David Wayne

Cast

Born

January 30, 1914 · Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Died

February 9, 1995

Birth name

Wayne James McMeekan

His father was an insurance executive; his mother died when he was four. He attended Western Michigan University, then worked as a statistician in Cleveland, where he joined a Shakespeare repertory company. Two years later, he had a minor role in "The American Way" in New York. He was rejected by the army in World War II but volunteered as an ambulance driver in North Africa. He returned to critical acclaim on Broadway (Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill). He earned a Tony award for acting ("Finian's Rainbow", 1947) for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He moved to Los Angeles in 1977 though his movie credits go back to Portrait of Jennie (1948) and Adam's Rib (1949). Among his many television roles were a bank official in his own comedy series, Norby (1955), James Merrick, a heart patient in the episode Heartbeat (1957), the part of Inspector Queen in the Manfred Lee's Ellery Queen (1975) series and of "Digger" Barnes in Dallas (1978). In his last feature film, he played an inquisitive but slightly senile train conductor in the irreverent comedy "Finders Keepers" (1985).