Wright King


Thomas Wright Thornburg King, better known as Wright King, was an American film and television actor, a native of Okmulgee in east central Oklahoma. His career lasted from 1949 until 1987.

Early life and career

King studied acting at the St Louis School of Theater, where he graduated in 1941, before enlisting in the United States Navy during World War II where he served in the South Pacific campaign.
King made his small screen debut in 1949 as Midshipman Bascomb in the television series, Captain Video and His Video Rangers.
Throughout his career, he worked in both the United States and in the United Kingdom.
King was cast in numerous westerns and is particularly known for his role in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Vivien Leigh. Prior to that, he had appeared in the original stage production, a performance which was lauded by drama critic Harold Hobson. In 1958 King appeared as The Kiowa Kid/Nevada Jones on the TV western Cheyenne in the episode "Ghost of the Cimarron."
Other noteworthy film credits included roles in Cast a Long Shadow, King Rat, Planet of the Apes, Finian's Rainbow and Invasion of the Bee Girls.
In 1974, he played U.S. Senator Richard B. Russell Jr. of Georgia in the TV movie The Missiles of October, a dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
He appeared in the television series Johnny Jupiter, was in two episodes of the TV series The Silent Service and was the partner of Steve McQueen for a season of Wanted Dead or Alive. He appeared with Richard Boone in Have Gun Will Travel in the episode "Helen of Abajinan".

Personal life

King married June Ellen Roth in 1948. The couple had their first child the next year.
He died in Canoga Park, Los Angeles on 25 November 2018 at the age of 95.

Filmography