Daniel Edwin Duryea was born in White Plains, New York on January 23, 1907. He graduated from White Plains High School in 1924 and Cornell University in 1928. While at Cornell, Duryea was elected into the Sphinx Head Society, Cornell's oldest senior honor society. He majored in English, and in his senior year succeeded Franchot Tone as president of the college drama society.
As his parents did not approve of his choice to pursue an acting career, Duryea became an advertising executive. After six stress-filled years, he had a heart attack that sidelined him for a year Returning to his earlier love of acting and the stage, Duryea made his name on Broadway in the play “Dead End”, followed by “The Little Foxes”. He also appeared on Broadway in “Many Mansions” (1937) and “Missouri Legend” (1938).
In 1940, Duryea moved to Hollywood to appear in the film version of “The Little Foxes”. He continued to establish himself with supporting and secondary roles in films such as “The Pride of the Yankees” (1942) and “None But the Lonely Heart” (1944). As the 1940s progressed, he found his niche as the "sniveling, deliberately taunting" antagonist in a number of films noir (“Scarlet Street”, “The Woman in the Window”, “The Great Flamarion”, “Criss Cross”, “Too Late for Tears”, “Johnny Stool Pigeon”), and Westerns such as “Along Came Jones” and “Black Bart”, although he was sometimes cast in more sympathetic roles (“Black Angel”, “One Way Street”). In 1946, exhibitors voted him the eighth most promising "star of tomorrow"
In his last years, Duryea reteamed with Jimmy Stewart for the adventure film “The Flight of the Phoenix”. He worked in overseas film productions including the British neo-noir thriller “Do You Know This Voice?” (1964), the Italian Western “The Hills Run Red”, (1966) and the spy thriller “Five Golden Dragons” (1967) in West Germany, while continuing to find roles on American television. He also appeared twice on the big screen with his son, character actor Peter Duryea from his marriage to actress, singer Hele Bryan, in the low-budget Westerns “Taggart” (1964) and “The Bounty Killer” (1965).
Duryea died in Los Angeles of cancer on June 7, 1968.
DURYEA, Dan (Daniel Edwin Duryea)
[1/23/1907, White Plains, New York, U.S.A. – 6/7/1968, Hollywood, Los Angeles,
California, U.S.A. (cancer)] – theater, film, TV actor, singer, married to
Helen Edith Bryan [1910-1967] (1932-1967) father of actor Peter Duryea
[1939–2013], Richard Duryea [1942- ].
The Hills Run Red – 1966 (Colonel Winnie Getz)
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