Broderick Crawford

Crawford in Black Angel

William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 - April 26, 1986) was an Academy Award-winning American actor. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick, he was stereotyped in films as a rough-talking tough guy, frequently a bad guy. His parents were vaudeville performers, and his mother had a minor career in Hollywood comedies. Crawford gained fame in 1937, when he starred as Lenny in Of Mice and Men on Broadway. He moved to Hollywood afterward, but did not get the role in the movie version of the play. (The role instead went to Lon Chaney, Jr., who was thereafter typecast as a hulking brute.) In 1949, Crawford was cast as Willie Stark (a character based on Louisiana politician Huey Long) in All the King's Men for which Crawford won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The following year he starred in another smash hit film, Born Yesterday. Despite these successes, Crawford's career suffered because of typecasting and his sometimes belligerent personality. In 1955, prominent television producer Frederick Ziv decided that the former Academy Award winner was worth taking a chance on, and he offered Crawford the lead role of "Chief" Dan Mathews in the police drama Highway Patrol. This program became highly popular during its four-year (1955-1959) period of first-run syndication, and it remained a fixture on local stations for years afterward. The part of Dan Mathews revived Crawford's career, and he concentrated on television productions for most of the remainder of his life. Until the mid-1960s, many of his television roles were for Ziv, who was willing to accept the occasional challenges inherent in working with Crawford. Years later, Ziv matter-of-factly told an interviewer, "To be honest, Broderick could be a handful!" Interestingly, Crawford was also typecast in his television roles. He usually (though not invariably) played a gruff but compassionate and fearless good guy. He appeared in very few American-based motion pictures after 1955, though he continued to accept occasional roles in European films. Playing on the stereotypical tough cop of his most famous TV role, he appeared in the trademark fedora and black suit when he made a memorable appearance as guest host of a 1977 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. Crawford died in 1986 in Rancho Mirage, California, after suffering a stroke. He is one of a handful of performers who have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- a star for motion pictures at 6901 Hollywood Blvd. and another star for television at 6734 Hollywood Blvd.

Trivia

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Crawford was known to the Southern California law enforcement community as Old 502 due to his habit of driving under the influence of alcohol ("502" is the California radio code for drunken driving). "Matthews'" famous radio call, "2150 to headquarters," was frequently spoofed as "5150 to headquarters." "5150" is the California code for an insane person. He appeared as himself on an episode of CHiPs, stopped for speeding by Ponch, who makes reference to Crawford's trademark role. Died same day as Chernobyl disaster.

Filmography

Features

Short Subjects

• Keeping Fit (1942)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards (1951)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Goes to Mexico (1954)

External links

• Broderick Crawford at the Internet Movie Database
• Watch Highway Patrol
• Broderick Crawford in Il Bidone
• Profile @ Turner Classic Movies