The Intriguing Everyman: Cult Star Stuart Whitman

There is a rugged sensuality about Stuart Whitman with his thick black hair and that sexy cleft in his strong chin. I’ve been totally gone gaga over the man for as long as I can remember. Although he doesn’t possess the typical pretty leading man poise or magnetism like Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Alain Delon, or Ray Lovelock, Whitman has an offbeat sex appeal that I’m drawn to more than the obviously handsome guy. Maybe it’s his commanding brows framing his deep, drawn blue eyes. Or perhaps it’s his raspy suede voice one octave down from middle C and that outre cool swagger that gets me. I love the self-assured manner that he exudes in every one of his roles. There are over 180 films and television roles to his credit. It seems like he lived a very full life on his terms, and had a great appreciation for the ladies– lucky them! He was also a long-time friend with many of his working colleagues, and that says a lot to me.

Stuart Whitman was born on Feb. 1, 1928, in San Francisco. He appeared in summer stock plays in New York until the age of 12. After living in New York, his family moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1940s. He graduated from Hollywood High School in 1945, then enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for three years. While in the service, he was secretly trained in boxing by his uncle and won boxing matches as a light-heavyweight. After an honorable discharge, he attended acting classes at night with the Michael Chekhov Stage Society and studied for four years.

He joined the Ben Bard Drama School in Hollywood, debuting in the school’s production of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, which ran for six months. 20th Century Fox scooped Stuart Whitman up while amassing new talent during the late 1950s.

Making his film debut in 1951, in the science fiction film uncredited in director Rudolph Maté’s and George Pal’s When Worlds Collide 1951, credited as Kip Whitman, and as a sentry guarding the spaceship in director Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). 

In 1952, Stuart Whitman continued to appear in small roles in George Archainbard’s Barbed Wire 1952 and Tay Garnett’s One Minute to Zero 1952. Universal signed him in December 1952, which got him a tiny part in Douglas Sirk’s All I Desire 1953 with Barbara Stanwyck and The All-American 1953 starring Tony Curtis.

Under contract to Universal, Whitman was still cast in minimal parts in 1953. The first is with director Budd Boetticher’s The Man from the Alamo 1953, co-starring Glenn Ford. Then he worked with Jacques Tourneur on his crime thriller Appointment in Honduras 1953, followed by The Veils of Bagdad  1953 and Walking My Baby Back Home 1953.

In 1954, he was still getting cast in minor roles in Charles Vidor’s Rhapsody 1954, and was loaned out to MGM. Stuart Whitman appeared in Vincent Minnelli’s musical Brigadoon 1954. He performed on stage at the Coast Theater in Christopher Fry’s Venus Observed.

In 1955, Whitman maintained his brief image as an uncredited quick shot as the man on the beach in Curtis Bernhardt’s Interrupted Melody. Also, that year, Whitman had a minor role in the serial King of the Carnival. He then appeared in Allan Dwan’s war drama Hold Back the Night 1956. Then came Budd Boetticher’s western Seven Men from Now in 1956, co-starring Lee Marvin and Randolph Scott.

Finally, in 1957, Stuart Whitman’s film presence gained visibility in Gerd Oswald’s noir thriller Crime of Passion 1957 and Reginald Le Borg’s western War Drums 1957.

Caroline Jones and Stuart Whitman in Johnny Trouble 1957.

He was cast in bit parts in film and stage productions, then he finally had his breakthrough with the drama Johnny Trouble in 1957, co-starring Ethel Barrymore in her last role. In John H. Auer’s Johnny Trouble 1957, Whitman plays Johnny Chandler, a belligerent young man whom Ethel Barrymore believes is her grandson. The films that followed were the noir crime drama Hell Bound 1957, co-starring Broderick Crawford and James Mason.

Whitman had also started to gain popularity as a cult actor, appearing in the thriller The Girl in the Black Stockings (1957), co-starring Mamie Van Doren and Anne Bancroft.

