Charles McGraw

A tough-looking actor with a distinctive voice, Charles McGraw was equally adept as a character actor or leading man. McGraw began his film career in the 1940s, playing mostly small or un-credited roles. He often played hardened characters on either side of the law during the film noir era, most notably as a hired gun in the classic Hemingway adaptation "The Killers " in 1946. He had a starring role in the crime drama "Roadblock," and in "The Narrow Margin," he played a detective in charge of protecting a woman testifying against gangsters. After over a decade of film roles, he was given the starring role in the 1954 secret agent series "The Adventures of Falcon." He also had a memorable role as Marcellus in the 1960 epic "Spartacus" before gradually evolving into a character actor. Later in his career, he often played law enforcement officers in TV dramas such as "Police Story" or "Emergency!," and he landed a small part in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." McGraw also appeared in the 1975 sci-fi cult film "A Boy and His Dog," an adaptation of a Harlan Ellison story. He died tragically in 1980 after falling through a glass shower door.