Australians in Hollywood : Biographical Notes

Ron Randell
Ron Randell (b. 1918) worked in radio and wartime propaganda films before starring in Ken G. Hall's Smithy (1946). Financed by Hollywood 's Columbia Pictures, the film was a success here but a failure in the U.S. , where it screened as Pacific Adventure , in a heavily edited form designed to disguise its Australian origins. Columbia ceased film production in Australia , but they did retain the services of Randell, who in 1947 went to Hollywood to take over the title role in the popular Bulldog Drummond films. After playing Drummond twice, Randell embarked on a long Hollywood career that featured appearances in Kiss Me Kate (1953), King of Kings (1961) with fellow Australian Frank Thring, and the all-star D-Day epic The Longest Day (1962), co-starring Richard Burton, Sean Connery and Robert Mitchum. He also guested on such TV shows as Bonanza , Bewitched and Mission : Impossible. In the 1990s he was active with Tony Randell's National Actors Theatre, a New York-based company devoted to reviving English and American classics.

Back