Howard W. Koch’s psycho-sexual shocker The Girl in Black Stockings (1957) is a transgressive mystery thriller in which Stuart Whitman plays David Hewson, a vacationer at a Utah lodge who becomes drawn into a murder investigation after a series of killings disturb the tranquil setting. The film blends suspense with classic whodunit elements, featuring Anne Bancroft and Mamie Van Doren alongside Whitman as the characters unravel their secrets while trying to find the vicious serial killer.

Also in 1957, Whitman had a notable role in the military series, Harbor Command, based on the United States Coast Guard. He had a recurring role as police officer Sgt. Walters was on the television series Highway Patrol from 1955 to 1959. Whitman and his co-star, Broderick Crawford, hit it off and became friends.

Stuart Whitman co-starred with Dorothy Dandridge in the crime drama, The Decks Ran Red (1958), a film notable for featuring one of the earliest interracial kisses in Hollywood cinema, a moment that was both bold and culturally significant for its time. While the kiss itself occurs in a charged and complex context within the story, Dandridge’s character uses it strategically during a tense scene. It really challenged the prevailing racial taboos in the industry back then. Even though the film is a straight-up crime drama, that kiss becomes this little flash of defiance and vulnerability.

Stuart Whitman in The Decks Ran Red 1958.

The above two images are from The Decks Ran Red, featuring Stuart Whitman with Broderick Crawford.

According to Whitman, he got MGM to hire his friend Broderick Crawford with the condition that he remain sober during the shooting. The film is a maritime thriller about the captain of a cargo ship who faces a deadly mutiny at sea. When Captain Edwin Rummill (played by James Mason) takes command, Henry Scott (Broderick Crawford) and his accomplices scheme to incite chaos and murder most of the crew in order to claim the ship’s cargo and split the profits of the large salvage reward. The film centers on tense confrontations, violence, and suspense as the captain and loyal crew struggle to thwart the mutineers’ lethal plan. Whitman plays the tough and menacing Leroy Martin, one of the mutineers aboard the ship, who conspires with Henry Scott to kill off other crew members and take control of the ship. Whitman’s Leroy is a tough accomplice, helping sow discord and violence as part of the mutiny plot. I find Stuart Whitman incredibly sexy in the role—his performance radiates a raw, almost primal masculinity that fills the screen with an undeniable physical power, giving him a commanding presence that’s impossible to ignore.

Excerpts from an Interview From Shock Cinema Magazine by Anthony Petkovich
SC: “You also starred with Broderick Crawford (they worked together in Highway Patrol) in The Decks Ran Red 1958.”

STUART WHITMAN: “Dorothy Dandridge, poor baby. She was previously married to one of the two Nicholas brothers {Harold} and their daughter, who was (brain-damaged), eventually had to be placed in a mental institution. And poor Dorothy was going through all of that turmoil while she was making the movie. A goddess, that’s what she was. “You know how Brod got that picture? Listen to this,  Andrew and Virginia Stone both produced it with Andrew directing. And I said to them “who are you going to get to play this role (of Henry Scott)?” And they said, “Oh God, we’d love to have Broderick Crawford but he’s a drunk” And I said “Wait a second, if he tells you he’s not going to drink, then he won’t drink” No, they said. And I said “look. Call him up and talk to him. Tell him that I’m in the picture.” So they called Brod up and hired him. And just as I told them Brod didn’t touch a drop until the last day of shooting-then he let go But that’ show he got that job It was actually a good little movie. James Mason was an interesting guy, and we became fast friends. Oh God, he was a sweetheart. But Brod and he just didn’t get along.”

Starting production in 1958, Stuart Whitman played Tom Ping, a cowhand, in Richard Fleischer’s western These Thousand Hills, filmed in Mexico and released in 1959. Ten North Frederick (1958) is one of his most notable films, in which he co-starred with Gary Cooper. In this film, he plays Charley Bongiorno, a charismatic jazz musician who marries the daughter of the main character, Joe Chapin (Gary Cooper). Whitman’s relationship with Ann Chapin sparks familial and social conflict, and he becomes entangled in the drama surrounding personal ambition, reputation, and heartbreak.

Stuart Whitman in William Wellman’s war film Darby’s Rangers 1958.

