Anecdotes

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1623 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Played "Sam Spade" on the radio.

He was a lifelong registered Democrat.

Had one daughter, Bridget. Born Apr. 23 1952.

Unsold pilot: He was scheduled to star in a 1958 detective/mystery series called "The Green Peacock" following the cancellation of his sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve (1957), but even though episodes were produced, they were never broadcast. Episodes were written by writers such as Daniel Mainwaring and William Spier and directed by Allen H. Miner. Ramon Novarro was the co-star.

Ex-son-in-law of Stanley Lupino and Connie Emerald.

Father of Bridget Duff.

In 1951, RKO Radio Pictures tried to compose a film noir entitled "The Sins of Sarah Ferry". The story was about a courthouse clerk in Binghamton, New York who finds herself falling in love with a beautiful liar whose accused of armed robbery as well as a hit run charge involving a death. The cast would have starred Laraine Day, Fred MacMurray, Yvonne De Carlo, Hugh Beaumont, Glenn Ford, Howard Duff and Evelyn Keyes, with the studio wanting to shoot on location in Binghamton and neighboring Johnson City. This project never materialized because the plot was considered too close of a generic step-up of Assurance sur la mort (1944) and the studio never received a reply via phone call or standard mail from the Binghamton Courthouse or then Mayor Donald Kramer granting them permission to film on location in the area and negotiate a fair range of payment. Based on that neglect, the studio immediately canceled this project and moved on.

In 1950, was one of the 151 people listed as communist sympathizers in Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television, an accusation he vehemently denied.