Sherwood Price obit

Actor Sherwood Price Has died

 He was not on the list.

He was known for playing General J. E. B. Stuart in the American historical television series The Gray Ghost.

He was born Frank Sherwood Gell in Detroit, Michigan, to Louis Gell and Freida Gell, Jewish immigrants from Imperial Russia who had come to the US as young children. He had one sibling, an older sister. His parents had different first languages (Russian and Yiddish); he grew up speaking only English. His father owned a butcher shop. His parents divorced while Price was still a child. His mother remarried, and Price was raised by her and his step-father Herman Glassman, a clothing salesman.

Price attended Central High School in Detroit, taking the commercial curriculum rather than college prep. While still in high school he registered for the draft on April 4, 1946, his eighteenth birthday. The registrar recorded him as being 5 feet 11 inches and weighing 132 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He worked as a dishwasher, theater usher, and gas station attendant to earn money for drama school.

Price enrolled at the Schuster-Martin School of Drama in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati during August 1947. He spent one year studying then joined the school's Little Playhouse Company after graduation. He performed in five plays during 1948-1949, using "Sherwood Gell" for billing.

He then joined the Piper Players national touring company in their Oklahoma City debut, where he handled both acting and production chores. The Piper Players hit a cash crisis and found their only money maker was doing children's matinees of Little Red Riding Hood, which they played around the country. When the tour he was with reached the Warner Hollywood Theatre, Price decided to remain and left the company, moving in with his married older sister and her family.

By 1952 he had adopted the stage name "Sherwood Price". He was managing a movie theater in Sherman Oaks when he performed in his first film. The cheaply made western Scorching Fury was filled with actors making their film debut. There is no contemporary evidence that the film was ever distributed for exhibition at theaters, but it gave the participating actors their "break" in the movie business and their Screen Actors Guild cards.

His first known stage credit under his new billing came in May 1953, when he played the lead in the Showcase Theater production of Detective Story, earning high praise from the LA Times drama critic.

During July 1953 Price took the role of the psychoanalyst in the play Lady in the Dark with the Tustin Playbox company. It was his first work with this community theatre, which he would be associated with for many years. Also in this play was professional Jacquelyn Sue Browne, then billed as "Cathy Browne", but who would later switch to Kathie Browne. Price and Cathy Browne took over as co-producers for the third summer season (1954) of the Tustin Playbox, while continuing to act in performances. Browne was very popular with the Tustin audiences, and so often played the female lead. The majority of production chores thus fell on Price, who performed in fewer plays than Browne.

For the next four years Browne and Price successfully co-produced the Playbox, with each season bringing in larger audiences, including television stars and producers who hired them for screen roles based on their stage performances. The Los Angeles Times noted that the Playbox was actually making money, a rare event for community summer stock. The ailing Laguna Playhouse even recruited the couple to take over producing chores there as well for the 1957 season.

By the 1959 season Sherwood Price Productions assumed sole control of the Tustin Playbox, while Browne's performances there tapered off in favor of her growing screen career. However, for the 1960 season Price overextended himself financially by opening a second troupe in Fullerton, California, causing both to be attached in July by creditors.

Price's first television work came in the fall of 1955. Mark Stevens arranged for Price to have a role in an episode of the series in which he was starring, Big Town, after seeing him at Tustin. The next year, John Bromfield of Sheriff of Cochise did the same, after watching Price in The Tender Trap at the Playbox Price had parts in three other TV series in 1956, and small uncredited bits in two films, The Revolt of Mamie Stover and the misleadingly titled D-Day the Sixth of June.

Despite the press of activity managing the Tustin Playbox, Price plunged into a recurring role on the series The Gray Ghost. Filmed during late spring of 1957 in Northern California, Price played General J.E.B. Stuart for seven episodes.

Price then played Pete Hallon in the 1959 film City of Fear, which starred Vince Edwards.

Price played Gus Romay in the 1961 film Blueprint for Robbery, which starred J. Pat O'Malley. He guest-starred in television programs including Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rawhide, Highway Patrol, Perry Mason, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Mannix, 77 Sunset Strip, Cheyenne, Death Valley Days, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Have Gun - Will Travel, and Wagon Train. Price had a recurring role as Owen Carter in the medical drama television series Ben Casey. He also played Lt. Edgar Hackett in the 1968 film Ice Station Zebra, which starred Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Jim Brown. In 1969, Price starred with Robert Vaughn in the play The Odd Couple at the Sir John Falstaff Theater in St. Louis, Missouri. He played Felix Unger.

Price died in January 2020, at the age of 91.