He then went on to work with director William Wellman for Darby’s Rangers (1958), co-starring James Garner. In 1958, Charlton Heston left William Wellman’s film. James Garner took over the role, and Stuart Whitman was cast in Garner’s original character. Whitman does a superb job as a ballsy American soldier who joins an elite group and is trained in special forces during WWII. Whitman remarked, “Many good things came from that.”

In 1958, Hedda Hopper wrote a piece on Whitman, which said he could be the “new Clark Gable.”

This is a fresh personality with tremendous impact. He’s tall and lean with a shock of unruly black hair and dark hazel eyes, which harden to slate grey when he plays a bad man or turns on the heat in a love scene. When he comes into camera range, the audience sits up and says, “Who dat?”

Stuart Whitman was so versatile that he was able to work in both television and feature films, from dramatic hits to film noir, horror, and cult exploitation.

Whitman guest-starred in dramatic television programs like Lux Video Theatre, Four Star Playhouse, and Zane Grey Theater. He then appeared in the dramatic television series Bob Hope Presents in the episode The Highest Fall of All. He played a suicidal stuntman with a death wish who was willing to do a dangerous fall. Other television appearances include Death Valley Days, Highway Patrol 1956-57, Have Gun-Will Travel (1958),

Whitman finally started getting leading man roles in director Don Siegel’s Hound Dog Man 1959. He plays a rogue, his “fourth heel in a row… I had a ball because the character was a real louse, with everything hanging off him, and no inhibitions. I like those kinds of guys, I suppose because I can’t be that way myself.”

Also in 1959, he appeared in The Sound and the Fury (1959), co-starring Joanne Woodward. Stuart Whitman plays Charlie, a carnival worker who becomes romantically involved with Quentin Compson (Joanne Woodward), a member of the troubled Compson family. Whitman brings a rugged, masculine charm to the role, embodying the kind of outsider whose presence disrupts the unstable Compson household. His naturalistic acting style and understated intensity lend authenticity to Charlie, who offers Quentin both escape and real-world temptation.

In 1960, he starred in the Biblical drama The Story of Ruth, replacing Stephen Boyd as Boaz.

The 1960s were a golden time for Whitman,  when he found himself to be one of the leading stars in Hollywood. Another outstanding example of his versatile acting ability is showcased in the intense crime drama based on New York gangsters — Murder, Inc. 1960.

In the darkly violent noir-crime biopic Murder, Inc., Whitman had initially thought that he was to be cast in the Peter Falk role, but wound up playing the romantic lead instead. The film’s production was problematic from the beginning. Director Stuart Rosenberg was fired for taking too long to set up shots. After the actors’ strike, the studio was pressured to finish the film, so they hired Burt Balaban to finish production.

Then came 1961 and the role that earned him the Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Stuart Whitman was frustrated with the kinds of roles he was getting. “I had been knocking around and not getting anything to test my ability” When Richard Burton dropped out of the production of Guy Green’s The Mark, to take the part in the stage production of Camelot, Whitman was contacted by his agent, the actor not knowing the controversial content of the film, he flew to Ireland to read the script. Though it was a challenge, he felt that he could tackle the role of a child molester, and he was right– as he garnered an Oscar nomination for his performance. Whitman acknowledged that it “doubled my rating as an actor, yet I had a tough time breaking my image in that movie… it blocked my image as a gutsy outdoorsman.”

Whitman then starred in director George Sherman’s The Fiercest Heart 1961, filmed in South Africa. He then appeared in Michael Curtiz’s religious biopic Francis of Assisi.

Stuart Whitman in George Sherman’s The Fiercest Heart 1961.

He felt right at home in the West. Michael Curtiz wanted Stuart Whitman to appear in his next film, The Comancheros 1961. John Wayne had to negotiate with the studio to get Whitman released from a prior commitment. Whitman plays Paul Regret, who escapes from the law but is eventually captured by Texas Ranger Jake Cutter (John Wayne). Stuart Whitman was very physically fit and started doing a lot of macho-type movies in the 1960s. He got top billing in the well-cast western, The Comancheros, and maintains a glorious chemistry with John Wayne. He plays a womanizing gambler who kills a nobleman’s son in a duel. He escapes the noose but is hunted down by the honest Captain of the Texas Rangers, Jake Cutter (Wayne). Both men wind up exchanging quick-witted dialogue. Inevitably, the two become friends. 

