Today is the birthday of John Randolph Webb aka Jack Webb or Sgt. Joe Friday, who created the phenomenal television series, Dragnet and founder of his own production company, Mark VII Limited. However, his talents ran deeper than the Dragnet character.
He was born in Santa Monica, California, on April 2, 1920, and grew up in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. He was raised a Roman Catholic by his mother, who was of Irish and Native American descent, and served as an altar boy. Webb attended St. John's University, Minnesota, where he studied art.
Webb moved to San Francisco, where a wartime shortage of announcers led to a temporary appointment to his own radio show on ABC's KGO Radio. The Jack Webb Show was a half-hour comedy that had a limited run on ABC radio in 1946. Prior to that, he had a one-man program, One Out of Seven, on KGO in which he dramatized a news story from the previous week.
By 1949, he had abandoned comedy for drama, and starred in Pat Novak for Hire, a radio show originating from KFRC about a man who worked as an unlicensed private detective. The program co-starred Raymond Burr. Pat Novak was notable for writing that imitated the hard-boiled style of such writers as Raymond Chandler, with lines such as: "She drifted into the room like 98 pounds of warm smoke. Her voice was hot and sticky--like a furnace full of marshmallows."
His radio shows included Johnny Madero, Pier 23, Jeff Regan, Investigator, Murder and Mr. Malone, Pete Kelly's Blues and One Out of Seven. Webb provided all of the voices on One Out of Seven.
In 1951, Webb introduced a short-lived radio series, Pete Kelly's Blues, in an attempt to bring the music he loved to a broader audience. That show became the basis for a 1955 movie of the same name. The film featured major stars such as Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien, Peggy Lee, Lee Marvin, Martin Milner, and Jayne Mansfield. Ella Fitzgerald makes a cameo as singer Maggie Jackson.
In 1959, a television version was made. Neither was very successful. Pete Kelly was a cornet player who supplemented his income from playing in a nightclub band by working as a private investigator.
Webb's most famous motion-picture role was as the combat-hardened Marine Corps drill instructor at Parris Island in the 1957 film The D.I., with Don Dubbins as a callow Marine private. Webb's hard-nosed approach to this role, that of Drill Instructor Technical Sergeant James Moore, would be reflected in much of his later acting. But The D.I. was a box-office failure.
Webb was approached to play the role of Vernon Wormer, Dean of Faber College, in National Lampoon's Animal House, but he turned it down, saying "the movie didn't make any damn sense".
date & photographer unknown
Webb moved to San Francisco, where a wartime shortage of announcers led to a temporary appointment to his own radio show on ABC's KGO Radio. The Jack Webb Show was a half-hour comedy that had a limited run on ABC radio in 1946. Prior to that, he had a one-man program, One Out of Seven, on KGO in which he dramatized a news story from the previous week.
Jack Webb - 1946
photographer unknown
By 1949, he had abandoned comedy for drama, and starred in Pat Novak for Hire, a radio show originating from KFRC about a man who worked as an unlicensed private detective. The program co-starred Raymond Burr. Pat Novak was notable for writing that imitated the hard-boiled style of such writers as Raymond Chandler, with lines such as: "She drifted into the room like 98 pounds of warm smoke. Her voice was hot and sticky--like a furnace full of marshmallows."
Jack Webb - 1950
photographer unknown
His radio shows included Johnny Madero, Pier 23, Jeff Regan, Investigator, Murder and Mr. Malone, Pete Kelly's Blues and One Out of Seven. Webb provided all of the voices on One Out of Seven.
Jack Webb - 1950
photographer unknown
In 1951, Webb introduced a short-lived radio series, Pete Kelly's Blues, in an attempt to bring the music he loved to a broader audience. That show became the basis for a 1955 movie of the same name. The film featured major stars such as Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien, Peggy Lee, Lee Marvin, Martin Milner, and Jayne Mansfield. Ella Fitzgerald makes a cameo as singer Maggie Jackson.
photographer unknown
In 1959, a television version was made. Neither was very successful. Pete Kelly was a cornet player who supplemented his income from playing in a nightclub band by working as a private investigator.
Jack Webb & Ray Anthony on trumpets
photographer unknown
Jack Webb - 1957
Jack Webb - 1957
Webb was approached to play the role of Vernon Wormer, Dean of Faber College, in National Lampoon's Animal House, but he turned it down, saying "the movie didn't make any damn sense".
photographer unknown
Webb had a featured role as a crime-lab technician in the 1948 film He Walked by Night, based on the real-life murder of a California Highway Patrolman by Erwin Walker. The film was produced in semidocumentary style with technical assistance provided by Detective Sergeant Marty Wynn of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The film's thinly veiled fictionalized recounting of the 1946 Walker crime spree gave Webb the idea for Dragnet:
a recurring series based on real cases from LAPD police files,
featuring authentic depictions of the modern police detective, including
methods, mannerisms, and technical language.
