Television actor, director, and producer, born in Santa Monica, California, USA. In 1949 he created Dragnet, a documentary style police radio show. He directed and starred in the show when it moved to National Broadcasting CompanyTV (19529). His company, Mark VII, Ltd, produced a series of police shows, including a revival of Dragnet (196770) and Adam-12 (196875).
John Randolph "Jack" Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, director, and writer who is most famous for his role as Detective Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet.
Biography
Early life and career
Born in Santa Monica, California, Webb grew up poor in the Bunker Hill slum section of Los Angeles to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother; One of the tenants in the rooming house run by his mother was an ex-jazzman who imbued Webb with a lifelong interest in jazz when he gave him a recording of Bix Beiderbecke's "At the Jazz Band Ball."
Acting career
After serving as a crewmember of a B-26 Marauder in World War II he starred in a radio show about a waterfront character who operated as an unlicensed private detective, Pat Novak for Hire. Webb's other radio shows include Johnny Modero, Pier 23, Jeff Regan, Investigator, Murder and Mr. Malone and One Out of Seven. Webb's characterization in this role would color most of his later acting
Dragnet and stardom
Webb had a role in the 1948 film He Walked by Night based on the real-life murder of a California Highway Patrolman. It was this film that gave Webb the idea for Dragnet.
After getting assistance from Los Angeles police personnel, Webb produced Dragnet which premiered in 1949 on the NBC radio network. Initially sponsored by Fatima cigarettes, Dragnet starred Webb as Joe Friday and Barton Yarborough as his partner, Ben Romero. Webb narrated the show in first person as the character Joe Friday and maintained almost fanatical attention to detail.
In 1950, Webb appeared alongside future Dragnet partner Harry Morgan in the film noir Dark City.
The year 1951 saw Dragnet become a successful television show. Alexander proved to be a popular addition to the show as Webb's detective partner and remained with it until its cancellation in 1959.
Dragnet began with "The story you are about to see is true. Webb frequently re-created entire floors of buildings on soundstages, such as the police headquarters at Los Angeles City Hall for Dragnet and a floor of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Building for the 1959 film -30-.
During the early days of Dragnet, he continued to appear in other movies, notably the 1950 Billy Wilder film Sunset Boulevard.
Webb's personal life was better defined by his love of jazz than his interest in police work.
In 1951, Webb introduced a short-lived radio series, Pete Kelly's Blues, in an attempt to bring the music he loved to a broader audience.
In 1967 Webb produced and starred in a color version of Dragnet for TV. Cinader, Webb produced NBC's popular Adam-12, which focused on LAPD uniform officers veteran Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and rookie Jim Reed (Kent McCord), which ran until 1975.
In 1968 Webb performed, in Joe Friday character, the classic "Copper Clappers" sketch during an appearance on The Tonight Show where a pokerfaced Webb echoed Johnny Carson's equally-deadpan robbery report where all the details started with "Cl" or least the letter C.
In the early 70s Webb produced The DA with Robert Conrad and O'Hara: US Treasury with David Janssen. Webb cast his ex-wife, Julie London, as well as her second husband and Dragnet ensemble player Bobby Troup, as nurse Dixie McCall and Dr. Joe Early.
Late life
Project UFO was another Webb production and depicted Project Blue Book, a U.S. Air Force investigation into unidentified flying objects.
He was working on scripts for another revival of Dragnet in 1983 with Kent McCord as his partner, when he died of a heart attack in 1982 at the age of 62. Webb was given a funeral with full police honors (including the chief of police announcing that the badge number 714 that Webb used in Dragnet would be retired) although he had never actually served on the force.
Not only did the LAPD use Dragnet episodes as training films for a time, they also named a police academy auditorium after Webb.
Webb's legendary series (including Dragnet, Adam-12, and Emergency!) are rarely seen today due to the fact that his estate now owns the rights.
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