The above two images from Convicts 4 (1962) shown with Ben Gazzara.

Whitman starred in Millard Kaufman’s crime drama Convicts 4 (1962), where he plays the compassionate prison guard who believes in rehabilitation, not the death penalty. His performance lends a deeply human dimension to the film, infusing the tense and claustrophobic atmosphere of the prison with empathy and emotional complexity. Ben Gazzara, Rod Steiger, Sammy Davis Jr., and Vincent Price also make fine appearances.

He was also cast in the all-star feature The Longest Day (1962), which told the events of D-Day on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view. 

Publicity still for The Longest Day 1962.

In 1963, Stuart Whitman starred in René Clément’s beautifully filmed The Day and the Hour (1963), co-starring Simone Signoret. Whitman plays an American soldier who is shot down behind enemy lines and is aided by the French resistance. Whitman directed one specific scene that Clément agreed to let him shoot. There is an impassioned chemistry between the sublime Signoret (a favorite actress of mine) and Whitman, as the two journey to escape the Nazis in occupied France. Clément is at his finest profiling war-torn Europe, his focus on the stirring content and eloquent faces that populate his films.

From Wiki: In 1963, instead of choosing any of these roles, Whitman played an American pilot in the French film René Clément’s The Day and the Hour, shot in Paris and set during World War II. As described by Whitman, he got the part through Alain Delon, who he bumped into in an elevator at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Delon invited him to meet the director, and eventually worked out a way to loan him out from his studio contract. During the production of the film, Whitman disagreed with René Clémenton the direction of a torture scene. Whitman swore to René Clément that he could handle it. After coincidentally sitting in a plane next to Sidney Buchman who co-wrote The Mark, they re-wrote the scene. Whitman directed the torture scene and hasn’t directed since. Whitman described René Clément, as one of the finest French directors. He enjoyed the experience, saying, “I busted through at last and can now get an honest emotion, project it and make it real. You become egocentric when you involve yourself to such an extent in your role; your next problem is in learning how to turn it off and come home and live with society. It took a lot of time and energy to break through, so I could honestly feel and I’m reluctant to turn it off. Now I know why so many actors go to psychiatrists.”

Also in 1963, Stuart Whitman appeared in an episode called “Killing at Sundial” of the first season of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre. Whitman plays a Native American seeking to avenge his father, who was hanged years ago.

Stuart Whitman in director Gordon Douglas’ Rio Conchos 1964.

Then came the western directed by Gordon Douglas, Rio Conchos 1964, co-starring two other leading men, Richard Boone and Tony Franciosa. Whitman said that he didn’t like the script, but producer Darryl F. Zanuck dangled the carrot of the lead role in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines 1965. After he met with Richard Boone and director Douglas, he agreed to take the part. Director Annakin had wanted Dick Van Dyke for the lead role in this aviation extravaganza. Still, he had to accept the studio’s choice and wound up being pleased with Whitman’s wonderful performance.

Sara Miles and Stuart Whitman in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines 1965 or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours, 11 Minutes.

In the psychologically disturbing, psychotronic Shock Treatment 1964. Whitman plays an actor, Dale Nelson, who is hired to locate $1 million in stolen money, so he gets himself cast into the snake pit, committed to the institution run by Lauren Bacall as the sadistic Dr. Edwina Beighley. But finds himself immersed in the depths of insanity inside the asylum. In this taut psychological thriller, he’s perfect as a man who infiltrates a private sanitarium to expose corruption and murder. Whitman’s performance is measured in its intensity and understated vulnerability; he carries the film with a convincing blend of toughness and sympathy, navigating the narrative’s suspenseful twists with quiet charisma. The film also stars Carol Lynley as an emotionally fragile young woman and Roddy McDowall as the very disturbed gardener who carries his former employer’s head in a hatbox.

Lauren Bacall: Shock Treatment (1964) Dr. Edwina Beighley the female Caligari or it’s just like working with animals in a zoo!

