FORREST TUCKER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Forrest Tucker was born on February 12th, 1919 in Plainfield, Indiana.  His father was Forrest A. Tucker and his mother was Doris Heringlake. 
 
His career in entertainment began at the young age of fourteen.  He started by performing at the Chicago World's fair in 1933.  His family soon relocated to Washington, D.C and he attended high school at Washington-Lee High in 1938.  He would perform at the Old Gaiety Burlesque Theater on amateur night, as he appeared to be a lot older then his true age due to his physical stature.  Tucker was 6'5" and 200 lbs.  He won several weeks in a row and therefore, caught the attention of the owner, Jimmy Lake.  Due to his success at the theater, Tucker received a job as the full time master of ceremonies.
 
When the owner founds out that Tucker was actually underage, he was let go from his job.  Again, not caring that he was too young, Tucker decided to join the United States Army.  He was stationed in Virginia, but again, was discharged when his true age became known. 

When Tucker turned eighteen and was of legal age, he returned back to the Gaiety Theater and was given his job back.  The theater chose to close for the summer in 1939, so Tucker decided this was his chance to travel to California and see if he had enough talent to work in film.

did not take too long to earn his first role in, "The Westerner" (1940) and this role lead to Columbia Pictures signing him to a contract.  He shortly followed with his first lead in,"Emergency Landing" (1941) and then "Keeper of Flame" (1942).  Majority of characters he played were portraying the bully or outlaw.
 
When World War II emerged, Tucker chose to serve his country and this time he was of legal age.  He became a second lieutenant and then upon completion of his service and when the war ended, Tucker went right back to his acting career.
 
He followed with roles on, "The Yearling" (1946) and "Never Say Goodbye" (1946).  When Tucker decided to end his contract with Columbia he was given the opportunity to sign with Republic Pictures.  It was under this contract he made a film that helped him graduate to top billing, "Sands of Iwo Jima" (1948).
 
Forrest Tucker then moved on to even more film roles in, "Rock Island Trail" (1950), "California Passage" (1950), "Rage at Dawn" (1955) and "The Quiet Gun" (1957).
 
1958 was a big year in his career, Tucker starred in the film, "Auntie Mame" which turned out to be the highest grossing US film of the year.  One of his most well known roles when he was cast as the professor, Harold Hill in, "The Music Man".  He portrayed this role a total of 2008 times within 5 years and was also the same role in a 56 week run at Shubert Theatre in Chicago.
 
His career continued with another very famous role on television in, "F Troop" (1965-1967).  The series lasted two seasons, but has become so popular due to syndication.    
 
Tucker never limited his career to film and the stage alone.  He was in countless television series such as, "Appointment with Adventure" (1956), "Channing" (1963-1964) and "Whispering Smith" (1961).  Tucker also guest starred on a variety of television series such as, "Gunsmoke", "Alice" (1976-1985), "Dusty's Trail" (1973) and "The Ghost Busters" (1975-1976).  On stage, Tucker continued to take on roles that came his way such as on, "Plaza Suite", "Show Boat" and "The Groove Tube".
 
Tucker's career was highly successful, but due to the overwhelming stress of working as an actor in demand, his personal life was a little unstable.  He suffered from severe alcohol addiction and actually took a break from his career for a couple years.  He married four times throughout his lifetime.  First to, Sandra Jolley in 1940 and divorced in 1950 and then went on to marry Marilyn Johnson on March 28th, 1950.  When she passed away in 1960, Tucker married for a third time to Marilyn Fisk on October 23rd, 1961 and again divorcing on December 12th, 1985.  His fourth and final marriage was to Sheila Forbes on April 15th, 1986 and they remained together until he passed away.  He had a total of three children, 2 daughters and one son.
 
Upon return to acting, Tucker took on a film role in, "Thunder Run" (1986).  He worked on one more low budget film before passing away from lung cancer and emphysema on October 25th, 1986.  Forrest Tucker is interred in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

