Macdonald Carey - World War II and After

World War II and After

A successful radio actor and stage performer whose credits included the hit Broadway show Lady in the Dark and the 1942 film Wake Island. Carey also appeared in Take a Letter, Darling (1942) and Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943), filmed in Santa Rosa, California. In 1943, he joined the Marines, and stayed on active duty until 1947.

In 1947, Carey returned to Paramount in Suddenly, It's Spring. He continued with Paramount into the 1950s; by this time he had slipped into more noticeable character roles and transitioned to westerns for a time, such as Copper Canyon (1950), The Great Missouri Raid (1951), Outlaw Territory (1953) and Man or Gun (1958). Carey played patriot Patrick Henry in John Paul Jones (1959). He appeared in Blue Denim (1959), The Damned (known as These Are the Damned in the US) (1963), Tammy and the Doctor (1963), and End of the World (1977).

In 1956, Carey took over the role of the kindly small-town physician Dr. Christian, a character created in the late 1930s by the Danish-American actor Jean Hersholt, who had performed the part on radio and in films and had co-written a Dr. Christian novel. Carey portrayed Dr. Christian on syndicated television for one season. Carey also held the starring role of crusading Herb Maris in the 1950s syndicated series Lock-Up. A total of seventy-eight episodes (then considered to be only two full seasons) were made 1959–61, but apparently Carey did not appear in all of them.

In 1957, Carey appeared on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.

On February 7, 1958, Carey appeared in the episode "License to Kill" of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater as Tom Baker, a wounded sheriff facing the arrival of unruly cattle drovers. The mayor, played by Jacques Aubuchon, hires Lane Baker, portrayed by John Ericson, as the town marshal to assist the sheriff but against the sheriff's wishes. Lane turns out to be the sheriff's younger brother. The two differ on law enforcement but are eventually reconciled from a long-term family split. Stacy Harris plays Doc Currie, who set Tom Baker's broken arm.

Carey also appeared on CBS's Appointment with Adventure and in "The Incident of the Golden Calf" episode of CBS's Rawhide. He appeared in "The Bill Tawnee Story" of NBC's Wagon Train with Ward Bond. He guest starred in the 1964-1965 sitcom The Bing Crosby Show on ABC.