As promised, he would get the role he wanted in the grand British comedy aviation/adventure spectacle with an internationally assembled cast, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965). Whitman is featured as the American participating in the race from London to Paris.

He got the lead in Cy Endfield’s fantastic adventure film Sands of the Kalahari 1965. Other actors considered for the role were Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, and Marlon Brando. Whitman had a horrendous time during the shoot, due to the extreme heat on location in Africa, and the baboons, whom he had to fight with, weren’t trained. And finally, the release of director Ken Annakin’s zany comedy adventure centered around the aviation craze circa 1910, with an ensemble cast, was released.

The Above three images from Signpost to Murder 1965.

In 1965, he appeared in the director George Englund’s film noir Signpost to Murder, co-starring Joanne Woodward. Signpost to Murder is perhaps one of Stuart Whitman’s most compelling performances. He plays Alex Forrester, an escaped patient from an asylum, who takes refuge in Molly Thomas’ (Woodward) house and has secrets of her own. This contemplative thriller with twists is an incredibly underrated psychological thriller and deserves more attention paid to it for its narrative precision. There is an evocative score by master composer Lyn Murray that underlines the moody discord of the plot. Whitman is superb as the desperate man trying to free himself from being labeled insane, culminating in the emotional eruption of violence. “What a terrible way to live out the one life I have. Shut up. Shut off. Forever lost.”

And then came the turbulent psycho-drama An American Dream (1966) co-starring Janet Leigh and Eleanor Parker.

In the 1966 film An American Dream (also known as See You in Hell, Darling), Whitman stars opposite Eleanor Parker, who plays his wife in Robert Gist’s film based on the novel by Norman Mailer. The film is a self-indulgent, cynical journey as Whitman is suspected of killing his wife, a miserable alcoholic. As Stephen Rojack, a war hero and television journalist, he must endure a turbulent marriage to Parker’s character, Deborah. The marriage spirals into violence and tragedy, setting off a chain of events colored by moral conflict, noir suspense, and psychological drama.

Cimarron Strip 1967-68 was Whitman’s short-lived, highly charged 90-minute TV western, which was his show starring the serious Marshal Jim Crown. The episodes featured other great actors like Richard Boone, Warren Oates, and Robert Duvall. I read that Cimarron Strip was one of Whitman’s favorite projects.

The above three images are from Shock Treatment 1964.

Stuart Whitman stars in Stuart Rosenberg’s directorial debut, Murder, Inc. (1960), co-starring Peter Falk in his explosive role as hitman Abe Reles.

The above three images are from Murder, Inc.

To backtrack a bit, I’d like to talk about two of my favorite performances of Stuart Whitman. Murder, Inc. is a gripping, gritty crime drama released in 1960, starring Stuart Whitman, who plays an ordinary guy trapped by loyalty and fear, and the far-reaching arm of organized crime.  The film is based on the true story of a ruthless organized crime syndicate that dominated the New York underworld during the 1930s and early 1940s, known for carrying out contract killings for the mob. Set against the shadowy backdrop of Brooklyn’s waterfront, the film follows the psychopathic thug

Abe Reles (Peter Falk), a chilling and unpredictable hitman who becomes a key figure within the syndicate. Stuart Whitman plays Joey Collins, a nightclub singer who gets ensnared by Murder, Inc. when he unwittingly becomes a witness to one of Reles’s brutal killings, forcing him and his wife into a dangerous, morally fraught struggle for survival. Peter Falk delivers a menacing, electrifying performance as Reles—a role that earned him an Oscar nomination!

SC: Hey, I don’t want to forget about MURDER, INC.

STUART WHITMAN: “I did that while I was still under contract to 20th They said “you’re going off to New York to do this thing called Murder, Inc. So on the plane I’m reading the script, and I’m thinking “wow! What a role here” Abe Reles” And when I got to New York and they picked me up in a limo at the airport, they asked me “how did you like the script? “Oh God, I just loved it” And they said “we got an interesting young guy, a character actor named Peter Falk who’s gonna plays Abe Reles” “Wait” I said, “I thought that was my role” “No, no You’re going to play the kid in it.. with May Britt.. the love affair part of the story.” And I said “Oh shit, I don’t want to do it. SO I called up (Spyros) Skouras (president of 20th Century Fox from 42 to 62) and said “Now Mrs Skouras that’s not the role I wanted to do” No do it” he said.