 

Stage performances

 

 

Year     Play            Role            Venue            Notes

1948    The Hasty Heart            Blossom            Schuster-Martin Playhouse            War drama from 1945 by John Patrick; Price was only non-veteran in cast

The Front Page             Schuster-Martin Playhouse            As with all his credits prior to 1952, he was billed as "Sherwood Gell"

Treasure Island            Jim Hawkins            Schuster-Martin Playhouse            Price had the lead in this Little Playhouse Company adaptation

1949    You Can't Take It With You                     Schuster-Martin Playhouse        

The Time of Your Life                      Schuster-Martin Playhouse        

1950    Boy Meets Girl                    Vogue Theater (OKC)            His first play with the Piper Players

George Washington Slept Here                    Vogue Theater (OKC)           

Wuthering Heights            (Production)    Vogue Theater (OKC)            Price did only business and production for this small cast play

Curse You, Villain!              Vogue Theater (OKC)            A melodrama revival played for laughs

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde                     Vogue Theater (OKC)           

Dear Ruth                     Criterion Theater (OKC)

Little Red Riding Hood                 Touring Company            The Piper Players, low on cash, were reduced to playing this children's matinee

1953            Detective Story            Det. McLeod            Showcase Theater (LA)     His first known stage credit as "Sherwood Price"

Lady in the Dark    Dr. Brooks Tustin Playbox            His first play at Tustin also starred Cathy Browne

Miranda            Paul Marten Tustin Playbox            Price and Cathy Browne played the leads in this Peter Blackmore comedy

Caesar and Cleopatra            Apollodorus    Tustin Playbox            Tony Carbone and Cathy Browne played the leads

Brigadoon                    Tustin Playbox            Price's supporting role was praised by the LA Times reviewer

1954            Petticoat Fever            Sir James Felton            Tustin Playbox            Price and Cathy Browne played the leads in this 1935 Mark Reed comedy

The Country Girl       Frank Elgin     Tustin Playbox           

Bell, Book and Candle            Nicholas Holroyd            Tustin Playbox           

1955    Bertha the Beautiful Typewriter Girl            Villain            Tustin Playbox            Early melodrama played for laughs

The Milky Way            Gabby Sloan    Tustin Playbox           

Night Must Fall            Dan            Tustin Playbox            Price plays the suspected killer opposite Cathy Brown's "Olivia Grayne"

1956    Born Yesterday            Paul Verrall  Tustin Playbox            Robert Vaughn directed, Cathy Browne played female lead

The Tender Trap     Charlie Reader Tustin Playbox            Cathy Browne directed this play

1957    Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?            Michael Freeman            Laguna Playhouse            With Roxanne Arlen, Jack Grinnage, Robert Cornthwaite, Tommy Vize and Brad Trumbull

Bus Stop            Will Masters            Tustin Playbox            With Doreen Porter, Melora Conway, and Brad Trumbull

1958    Boy Meets Girl            Minor characters            Tustin Playbox            Price played a succession of outlandish minor characters

Dial M for Murder            Swann/Captain Lesgate            Tustin Playbox            Price plays the criminal killed by Browne's character

Anniversary Waltz   Chris Steelman            Tustin Playbox           

Charley's Aunt            Lord Fancourt Babberly            Tustin Playbox           

1959    The Matchmaker            Cornelius Hackl            Tustin Playbox           

Tunnel of Love            Dick Pepper Tustin Playbox           

1969    The Odd Couple            Felix Unger   (St. Louis)   Robert Vaughn co-starred in this production

 

Filmography

Film (by year of first release)

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1952            Scorching Fury Ward Canepa            His first billing as "Sherwood Price". It is doubtful whether this film was ever distributed to theatres or exhibited.

1956    The Revolt of Mamie Stover            Sailor            An uncredited role

D-Day the Sixth of June            American Officer            Another uncredited role

1957    5 Steps to Danger                     Uncredited role as one of many killers after Sterling Hayden[63]

1959    City of Fear     Pete Hallon  Price and Cathy Browne's only movie together was filmed in early spring 1958

1961            Blueprint for Robbery            Gus Romay            Ensemble effort, filled with TV character actors and no stars

1963    The Man from Galveston            George Taggart The pilot for the Temple Houston TV series, released to theaters instead

1964    The Patsy    Bellboy            A cameo appearance, in a film filled with them

1968    Ice Station Zebra            Lt. Edgar Hackett 

1995    Last of the Dogmen            Tracker            Price's last known performing credit

 

Television (in original broadcast order)

Year     Series            Episode          Role            Notes

1955    Big Town   Juvenile Gangs               Price's first known TV credit came from being spotted by Mark Stevens at the Tustin Playbox

1956    I Led 3 Lives    Dead Man            Comrade Adams        

Navy Log            Sacrifice          Russ Carter  This starred Phil Tead, with Carleton Young, William Tracy, and Leonard Nimoy

Frontier                                    Both Price and Browne were in this unknown episode from summer 1956

Sheriff of Cochise                                    Star John Bromfield asked for Price after seeing him at Tustin Playbox

1957    Wire Service                         Price and Browne had husband-wife roles in this unknown episode with Mercedes McCambridge

Navy Log            Ito of Attu      G.I.

Dragnet            The Big Yak                 

The Gray Ghost   An Eye for an Eye            Gen. Jeb Stuart            The only recurring role for Price, filmed in Northern California

Horses for Stuart   Gen. Jeb Stuart        

The Eve Arden Show                           Price made this unknown episode in between plays at Tustin and Laguna

1958    The Gray Ghost            Sealed Orders Gen. Jeb Stuart        

The Escape            Gen. Jeb Stuart        

Turn of Fate            The Days of November                    Korean War story with Jack Lemmon, Adam Williams, Nick Dennis, Don Kelly, and Jimmy Goodwin

The Gray Ghost   The Rivals   Gen. Jeb Stuart        

Secret and Urgent  Gen. Jeb Stuart        

The Gallant Foe      Gen. Jeb Stuart        

Decision            Man on a Raft   Interne            Another series where star Mark Stevens asked for Price