Paul Douglas (April 11, 1907 – September 11, 1959) was an American actor. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Paul Douglas Fleischer, Douglas began his career as a stage actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1936 as the Radio Announcer in Doty Hobart and Tom McKnight's Double Dummy at the John Golden Theatre. In 1946 he won both a Theatre World Award and a Clarence Derwent Award for his portrayal of Herry Brock in Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday. Douglas began appearing in films in 1949. He may be best-remembered for two baseball comedy movies, Angels in the Outfield (1951) and It Happens Every Spring (1949). He also played Richard Widmark's police partner in the thriller Panic in the Streets, frustrated newlywed Porter Hollingsway in A Letter to Three Wives, Sgt. Kowalski in The Big Lift, businessman Josiah Walter Dudley in Executive Suite and a con man turned monk in When in Rome. In 1950, Douglas was host of the 22nd annual Academy Awards. Douglas also worked on radio as the announcer for The Ed Wynn Show and he was the first host of NBC Radio's "Horn & Hardart Children's Hour!". In April 1959 Douglas appeared as Lucy Ricardo's television morning show boss in the "Lucy Wants a Career" episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Douglas was originally cast in the 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Mighty Casey", a role written for him by Rod Serling, based on his character in Angels in the Outfield, but Douglas died the same week after production of the episode had been completed. His role was taken over by Jack Warden, and most of the episode was refilmed several months later. He was married five times, last to actress Jan Sterling from 1950 until his death. They had a son, Adams Douglas (1955–2003). Paul Douglas died on September 11, 1959 of a heart attack in Hollywood, California at the age of 52. Film director Billy Wilder and co-writer I.A.L. ('Izzy') Diamond had just offered him the role of Jeff Sheldrake in the movie The Apartment that went to Fred MacMurray instead. Wilder later said: "I saw him and his wife, Jan Sterling, at a restaurant, and I realized he was perfect, and I asked him right there in the parking lot. About two days before we were to start, he had a heart attack and died. Iz and I were shattered." Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Douglas,  licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

• 1959The Mating Game — Pop Larkin
• 1958Fortunella — Professore Golfiero Paganica
• 1958The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
• 1957Beau James — Chris Nolan
• Suspicion — Vince Polito
• The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour — Paul Douglas
• 1957This Could Be the Night — Rocco
• Adventure Theater — Host
• 1956Born Yesterday — Harry Brock
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre — Sheriff Jonas Sutton
• 1956The Gamma People — Mike Wilson
• 1956The Leather Saint — Gus MacAuliffe
• 1956The Solid Gold Cadillac — Edward L. McKeever
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents — Bill Fleming
• 1955Joe Macbeth — Joe MacBeth
• Playwrights '56
• The 20th Century Fox Hour
• 1954Calling Scotland Yard: Falstaff's Fur Coat — Commentator
• 1954Calling Scotland Yard: The Man Who Stayed Alive — Host
• Climax! — Dr. Merle Gardner, Lieutenant Todd Thoman
• 1954Executive Suite — Josiah Walter Dudley
• 1954Green Fire — Vic Leonard
• 1954The 'Maggie' — Calvin B. Marshall, the American
• 1953Forever Female — Harry Phillips
• 1953Never Wave at a WAC — Andrew McBain
• 1952Clash by Night — Jerry D'Amato
• 1952We're Not Married! — Hector Woodruff
• 1952When in Rome — Joe Brewster
• 1951Angels in the Outfield — Guffy McGovern
• 1951Fourteen Hours — Police Ofcr. Charlie Dunnigan
• Hallmark Hall of Fame — Harry Brock
• 1951Rhubarb — Man on Park Bench (uncredited)
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars — Frank Parisi
• 1951The Guy Who Came Back — Harry Joplin
• 1950Love That Brute — E.L. 'Big Ed' Hanley
• Lux Video Theatre — Rick Blaine
• 1950Panic in the Streets — Capt. Tom Warren
• 1950The Big Lift — MSgt. Henry "Hank" Kowalski
• Your Show of Shows
• 1949A Letter to Three Wives — Porter Hollingsway
• 1949Everybody Does It — Leonard Borland aka Logan Bennett
• 1949It Happens Every Spring — Monk Lanigan
• Studio One — Paul Kadsoe, Captain McCaffrey
• Hour Glass
• 1946Magic of Youth — Narrator
• 1943Margin for Error — Policeman at Front Desk (uncredited)
• 1939Conquering the Colorado — Narrator
• 1939Filming the Fleet — Self, Narrator
• 1938Saturday Night Swing Club — Master of Ceremonies

Appearances as themselves (9)

• 1997Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line — Self (archive footage)
• The Dinah Shore Chevy Show — Self
• 1954The Man Who Stayed Alive — Self - Host
• The Oscars — Self
• 1951The Screen Director — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• The Colgate Comedy Hour — Self
• What's My Line? — Self
• 1950You Can Change The World — Self
• The Ed Sullivan Show — Self