Anyhow, Peter Falk and I were getting along, getting some good stuff into the picture but when they fired the director Stuart Rosenberg, we had a sit down strike between us actors. But then a full out strike was coming along, and 20th said “The strike is coming up, so we have to finish this picture right away””before it hits.” Well, the very day we finished the picture, the strike hit. But that’s why there are two directors credited on Murder Inc. Burt Balaban was the producer so when Rosenberg got fired he stepped in.”

Another of his most memorable and brave portrayals is that of Kim Fuller in The Mark 1961.

In The Mark, Stuart Whitman takes on the compelling, courageous, and challenging role of Jim Fuller, who, after serving three years in prison for the abduction and attempted molestation of a nine-year-old girl, is let out. Jim Fuller, coming to terms with his past, has gone through extensive therapy, finding solace with the sympathetic psychiatrist Dr. McNally (Rod Steiger), and is released as a reformed man, given a good job, and tries to acclimate himself back into normal society. He starts up a relationship with the company secretary, Ruth (Maria Schell), who has a 10-year-old daughter. The ugly monster that is his past creeps up behind him and challenges his chance at a new life. While the film’s subject is still one of revulsion, the character of James Fuller is framed sympathetically, partly because he never went through with committing the crime. The film gives a well-explained symptomology through Dr. McNally’s compassionate, trained eye for uncovering the truth, and flashbacks aid us in seeing Fuller’s utter agony with what he contemplated doing. He stops himself from going through with the assault and vomits at the thought of it. He drives the little girl back to town, where he is met with an angry mob. He asks to be locked up because he is sick. The Mark explores without reservation the conflicted Jim Fuller, who, in the cinema at that time, breaks ground. 

While the film is quite black & white with its Freudian brush strokes, its unwavering commitment to a clear, direct narrative ensures the film remains gripping and accessible, never getting lost in abstraction, and Guy Green’s direction works well to light the flame under the kettle slowly. The Mark was released at a time in film when sexual ‘deviation’ was being experimented with at the cinema. Director Basil Dearden’s taut drama Victim (1961), starring Dirk Bogarde, about the stigma of homosexuality and blackmail, and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), which deals with mental illness, homosexuality, sexual exploitation of children, and even cannibalism. There was also Lillian Hellman’s story, directed by William Wyler, The Children’s Hour (1961), that deals with the stigma of lesbianism that typically leads to suicide. It’s almost cinematic tradition: if a queer character dares step out of society’s shadows, they must promptly pay the price—because apparently, in old Hollywood, redemption only comes tucked inside a tragic ending, preferably with a faint whiff of moral comeuppance.

Originally, Richard Burton was cast in the part of Jim Fuller, and the part of Ruth was to be Jean Simmons. And while Burton is of course one of those incredible actors who is laudable at dancing the waltz with complexity and damage, Whitman is profoundly adept at pouring out multitudinous levels of torturous self-loathing and social anxiety in a plot full of minefields the protagonist can step on. The film earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, not only for his incredibly nuanced performance but also for his brave and challenging accomplishment. Consider the risk he took with his career, taking on the role in  The Mark, which features his complex portrayal of a sexual deviant and a self-reflexive man struggling to come to terms with his predilections while finding his way back into society. There’s a good reason he was nominated for Best Actor… he deserved the award.

Excerpts from an Interview From Shock Cinema Magazine by Anthony Petkovich

SC: What was the challenge for you in making THE MARK?

