He had the requisite charm and dark, thick-browed good-looks of a
Tyrone Power that often spelled "film stardom" but it was not to be in the
case of actor William Eythe. Spotted for Hollywood while performing on
Broadway, he made nary a dent when he finally transferred his skills to
film and is little remembered today. Outgoing in real life, he never
found his full range in film and a certain staidness behind the charm
and good looks prohibited him from standing out among the other
high-ranking leading men. Like Power, his untimely death robbed
film goers of seeing what kind of a character actor he might have made.
Born William John Joseph Eythe on April 7, 1918, in a small dairy town
near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was the son of a contractor.
Developing an early interest in theatrics after appearing in an
elementary school play, he put on his own shows as an amateur
producer/director. Following high school he applied to the School of
Drama at Carnegie Tech where he initially focused on set design and
costuming due to a stammering problem (it was corrected while there).
He also produced some of the school's musicals in which he also wrote
the songs. Graduating from college in 1941, he began leaning towards a
professional music theater and started involving himself in musicals
and revues in the Pittsburgh era. He appeared in various stock shows in
other states as well, including the "borscht circuit", while radio work
in the form of announcing came his way. Following a failed attempt at
forming his own stock company, he was discovered by a 20th Century-Fox
talent scout while performing impressively on Broadway in "The Moon Is
Down" and moved west when the show closed in the summer of '42.
Benefiting from the fact that many major Hollywood male stars were
actively serving in WWII, Eythe. who had "4-F status, was handed an
enviable film debut as the wavering son of a lynch mob member in the
superb Ritt zum Ox-Bow (1943). More quality films ensued with Das Lied von Bernadette (1943) and Wilson (1944)
although he didn't have much of a chance to shine. He received his best
Hollywood top-lining assignments as the rural WWII soldier who has
telepathic capabilities in The Eve of St. Mark (1944) and as a German-American double
agent in the taut espionage drama Das Haus in der 92. Straße (1945). When Fox star Tyrone Power turned
down the lead role opposite Tallulah Bankhead in the plush costumer Skandal bei Hofe (1945),
Eythe inherited the part. Naturally Tallulah's histrionics dominated
the proceedings and Eythe, though sincere and quite photogenic, was
completely overlooked. This happened in other movies as well, and while
he was a talented singer/dancer, the only musical film he ever appeared
in required minor singing in Centennial Summer (1946). Adding insult to injury, he was
dubbed.
Eythe never conformed easily to the strictest of rules that studio head
Darryl F. Zanuck imposed and it proved a detriment to his career in the long
run. He was either suspended or (in one case) farmed out to England to
do a "B" film as punishment for his rebellious nature. A close
"friendship" with fellow actor Lon McCallister had to be carefully dampened,
and, out of concern, an impulsive marriage in 1947 to socialite and Fox
starlet Buff Cobb was the result. It may have ended rumors for a spell
but, not unsurprisingly, the couple divorced a little over a year
later. Ms. Cobb later married veteran TV newsman Mike Wallace.
In the post-war years, Fox began to lose interest and Eythe was seen
with less frequency. He flatlined film-wise in his last two "C" movies
that were made by other studios: Special Agent (1949) and Customs Agent (1950). To compensate for
the waning of interest, he formed his own production company and
appeared on stage in such fare as "The Glass Menagerie" in the showy
role of son Tom. He also enjoyed seeing one of his early revues, "Lend
an Ear", revamped by Charles Gaynor and given a Broadway run in 1948. Eythe
was one of the show's producers and singing stars. The musical is best
remembered for putting co-star Carol Channing on the map. In addition, Eythe
replaced baritone Alfred Drake in "The Liar" a couple of years later. In
1956 he and McCallister, along with Huntington Hartford, produced a musical revue
with the hopes of it reaching Broadway but it closed in Chicago.
Uninspired TV work did little to alter his decline.
Depression eventually set in and he turned heavily to drink with an
unfortunate series of tabloid-making arrests resulting. His health in
rapid deterioration, he was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital one day
for treatment of acute hepatitis and died ten days later, at age 38, on
January 26, 1957. For someone so promising, his untimely death merely
left another tainted impression of the downside to Hollywood
stardom.
