Howard Duff
Acting
Born: November 24, 1913
Died: July 8, 1990 (aged 76)
Highest Rated
Biography
Howard Green Duff (November 24, 1913 – July 8, 1990) was an American actor of film, television, stage, and radio. Duff was born in Charleston, Washington, now a part of Bremerton. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in Seattle in 1932 where he began acting in school plays only after he was cut from the basketball team. His first film role was as an inmate in Brute Force. His other movies include The Naked City (1948), All My Sons (1948), Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949), Panic in the City (1968), In Search of America (1971), A Wedding (1978) and No Way Out (1987). He appeared in a number of films with his first wife, actress/director Ida Lupino. One of Duff's later performances was as Dustin Hoffman's attorney in the Academy Award-winning Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). On radio, Duff played Dashiell Hammett's private eye Sam Spade from 1946–1950, starring in The Adventures of Sam Spade on three different networks - ABC, CBS and NBC. In 1951 Steve Dunne took over the role of Sam Spade. Duff also appeared in an episode of Climax! entitled Escape From Fear in 1955. On television, Duff appeared with his then wife Ida Lupino in the CBS comedy Mr. Adams and Eve from January 1957 through September 1958, in which they played husband and wife film stars named Howard Adams and Eve Drake. He played the young Samuel Langhorne Clemens, in his early life in the West as a satirical and crusading journalist, in the TV series Bonanza ("Enter Mark Twain," season 1, episode 5, 1959). In 1960 he played the male main character in The Twilight Zone episode "A World of Difference" as Arthur Curtis/Jerry Raigan. From October 1960 through April 1961, Duff played Willie Dante, owner of the San Francisco nightclub, Dante's Inferno, in the NBC adventure/drama series Dante. In 1964, Duff guest starred as Harold Baker on the episode "Prodigy" of NBC's medical drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour, starring Jack Ging and Ralph Bellamy. In 1990, he guest starred on an episode of The Golden Girls (episode: The Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding Present). From September 1966 through January 1969, Duff portrayed Detective Sergeant Sam Stone in the ABC police drama Felony Squad with costar Dennis Cole. In the 1980s, he appeared on dramas such as NBC's Flamingo Road and Knots Landing, and Dallas, both on CBS.
Known for
Kramer vs. Kramer
1979
The Twilight Zone
1959
No Way Out
1987
Batman
1966
Murder, She Wrote
1984
Magnum, P.I.
1980
The Golden Girls
1985
The Naked City
1948
Kung Fu
1972
Charlie's Angels
1976
Brute Force
1947
The Love Boat
1977
Photos (2)
Movies (55)
Kramer vs. Kramer
John Shaunessy
No Way Out
Senator William 'Billy' Duvall
The Naked City
Frank Niles
Brute Force
Robert 'Soldier' Becker
Woman in Hiding
Keith Ramsey
While the City Sleeps
Lt. Burt Kaufman
Boys' Night Out
Doug Jackson
Spaceways
Dr. Stephen Mitchell
A Wedding
Dr. Jules Meecham
The Late Show
Harry Regan
Monster in the Closet
Father Martin Finnegan
All My Sons
George Deever
This Girl for Hire
Wolfe Macready
The Broken Star
Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed
Double Negative
Lester Harlen
Private Hell 36
Police Sgt. Jack Farnham
Red Canyon
Lin Sloane
Too Much Sun
O.M.
Love on the Run
Lionel Rockland
Women's Prison
Dr. Crane
Tight as a Drum
Hollister
In the Glitter Palace
Raymond Dawson Travers
Snatched
Duncan Wood
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass
Sam Bass
Roses Are for the Rich
Denton
Johnny Stool Pigeon
George Morton
The Yellow Mountain
Pete Menlo
Flame of the Islands
Doug Duryea
In Search of America
Ray Chandler
Shakedown
Jack Early
Blackjack Ketchum Desperado
Tom "Blackjack" Ketchum
Flamingo Road
Sheriff Titus Semple
Know Your Enemy: Japan
Narrator
Settle the Score
Cy Whately
The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch
Col. Samuel Isaacs
Panic in the City
Dave Pomeroy
The D.A.: Murder One
Lynn D. Compton
A Little Game
Dunlap
Sierra Stranger
Jess Collins
War Gods of Babylon
Sardanapolo
Actor
Winfield Sheehan
Steel Town
Jim Denko
Ski Lift to Death
Ben Forbes
The Heist
Lieutenant Nicholson
Battered
Bill Thompson
Lily for President?
General
Illegal Entry
Bert Powers
Spy Hunt
Steve Quain
Roar of the Crowd
Johnny Tracy
Calhoun
Sid Rayner
Models Inc.
Lennie Stone
Valentine Magic on Love Island
A.J. Morgan
The Lady from Texas
Dan Mason
Tanganyika
Dan Harder
Jennifer
Jim Hollis
TV Shows (61)
The Love Boat
Glen Leciter · 1 eps
Murder, She Wrote
Ralph Earl / Stephen Earl · 1 eps
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Peter Harding · 1 eps
The Golden Girls
Mangiacavallo · 1 eps
Magnum, P.I.
Captain Thomas Sullivan Magnum I · 2 eps
The Rockford Files
Edward J. Marks · 1 eps
Mannix
1 eps
The Virginian
Ed Frazer · 1 eps
St. Elsewhere
Herbie · 1 eps
The Twilight Zone
1959
The Twilight Zone
Arthur Curtis / Gerry Reagan · 1 eps
Knots Landing
Paul Galveston · 10 eps
Fantasy Island
Douglas Shane · 1 eps
Batman
Det. Sgt. Sam Stone · 1 eps
Batman
Cabala · 2 eps
Charlie's Angels
Harrigan · 1 eps
Hotel
Byron Comstock · 1 eps
Hotel
Adam Korsak · 1 eps
Climax!
1 eps
Climax!
Dr. John C. Clark · 1 eps
Combat!
Col. Hobey Jabko · 1 eps
The Streets of San Francisco
1 eps
The Name of the Game
Wally Cook · 1 eps
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
2 eps
Burke's Law
Lou Cole · 1 eps
Burke's Law
Charlie January · 1 eps
Police Story
5 eps
Police Story
Sergeant Al Butler · 1 eps
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
2 eps
Judd, for the Defense
1 eps
Alias Smith and Jones
1 eps
Switch
Ira Larkin · 1 eps
The Ford Television Theatre
Johnny Abel · 1 eps
I Spy
Sean · 1 eps
Ellery Queen
1 eps
Studio 57
1 eps
Felony Squad
Det. Sgt. Sam Stone · 73 eps
War and Remembrance
William Tuttle · 1 eps
The Mod Squad
1 eps
Mr. Novak
Joe Stillman · 1 eps
Arrest and Trial
1 eps
Sam Benedict
1 eps
The Rogues
G. Carter Huntington · 1 eps
Flamingo Road
Titus Semple · 37 eps
Crossroads
1 eps
Bus Stop
1 eps
Mr. Adams and Eve
65 eps
Medical Story
Roger Graham · 1 eps
Matt Helm
Dan Mallory · 1 eps
The Immortal
1 eps
Search
1 eps
The Whistler
1 eps
Dante
Willie Dante · 26 eps
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour
Howard Duff · 1 eps
East of Eden
Jules Edwards · 3 eps
Faraday and Company
Clark Sanford · 1 eps
Roses Are for the Rich
Denton · 2 eps
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Terence Kerrigan · 1 eps
The Dream Merchants
Charles Slade · 3 eps
Kung Fu
Noah Fleck · 1 eps
Kung Fu
Mr. Jenkins · 1 eps
