Post by topbilled on Jun 11, 2024 13:59:15 GMT
William Eythe was an important star at 20th Century Fox during WWII when many of Hollywood’s leading men were off fighting. Eythe, who had racked up considerable experience on stage, was exempt from military service due to a hearing problem. Between 1943 and 1947, he appeared in ten motion pictures at Fox, quickly moving up from supporting parts to lead roles. Perhaps his most widely regarded performance is the one he gave as the lead in the classic semi-documentary noir, THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET in 1945. He is also remembered for a lead role opposite Tallulah Bankhead in A ROYAL SCANDAL from the same year, which was directed by Ernst Lubitsch & Otto Preminger. He’d work with Preminger again in the charming musical CENTENNIAL SUMMER. By 1947, most of the studio’s leading men were back from the war and Eythe was dispatched to England for his last major role under contract to Fox. He followed this up with some B films at Paramount and Columbia, but wisely returned to the New York stage, where he would have greater success as an actor and producer. Off screen Eythe was romantically involved with another Fox contract player, Lon McCallister. Publicity linked him to some of the studio’s sexiest starlets, and he was even coaxed into a short-term marriage with an actress on the studio’s payroll, but his true love was McCallister; they remained together until Eythe’s death in 1957.
Check out:
THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET (1945)
A ROYAL SCANDAL (1945)
CENTENNIAL SUMMER (1946)