Broderick Crawford

For the most part of his adult life, Crawford suffered from alcoholism and gluttony. This led to serious weight gain during the 1950s and consequently numerous injuries on the set of ‘Highway Patrol’.

He married thrice; first he married Kay Griffith on 20 November 1940 and divorced her on 19 August 1958. The couple had two children together.

Next he married Joan Tabor on 4 January 1962 and got divorced on 26 April 1967.

He was born William Broderick Crawford on 9 December1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick. Helen was a Broadway and film actress while Lester was a popular vaudeville performer.

As a child, he often went along with his parents on vaudeville tours. Sometimes he even played small roles in their comedy satires.

He studied at the Dean Academy in Franklin, Massachusetts, and did extremely well in athletics, football, baseball, and swimming. Later, he enrolled at Harvard University at his parents’ insistence. Within three weeks at Harvard, he dropped out to work as a stevedore on the New York docks.

Thereafter, he engaged in various jobs like professional boxing, being a fit seaman aboard tankers, etc. In due course, he returned to acting through the radio.

Broderick Crawford returned to acting via radio, following which he made his Broadway debut in ‘She Loves Me Not’ (1934) at the Adelphi Theatre, London. With his heavily built looks, he quickly gained fame as an actor in John Steinbeck's Broadway production - ‘Of Mice and Men’ (1937).

Next, he moved to Hollywood and in 1939, played a supporting role in the production of ‘Beau Geste’. This was followed by another important supporting role in the 1942 gangster comedy spoof, ‘Larceny, Inc.’

His career, till then, was largely restricted to ‘B films’ in supporting roles as he did not fit the archetypal description of a handsome leading man. Nevertheless, he excelled in playing villains.

During World War II, he enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. In 1944, he travelled to Britain as a sergeant and served as a radio announcer for the Armed Forces Network. In his show, he introduced live musical performances of artists like Glenn Miller.

In 1949, he played the role of Willie Stark, in ‘All the King's Men’. The film was a huge hit and his performance won him an Oscar award. In 1950, he starred in another blockbuster A-list production, ‘Born Yesterday’.

Broderick Crawford is best remembered for his Oscar-winning performance as Willie Stark in ‘All the King's Men’ (1949). The character was inspired by the life of Louisiana politician Huey Long and was based on the popular novel by Robert Penn Warren.

He is also remembered as Chief Dan Matthews from the television series ‘Highway Patrol’ (1955) and as Judy Holliday's lively boyfriend in ‘Born Yesterday’ (1950).