STUART WHITMAN: “I was doing a screen test at 20th with Lee Remick for a movie called The Candy Man which Tony Richardson was going to direct. And I got a telephone call from Kurt Frings my agent at the time. And Kurt tells me, “Don’t go back” “˜but I’m shooting right now I said. “Don’t go to the set.” He said “What do you mean?” “˜Don’t go back Just go home, pack a bag and catch the four o’clock to London this afternoon. You’re gonna shoot a movie in Ireland.” I asked “Well, what’s the name of the picture?” “Not to worry. Don’t ask any questions. Just get on the plane and go.” And I remember racing to the airport to catch the plane and running into the actor Dane Clark, “Where you going Stuart?” He asked me ” I’m off to do a thing called THE MARK” I told him, “but I don’t know anything about it.” THE MARK? He said “My God, I really wanted to play that role, Jesus Christ.” So that was the only indication I received that it was something special”¦ Well Richard Burton was originally supposed to do my role in THE MARK but he was starring in Camelot and couldn’t get out of his commitment to do the play. So Kurt–who handled Burton and Maria School, the female lead in THE MARK and wonderful to work with-he squared me into the thing.”

“So they put me up in a hotel in London, and I had three days there before going on location to Ireland. Now when I arrived at the London hotel, all of these British reporters were asking me “What do you think about doing this movie?” “˜I haven’t read it” I told them ” I don’t know. Let me read it , then I will tell ya” So I got rid of all of the reporters because I really didn’t know what the fuck the movie was all about. And in my hotel room, when I finally read the script, I kind of freaked out. So much so that I was thinking to myself “Well, I could get sick and tell them that I can’t do the movie””I had all kinds of excuses that I was going to lay on “˜em so that I didn’t have to tackle this project. Then I thought, “Well, fuck it. If I”m in the right business or the wrong business I”ll know if I can pull this one off. And if I can I”ll be alright, But yeah it was difficult to do. And that’s when I first met Rod Steiger. Since Rod and I had a lot of scenes together, he said “you want to come over to my house and we’ll just run over the lines and get familiar with it?” “Absolutely” I said to him.”

In the 1970s, Stuart Whitman ventured boldly into the shadowy realms of horror and cult exploitation, embracing the edgy fringes of genre cinema with a fearless flair.

After the dreadful Night of the Lepus 1972 (killer mutant rabbits of all things),  Whitman survived the blip in his momentum and proclaimed his comeback with multiple entertaining films and television roles, many of which helped him attain cult status. Including Lawrence Harvey’s weird excursion into cannibalism, directing Whitman, Joanna Pettet, and Meg Foster in Welcome to Arrow Beach 1974, and master of horror Tobe Hooper’s sub-genre of horror films, the hillbilly slasher Eaten Alive 1976 starring Neville Brand and Carolyn Jones. My favorite is his performance as the love-sick paramour of Piper Laurie in Curtis Harrington’s Ruby (1977). An underrated, nightmarish ghost story and a great vehicle for Piper Laurie. Whitman brings that wonderful ’70s sensibility to the film as he aches for his lover to return his affections.

Ruby (1977), directed by Harrington, is a lushly atmospheric blend of Southern gothic drama and supernatural horror set in a rundown drive-in theater bathed in the neon haze of the late 1950s. Piper Laurie stars as Ruby, a once-glamorous gangster’s moll haunted by her violent past and by the ghost of her murdered lover. As eerie paranormal phenomena unfold and the bodies start piling up, the film weaves together poetic nostalgia, psychological torment, and flashes of macabre humor. Harrington’s direction lingers on decaying Americana and the restless spirits of a bygone era, conjuring a cinematic fever dream that’s equal parts melancholy, menace, and carnival spectacle.

Meg Foster and Stuart Whitman in Lawrence Harvey’s Welcome to Arrow Beach 1974.

Whitman and Piper Laurie in Curtis Harrington’s Ruby 1977.

Stuart Whitman also stepped into the role of cult leader of People’s Temple, Jim Jones, with a hyperbolic performance in GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED 1979 released in Mexico and then released in the U.S. in 1980

Aside from some of his more obvious diversions into the cult market, Stuart Whitman delivered memorable roles in films like director Monte Hellman’s Call Him Mr. Shatter 1974 where he plays a cool character, an international hitman who is now himself a target. Whitman embodies the title character with a coiled intensity, like a wolf moving through the urban shadows of Hong Kong. His portrayal crackles with restless energy and hardened resolve, each action revealing layers of weariness and moral ambiguity beneath his tough exterior. It’s like I’ve been saying all along, Whitman’s presence is magnetic, and his character radiates an aura of lethal competence and underlying vulnerability that lingers in every smoky, neon-lit corner of the film.

