Leif Erickson
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Leif Erickson (born William Wycliffe Anderson) was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Erickson was born in Alameda, California, near San Francisco. He worked as a soloist in a band as vocalist and trombone player, performed in Max Reinhardt's productions, and then gained a small amount of stage experience in a comedy vaudeville act. Initially billed by Paramount Pictures as Glenn Erickson, he began his screen career as a leading man in Westerns.
Erickson enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. Rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer in the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit, he served as a military photographer, shooting film in combat zones, and as an instructor. He was shot down twice in the Pacific as well as receiving two Purple Hearts. Erickson was in the unit that filmed and photographed the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. Over four years service, he shot more than 200,000 feet of film for the Navy.
Erickson's first films were two 1933 band films with Betty Grable before starting a string of Buster Crabbe Western films based on Zane Grey novels. He would go on to appears in films such as The Snake Pit, Sorry, Wrong Number, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd, Invaders from Mars, On the Waterfront, A Gathering of Eagles, Roustabout, The Carpetbaggers and Mirage.
One of his more notable roles was as Deborah Kerr's macho husband in the stage and film versions of Tea and Sympathy. He appeared with Greta Garbo, as her brother in Conquest (1937). He played the role of Pete, the vindictive boat engineer, in the 1951 remake of the famed musical Show Boat. His final appearance in a feature film was in Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977).
Erickson appeared frequently on television; he was cast as Dr. Hillyer in "Consider Her Ways" (1964) and as Paul White in "The Monkey's Paw—A Retelling" (1965) on CBS's The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. However, he is probably best known for The High Chaparral, which aired on NBC from 1967 until 1971. He portrayed a rancher, Big John Cannon, determined to establish a cattle empire in the Arizona Territory while keeping peace with the Apache. Erickson guest-starred in several television series, including Rawhide, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Marcus Welby, M.D., Medical Center, Cannon, The Rifleman, The Rockford Files, and the 1977 series Hunter. His final role was in an episode of Fantasy Island in 1984.
Erickson was married to actress Frances Farmer from 1936 until 1942. The same day that his divorce from Farmer was finalized, June 12, 1942, he married actress Margaret Hayes. They divorced a month later. He married Ann Diamond in 1945. They had two children, William Leif Erickson (born 1946 - died 1971 in a car accident) and Susan Irene Erickson (born 1950).
Erickson died of cancer in Pensacola, Florida, on January 29, 1986, aged 74 CLR
Known for
Ironside
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Paul White
The High Chaparral
Big John Cannon
Bonanza
Tom Caine
Bonanza
Josh Tatum
The Rockford Files
Carl Colton 'C.C.' Calloway
The Virginian
Peterson
The Virginian
Charlie Ryan
The Virginian
Bill King
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Jim Lewis
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Cash Wilson
Burke's Law
Jason Hayes
Bambi-Verleihung
Self (archive footage)
The Evil Touch
Climax!
Robert Eunson
Climax!
Richard Carmichael
Climax!
Doug Randell
Climax!
Richard Moore
The Rifleman
Cannon
Mannix
Matinee Theater
Rawhide
Frank Travis
Night Gallery
Charlie Wheatland
Medical Center
The Rookies
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Wayne Phillips
Daniel Boone
Aaron Burr
Daniel Boone
Bill Sedley
Kraft Suspense Theatre
General
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Andrew Middleton
The Millionaire
Brian Hendricks
The Millionaire
Norman Conover
The Mod Squad
Arrest and Trial
Gunsmoke
Virgil Powell
The Streets of San Francisco
The New Breed
Dr. Eric Thor
The Magician
Nicholas Olson
The Sixth Sense
The Rebel
Dave Blaine
Harry O
The Great Adventure
Abel Parrish
The Great Adventure
President Grover Cleveland
Branded
Inner Sanctum
On the Waterfront
Glover
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Dan
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Sam Sargent
The Fastest Gun Alive
Lou Glover
A Gathering of Eagles
Gen. Hewitt
Roustabout
Joe Lean
The Fantastic Journey
Ben Wallace
Medical Story
Sorry, Wrong Number
Fred Lord
Strait-Jacket
Bill Cutler
Mirage
The Major
The Tall Target
Stranger
General Electric Theater
Man
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Ralph Whittaker - CIA Director
Joan of Arc
Dunois, Bastard of Orleans
Show Boat
Pete
The Lady Gambles
Tony
The Snake Pit
Gordon
Tea and Sympathy
Bill Reynolds
Night Monster
Laurie
Sailor Beware
Commander Lane
Trouble Along the Way
Father Provincial aka Ed
Dallas
U.S. Marshal Martin Weatherby
The Fantastic Journey
Ben Wallace
Pardon My Sarong
Whaba
Nothing But the Truth
Tommy Van Dusen
Wild Times
John Tyree
Fourteen Hours
Bit Part (uncredited)
Johnny Stool Pigeon
Pringle
Star in the Dust
George Ballard
The Carpetbaggers
Jonas Cord Senior
Arabian Nights
Kamar (as Leif Erikson)
I Saw What You Did
Dave Mannering
Three Secrets
Bill Chase
The Daughters of Joshua Cabe
Amos Wetherall
Eagle Squadron
Johnny M. Coe
Fort Algiers
Kalmani
Conquest
Paul Lachinski
Kiss Them for Me
Eddie Turnbill
The Deadly Dream
Dr. Harold Malcolm
The Showdown
Big Mart
Carbine Williams
Feder
Never Wave at a WAC
Sgt. Norbert 'Noisy' Jackson
The Six Million Dollar Man: The Solid Gold Kidnapping
William Henry Cameron
Winterhawk
Guthrie
Desert Gold
Glenn Kasedon
Terror in the Sky
Marty Treleavan
H.M. Pulham, Esq.
Rodney 'Bo-Jo' Brown
Wanderer of the Wasteland
Lawrence
Waikiki Wedding
Dr. Victor Quimby
The Gangster
Beaumont
Twilight for the Gods
Harry Hutton
The Fleet's In
Jake
The New Healers
Dr. Victor Briggs
Once Upon a Horse...
Granville "Granny" Dix
Captain Scarface
Sam
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Bob Hayes
Istanbul
Charlie Boyle
A Perilous Journey
Richards
With a Song in My Heart
General aboard plane
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Morgan
The Family Rico
Mike Lamont
College Holiday
Dick Winters
Blonde Savage
Steve Blake
Man and Boy
Sheriff Mossman
Miss Tatlock's Millions
Dr. Mason
My Wife's Best Friend
Nicholas Reed
The Cimarron Kid
Marshal John Sutton
The Blonde from Singapore
Terry Prescott
Force Five
Cal Newkirk
Hill Number One: A Story of Faith and Inspiration
Pilate
One Third of a Nation
Peter Cortlant
Shootout at Big Sag
Sam Barbee
Paris Model
Edgar Blevins
Drift Fence
Curley Prentice
The Gay Intruders
Dr. Harold Matson
The Vintage
Louis Morel
Ride a Crooked Mile
Johnny Simpkins
Nevada
Bill Ide
Born to the Saddle
Bob Marshall
Abduction
Prescott
Stella
Fred Anderson Jr.
Are Husbands Necessary?
Bill Stone
Reunion in Reno
B. Frederick Linaker
Invaders from Mars
Mr. George MacLean
Thrill of a Lifetime
Howard Nelson
Mother Didn't Tell Me
Dr. Bruce Gordon
Crisis
Narrator (voice)
Air Tonic
Band Singer
Girl of the Ozarks
Tom Bolton