Dix's company of marines.[9] He then appeared in Rancho Grande, in which he played a spoiled rich heir unhappy at having to live on his grandfather's ranch.[10][11] He also had a featured role later that year in One Crowded Night, starring Billie Seward and William Haade.[12] Hogan had a starring role in the 1940 western, Prairie Law, which also starred George O'Brien and Virginia Vale.[13] Hogan also had a featured role that year in the drama One Crowded Night.[14]
Hogan began 1941 as a bellhop in Play Girl, a romantic comedy starring Kay Francis,[15] and then appeared in a featured role in Pot o' Gold, a musical comedy starring James Stewart and Paulette Goddard. The film was remarkable, as it was the only film produced by James Roosevelt, the eldest son of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[16] In 1942 he appeared in several films in smaller roles, until late in the year when he had the featured role of Gibby Dapper in the Lew Landers' biopic, Smith of Minnesota (1942), about and starring the Heisman Trophy winner Bruce Smith,[17] after which Mug Town was released, in which Hogan starred along with the Dead End Kids.[18] Mug Town was followed quickly with a leading role in the 1943 comedy-drama, Cinderella Swings It, the final film in the "Scattergood Baines" film series.[19][20]
After a small role in the spy film, They Came to Blow Up America, starring George Sanders,[21] Hogan had a featured role in the World War II drama, Action in the North Atlantic (1943), starring Humphrey Bogart.[22][23] His final screen performance of the year was in another World War II drama, this one set in the Pacific theater, So Proudly We Hail!, starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), and Veronica Lake.[24]
In October 1942, Hogan joined the United States Army Air Corps.[25][26] As part of a company of actors in the Corps, Hogan and his wife appeared in an Air Corps production titled, Winged Victory, written and directed by Moss Hart, which was a large hit on Broadway at the 44th Street Theatre, before touring the United States for two years.[27] Hogan, cast as Cpl. Richard Hogan, would also appear in George Cukor's film version of the same name. However, on Broadway he played the role of Frankie Davis one of the leads, while in the film he was cast as Jimmy Gardner.[28][29][30]
After leaving the service, Hogan returned to the film industry, but only for a short time. In 1947 he appeared in a featured role in Blaze of Noon, starring Anne Baxter and William Holden.[31] In 1948 he was featured in two more films: Beyond Glory, starring Alan Ladd and Donna Reed; and Shed No Tears, starring Wallace Ford and June Vincent.[32][33] Even though it was the first film he worked on in 1948, his final on-screen performance was in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. In it, Hogan played the crucial role of David Kentley, the erstwhile friend who is strangled at the beginning of the picture and whose body is hidden in a chest while the murderers' guests have dinner in the same room.[34][35] Hogan is only alive for a number of seconds in the film, but he has a larger scene with dialogue in film's trailer. Hogan's final acting appearance was on the Broadway stage, in the unsuccessful comedy, Time for Elizabeth, which ran for only eight performances at the Fulton Theatre in September–October 1948.[36]
He retired from acting after the close of the play, and returned to his hometown of Little Rock, where he became an insurance agent.[37] He was known as an avid fan of Bing Crosby, and (as of 1943) he had a complete collection of all of Crosby's records.[38] Hogan died on August 18, 1995, at the age of 77 in Little Rock.
Singing
Before he began acting in films, Hogan sang with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and in nightclubs.[39]
