Rangy, cadaverous character actor, whose prowess in portraying folksy types, eccentrics and oddballs made him a regular feature in prestige westerns. Despite hailing from the Big Apple, with his curiously earthy appearance, profoundly expressive eyes and resonant voice, he looked perfectly at home on the range – as much as a stagecoach or saloon.
Reputedly
left school at 12 but later attended New York University. Tuition fees were
offset against a job in the Empire States Building screwing in light bulbs. Acquired
a taste for performing during military service, as part of a troupe
entertaining soldiers building the Burma Road. Back in the States he worked on
Broadway. A photograph of him in Life
magazine landed a feature-film role, tormenting Richard Conte in prison noir Under the Gun.
His
unique screen presence suited quirky but crucial roles. Test audiences were
said to have left the theatre in droves during his death scene in John Huston’s
The Red Badge of Courage. So
disturbing was Dano’s impact that the scene was cut and is presumed lost. Again
under the tutelage of Huston, he provided one of the most memorable scenes in Moby Dick as the crazed, prophetic
Elijah.
Also employed by luminaries Hitchcock, Anthony Mann and Nicholas Ray, he became synonymous with the western landscape. Dano’s characterisations pepped up a number of revisionist westerns in the Sixties and Seventies – Welcome to Hard Times, Death of a Gunfighter, The Culpepper Cattle Company, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid.
Cast as Abe Lincoln in the 1952 TV series Mr Lincoln; chosen by Walt Disney to provide a voice recording of the emancipator for Great Moments with Mr Lincoln at the 1964 World’s Fair. His honeyed, sonorous tones were in demand for the same role for Disney’s Hall of Presidents. Portrayed a similarly driven social reformer, abolitionist John Brown, in 1971’s The Skin Game. His distinct features would serve him well until the end of his career in independent pictures and horror movies, often portraying loopy, hermetic old geezers.
Dano’s
final year was beset by tragedy. His son, Royal Dano Jr, a disabled Vietnam vet,
died unexpectedly, before the actor with the odd but indelible face succumbed to
a stroke after an automobile accident.
Five standout roles
Five standout roles
As
Sam Nugent in Under the Gun, the
trustee-gunner in a Florida work prison, he presents the biggest obstacle to
freedom for Conte’s mobster. His menacing silence and unpredictability deter
Conte from risking an audacious bridge jump.
As
Corey, member of the Dancin’ Kid’s gang in Johnny
Guitar, Dano is the counterweight to Ernest Borgnine’s boorish Lonergan. A
particularly well-written small role, the character is erudite but weakened by
consumption.
As
the mute Trout in Man of the West, in
thrall to the malevolent Doc Tobin, he sculpts a fully rounded character
without uttering a word. Hs death scene is one of his finest: running into the
desert, he emits a blood-curdling scream – the only sound he makes in the film.
As
the grizzled cattle rustler caught in the crossfire in The Culpepper Cattle Company, Dano strengthens the film’s odour of
grim realism. Like so many of his characters, this one has a vital function –
his antagonism towards the drovers occasions the young hero’s first experience
of bloodshed.
As
artist Joseph Long in Messiah of Evil,
Dano indulges his penchant for craziness. Infected with a zombie-like virus, he
imposes himself on the final reel of this Lovecraftian terror film: he paints
his face blue, tries to eat his daughter and is finally set ablaze. It’s a showcase
for his ability to conjure the uncanny and for his commanding voice work.
Clark Hodgkiss
Clark Hodgkiss
The black-and-white photo here of Royal Dano as Lincoln is from the "Honest Abe" episode of the half-hour western television series "The Rifleman" starring Chuck Connors that aired on November 20, 1961. In it he played an eccentric local man named Able "Abe" Lincoln who thought he was the president.
ReplyDeleteWonderful Actor and that unique voice
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