Stuart Whitman can slip into a diverse range of characters from sympathetic child molesters, to homicidal cult leaders/mass murderers, as in his fevered performance as Jim Jones in Guyana: Cult of the Damned 1979, cutthroats and heroes, urbane hitmen, or a variety of sheriffs. From the 60s decade through the 70s, Stuart Whitman’s roles ran the gamut.

He had fun in the exploitation film Crazy Mama 1975, which was directed by Jonathan Demme and released in 1975. In this action-comedy, Stuart Whitman co-stars with Cloris Leachman (Cloris Leachman’s legacy is a dazzling mosaic of fearless versatility and brilliant nuance, where each bold, witty performance shines like a gem, reflecting the unpredictable depth of a true acting icon whose transformative power continues to inspire us), Ann Sothern, and Linda Purl.

The plot follows Melba Stokes (Leachman), her mother Sheba (Sothern), and daughter Cheryl (Purl) as they embark on a crime spree across the country. Several generations of women go on to be outlaws robbing banks so they can reclaim the farm in Arkansas that was taken away from them by the bank. Along for the ride, they are joined by Jim Bob (Whitman), a runaway Texas sheriff, after losing their beauty parlor to repossession, all in a madcap effort to reclaim their family farm.

Whitman admitted, “I’m the type who must work constantly.” In the early 1970s, he worked increasingly in Europe. “I left Hollywood because it was getting to be a mad mess!” he said. “There are only about two really good scripts going around and they always go to the industry’s two top stars. I thought that in Europe, something better might come my way””and it did! I’ve made mistakes in the past, but I kept bouncing back. I always thought that an actor is destined to act, but I now realize that if you do one role well, you get stuck with it!”

After his final appearance in The President’s Man, Stuart Whitman retired from film and television in 2000.

Awards and honors included on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1998), nominated for  Best Actor Academy Award, The Mark (1961), Winner (cast member) Western Heritage Awards, The Comancheros (1961).

“I was filming Francis of Assisi 1961 In Italy with director Michael Curtiz IT was wintertime and a hard shoot And near the end of the film, Michael said “Stuart take a look at this script. It’s called The Comancheros” I read it over and said “˜boy, there’s a role in there that I’d love to be in” And he said I’d love to have you in it. I’m directing it. But the studio has got somebody else cast for that particular part. But we don’t start filming for another month, so when you get back to Hollywood see if you can get on the picture. I’d like to have you. “When I got back, I asked the studio and they said No you can’t do it We’ve got it all sewn up. So I called up Kurt Frings and told him what Curtiz said to me “Well he said “go see the Duke at Paramount He’s on Stage 17 Go talk to him.

Anyhow I worked my way into Paramount went to Stage 17 and when I got there (Wayne) was just going off to his dressing room. So I followed him in” “and Michael Curtiz wants me in your next picture. I really want to do it but the studio is putting up some blockage there. So I hung around there with Wayne for part of the day. And at the end of the day he asked me, “you really want to do the picture huh? Okay You’ve to the job. That’s how I got The Comancheros.”-Stuart Whitman

Stuart Whitman died on March 16, 2020 at the age of 92.

IMDB Trivia:

Alfred Hitchcock considered him, along with Cliff Robertson, Robert Loggia and Tom Tryon, for the role of Sam Loomis in Psycho (1960), but the role went to John Gavin.

Was a light-heavyweight boxer while serving the United States Army. Ironically, it was his role as a prizefighter in the play “Dr. Christian” that brought him his first leading role in a movie, playing Johnny in Johnny Trouble (1957) opposite Ethel Barrymore.

Was close friends with David Janssen.

In 1960, MGM toyed with the idea of doing an all-male remake of The Women (1939) which would’ve been entitled “Gentlemen’s Club.” Stuart Whitman would have been cast as (Oliver, the bartender who spills the beans about the illicit affair).