Warner Anderson

1911–1976 · American actor of stage, film and television

Biography

Warner Anderson (Brooklyn, 1911 – Santa Monica, 1976) was an American actor of stage, film and television, best known for his supporting work in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s and for starring in the series The Lineup. Born into a theatrical family, he appeared before the camera as a child, but his adult screen debut came in 1943 with This Is the Army.

Over the following decade he built a career in supporting roles in war films and dramas, among them Destination Tokyo and The Caine Mutiny, as well as the science fiction film Destination Moon. He also worked on Broadway and, in the 1940s, was the announcer for radio's The Bell Telephone Hour.

On television he played Lt. Ben Guthrie in The Lineup from 1954 to 1960, reprising the role in the 1958 film. He later played newspaper publisher Matthew Swain in Peyton Place, where he also narrated the opening of each episode. Anderson died of cancer in 1976, aged 65, leaving a wife and a son.

Key films

The Caine Mutiny (1954): Capt. Blakely, an officer in Edward Dmytryk's naval drama.
Blackboard Jungle (1955): Dr. Bradley, in a landmark film about juvenile violence in the classroom.
Destination Tokyo (1943): Andy, in a wartime story of a submarine crew.
Destination Moon (1950): Dr. Charles Cargraves, in one of the earlier realistic science fiction films of the period.
Objective, Burma! (1945): Col. J. Carter, in a war film starring Errol Flynn.