American Actor Wright King
Stage, TV and Movie Actor; The FBI, Gunsmoke, Streetcar Named Desire
A look at the career of Wright King, who played Dr.Galen in Planet of the Apes and was featured in many TV shows.
Wright King was perhaps best known for the role of Dr.Galen in "Planet of the Apes," but he was also seen in movies and TV series from 1951 to 1987, when he and his wife retired to Portland, Oregon. A regular on "Gunsmoke," and many other series, King started on the stage (his first love) and was gradually offered roles in movies and on television. Looking back over the years, for him, is a nostalgic trip into another world...another world of excitement, accomplishment and joy, which he loved. His book , "No Retakes," dealing with the golden years of television,1946-1954, will be coming out very soon
Wright was born on January 11,1923, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, where he received his elementary education and later he attended Mount Vernon High School in Illinois. While there he auditioned for the part of a teenager in the play "Sweet Sixteen," but was refused because, in his own words, "I was seventeen but I looked about ten." Another student at that time was a girl named Jean Jordan, who later became known far and wide as UN representative Jean Kirkpatrick. King and Kirkpatrick are to be recognized by the school as 'honored alumni' this year.
After graduating from high school in 1941 he read an ad in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about a new studio school of theater which was forming. Wright, who had wanted to be an actor since he was four years old, applied for a scholarship. He met the director Willard Holland, who was close to such writers as William Inge and Tennessee Williams, auditioned with a two minute sketch from Saroyan's "Harry the Hoofer," and was offered the scholarship. He also worked backstage at the St. Louis Little Theater where he had the opportunity to earn and learn at the same time.
He got a part in a play, "Bright Boy," produced by David Merrick and went on to summer theater in Massachusetts. King joined the navy during World War Two and was sent to the South Pacific as a Pharmacist's mate. He served from 1942 until 1946. Upon returning to civilian life he moved to New York City and made the rounds of producers and casting offices and was hired by Clare Tree Major who directed a nation-wide children's theater. The chosen cast was given a car, a truck and costumes and they drove throughout the United States performing in various cities. "We worked hard," King says."
In 1947 he was interested in doing a summer stock apprenticeship and joined a regular group of young actors in Massachusetts who received no pay except room and board. Wright got the role of Bugsy Miller in "The Male Animal" but was interested in another part...that of the black maid Cleota. The company needed someone for the part and King convinced them that he was their man... or woman!
The next step was a return to New York City where he joined the Yiddish Art Theater, directed by Maurice Schwartz. About this time (1948) he met a girl name June Roth and shortly afterward they married. The marriage has lasted for sixty years and has produced three sons, the youngest of whom as an actor and has put together a one-man show.
King went on to do an amazing number of roles on TV and in films. His philosophy? "If you are dedicated and make yourself available you can do anything.Be strong in your commitments."
Wright and June King live in Portland, Oregon.
Source: Personal conversations with Wright King, April, 2008.