1987   Timestalkers
1986   Ghostbusters
1986   Father Knows Beast
1986   Thunder Run 
1984   Murder, She Wrote 
1984   It's a Dog's Life
1984   Katy Caterpillar
1983   Blood Feud  
1983   The Love Boat
1983   Fightingale/Paroled to Love
1982   A Dress to Remember
1982   Take This Job and Love It
1982   Killing Isn't Everything
1980   April's Love/Happy Ending/We Three
1980   Flo 
1980   A Castleberry Thanksgiving  
1979-1981  Fantasy Island
1981   Show Me a Hero/Slam Dunk
1981   The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 
1979   The Stripper/The Boxer
1979   The Rebels
1979   Alice 
1978   A Real American Hero
1978   Police Woman
1978   A Shadow on the Sea
1978   Black Beauty"
1977   Incredible Rocky Mountain Race
1977   The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
1977   Gold Is Where You Find It
1977   Final Chapter: Walking Tall
1976   Once an Eagle
1976   The Bionic Woman
1976   The Deadly Missiles
1976   Ellery Queen
1976   The Adventure of the Two-Faced Woman 
1976   The Running Man
1976   Kojak
1976   On the Edge
1975   The Ghost Busters 
1975   Little House on the Prairie
1975   The Wild McCullochs
1975   Founder's Day
1974   Marcus Welby, M.D.
1974   The Brittle Warrior
1974   A Rare Breed
1973   Dusty's Trail 
1973   Jarrett
1972   Footsteps
1972   Bobby Jo and the Good Time Band
1972   Columbo
1972   Blueprint for Murder
1965-1972  Gunsmoke
1972   Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol
1972   Norman Corwin Presents 
1972   Two Gods on Prime Time
1972   The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show
1972   Cancel My Reservation
1971   Bonanza
1971   Warbonnet
1971   Cade's County
1971   The Alien Land
1971   Night Gallery
1971   The Imposter 
1971   Cat Ballou
1971   The Name of the Game 
1971   Seek and Destroy 
1971   Alias Smith and Jones
1971   Stand Up and Cheer 
1971   The Mickie Finn Special 
1971   Monsanto Presents Mancini 
1970   Ironside
1970   Dinah's Place
1970   Too Many Victims
1970   Bracken's World
1970   Love It or Leave It, Change It or Lose It
1970   The Dean Martin Comedy Hour 
1970   The Movie Game    
1970   Barquero
1970   Chisum
1970   The Professional
1969   The Flim-Flam Man
1969   Doc
1969   Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968   The Night They Raided Minsky's
1967-1968  Daniel Boone
1968   The Return of the Sidewinder
1967-1970  The Merv Griffin Show
1967   The Ballad of Sidewinder and Cherokee
1967   Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color  
1967   A Boy Called Nuthin'
1967   Hondo 
1966   Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title
1966   The Milton Berle Show 
1965-1967  F Troop 
1965   The Virginian
1965   The Hollywood Palace  
1964   Burke's Law 
1963   Death Valley Days 
1963   Rawhide
1963   Channing
1963   Dr. Kildare 
1961   Playboy's Penthouse
1960   About Faces 
1959   Counterplot
1958   Auntie Mame
1958   Wagon Train
1958   G.E. True Theater
1958   Gunsmoke in Tucson
1958   The Crawling Eye
1958   Girl in the Woods
1958   Fort Massacre
1958   The Cosmic Monster
1957   Climax!
1957   The Deerslayer
1957   The Abominable Snowman
1957   The Quiet Gun
1957   The Ford Television Theatre
1957   The Kaiser Aluminum Hour
1957-1963  The Red Skelton Hour
1956-1957  Lux Video Theatre 
1956   General Electric Summer Originals 
1956   Robert Montgomery Presents  
1956   Appointment with Adventure 
1955-1956  Crunch and Des
1956   Three Violent People
1956   Stagecoach to Fury
1955   Paris Follies of 1956
1955   The Vanishing American
1955   Night Freight
1955   Finger Man
1955   Rage at Dawn
1955   Break in the Circle
1954   Trouble in the Glen
1954   Schlitz Playhouse
1954   Jubilee Trail
1953   Flight Nurse
1953   Laughing Anne
1953   Pony Express
1953   San Antone
1963   The Wide Country
1952   Ride the Man Down
1952   Montana Belle
1952   Hurricane Smith
1952   Hoodlum Empire
1952   Bugles in the Afternoon
1952   Flaming Feather 
1951   The Wild Blue Yonder
1951   Crosswinds 
1951   Warpath
1951   Fighting Coast Guard
1951   Oh! Susanna
1950   California Passage
1950   The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre 
1950   The Hoosier School-Master
1950   Rock Island Trail 
1950   The Nevadan
1949   Sands of Iwo Jima
1949   Brimstone
1949   Hellfire
1949   The Big Cat
1949   The Last Bandit
1949-1955  The Ed Sullivan Show 
1948   The Plunderers
1948   Two Guys from Texas
1948   Coroner Creek
1948   Adventures in Silverado
1947   Gunfighters
1946   The Yearling
1946   Never Say Goodbye
1946   Dangerous Business
1946   Renegades
1946   The Man Who Dared
1946   Talk About a Lady
1942   Keeper of the Flame
1942   Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood
1942   The Spirit of Stanford
1942   My Sister Eileen
1942   Counter-Espionage 
1942   Parachute Nurse
1942   Submarine Raider 
1942   Tramp, Tramp, Tramp 
1942   Canal Zone 
1942   Shut My Big Mouth
1941   Honolulu Lu
1941   New Wine
1941   Emergency Landing
1940   The Westerner