Richard Coogan

Infobox Actor
name = Richard Coogan


imagesize = 200px
caption = Richard Coogan as Captain Video in 1950
birthdate = Birth date and age|1914|4|04
birthplace = flagicon|U.S. Short Hills, New Jersey
occupation = Actor
yearsactive = 1945-1963

Richard Coogan (born April 4, 1914) is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Captain Video from 1949-1950.

Born in Short Hills, New Jersey, Coogan worked in radio for some time, including appearing as Abie Levy in Abie's Irish Rose. He also appeared on Broadway in five different productions between 1945 and 1955, all of them short-lived except for "Diamond Lil" with Mae West, and "The Rainmaker". He was still appearing on Broadway with West when he took the role of Captain Video on the DuMont Television Network on June 27, 1949. After the live telecast each day, ending at about 7:30 p.m. EST, he would take a cab to the theatre where "Diamond Lil" was playing. As the popularity of "Captain Video" increased, Coogan grew less and less comfortable with both the role and the very, very low budget of the production. He left "Captain Video" in December 1950, replaced by Al Hodge, who played the part for the remainder of the run of the series, until April 1, 1955. Hodge became so completely identified with the character that he was never able to escape it. Coogan transferred to the soap opera "Love of Life", where he played the heroic Paul Raven.

Between 1954 and 1961, Coogan appeared in such films as "Three Hours to Kill", "The Revolt of Mamie Stover", "Vice Raid", and "Girl on the Run". On the TV series "The Californians" (1957–1959) he appeared as Marshal Matthew Wayne, a character who struck most viewers and critics as a deliberate clone of Gunsmoke's Marshal Matt Dillon. He also had a continuing role on the police procedural series "Vice Raid" (1960–1961), as Sergeant Whitney Brandon. During 1951–1963 he guest-starred on a number of other TV series, mainly Westerns such as "Gunsmoke", "Laramie", "Bonanza", "Maverick", "Stagecoach West", "Cheyenne", "Sugarfoot", "Bronco", and "Wichita Town", as well as detective series such as "Perry Mason", "Surfside 6", and "77 Sunset Strip".

Coogan retired from film and television around 1964. In later life he was best known as a professional golfer and golf instructor.

References

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External links

* [http://slick-net.com/space/video/raster/index.phtml An album of rare photos from DuMont's "The Raster" (1950)]
* [http://slick-net.com/space/snaps/index.phtml Richard Coogan as Captain Video]
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* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=79124 IBDb entry on Richard Coogan]
* [http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=14676 NY Times entry on Richard Coogan]
* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/captainvideo/captainvideo.htm Richard Coogan as Captain Video, another view]