Jack Webb - Los Angeles, 1952
photo by John Vachon
Dragnet premiered on NBC Radio in 1949 and ran till 1957. It was also picked up as a television series by NBC, which aired episodes each season from 1952 to 1959. Webb played Sgt. Joe Friday and Barton Yarborough co-starred as Sgt. Ben Romero. After Yarborough's death, Ben Alexander joined the cast. In his vision of Dragnet, Webb said he intended to perform a service for the police by showing them as low-key working-class heroes.
In 1951 the television series, Dragnet, based on the radio series, made its debut. The ominous, four-note introduction to the brass and tympani theme music (titled Danger Ahead), composed by Walter Schumann, is instantly recognizable. It is derived from the Miklós Rózsa score for the 1946 film The Killers.
On July 31, 1955, the film, Pete Kelly's Blues, was released. It was directed by and starred Jack Webb in the title role of a bandleader and musician. It featured Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien and Peggy Lee, with Ella Fitzgerald, Lee Marvin, Martin Milner, and Jayne Mansfield in cameo roles.
In 1951 the television series, Dragnet, based on the radio series, made its debut. The ominous, four-note introduction to the brass and tympani theme music (titled Danger Ahead), composed by Walter Schumann, is instantly recognizable. It is derived from the Miklós Rózsa score for the 1946 film The Killers.
On July 31, 1955, the film, Pete Kelly's Blues, was released. It was directed by and starred Jack Webb in the title role of a bandleader and musician. It featured Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien and Peggy Lee, with Ella Fitzgerald, Lee Marvin, Martin Milner, and Jayne Mansfield in cameo roles.
photographer unknown
In 1963, Webb teamed with actor Jeffrey Hunter to form Apollo Productions. They produced a failed television series, Temple Houston, with Hunter in the title role. In the summer of 1963, Webb pushed Temple Houston to production. The series was loosely based on the life of the frontier lawyer Temple Lea Houston, the youngest son of the legendary Texan Sam Houston.
Webb's personal life was defined by his love of jazz. He had a collection of more than 6,000 jazz recordings. His lifelong interest in the cornet allowed him to move easily in the jazz culture, where he met singer and actress Julie London. They married in 1947 and had daughters Stacy (1950–1996) and Lisa, born 1952. They divorced in 1954.
He was married three more times after that, to actress Dorothy Towne for two years beginning in 1955 . . .
. . . to former Miss USA Jackie Loughery for six years beginning in 1958,
and to his longtime associate, Opal Wright, for the last two years of his life.
Webb died on December 23, 1982, of an apparent heart attack at age 62. He is interred at Sheltering Hills Plot 1999, Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, and was given a funeral with full Los Angeles police honors. On Webb's death, Chief Daryl Gates announced that badge number 714, which was used by Joe Friday in Dragnet, would be retired. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley ordered all flags lowered to half staff in Webb's honor for a day, and Webb was buried with a replica LAPD badge bearing the rank of sergeant and the number 714.
Jack Webb has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for radio (at 7040 Hollywood Boulevard) and the other for television (at 6728 Hollywood Boulevard).
Jack Webb was posthumously inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1993 (link to video of the induction ceremony below).
Time magazine - March 1, 1954
illustration by Boris Chaliapin
Webb's personal life was defined by his love of jazz. He had a collection of more than 6,000 jazz recordings. His lifelong interest in the cornet allowed him to move easily in the jazz culture, where he met singer and actress Julie London. They married in 1947 and had daughters Stacy (1950–1996) and Lisa, born 1952. They divorced in 1954.
Jack Webb & Julie London - 1947
photographer unknown
He was married three more times after that, to actress Dorothy Towne for two years beginning in 1955 . . .
Jack Webb & Dorothy Towne - 1955
photographer unknown
and to his longtime associate, Opal Wright, for the last two years of his life.
Webb died on December 23, 1982, of an apparent heart attack at age 62. He is interred at Sheltering Hills Plot 1999, Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, and was given a funeral with full Los Angeles police honors. On Webb's death, Chief Daryl Gates announced that badge number 714, which was used by Joe Friday in Dragnet, would be retired. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley ordered all flags lowered to half staff in Webb's honor for a day, and Webb was buried with a replica LAPD badge bearing the rank of sergeant and the number 714.
Dragnet logo
Jack Webb has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for radio (at 7040 Hollywood Boulevard) and the other for television (at 6728 Hollywood Boulevard).
6728 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles
Jack Webb was posthumously inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1993 (link to video of the induction ceremony below).
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