Ken Drake(1921-1987)
- Actor
Ken Drake was born in Enid, Oklahoma in 1921. He served in the Navy in
World War 2 and Korea as a Medic. He studied acting at the Pasadena
Playhouse and met his wife Sylvie there. He appeared in over 60
television shows and was a gifted character actor who often disappeared
into multiple roles in the same TV series. Beginning with "Sea Hunt" he
played character of vastly different types even within the same season.
His great-grandmother was a Native American of the Choctaw Nation and
he portrayed some Native American characters in Westerns of the era
such as "Bonanza". He also performed the classics on stage. Iago in
Shakespeare's "Othello" and Jason in "Medea" were two of his favorite
roles as well as performing in a number of George Bernard Shaw's plays
at the Stage Society Theater in Los Angeles in the 50's. His ex-wife,
Sylvie Drake was a theater critic for the Los Angeles Times for over 2
decades. His son, Robert Drake is Producing Director of the Old Globe
Theater in San Diego, and his daughter, Jessica Drake is a speech and
dialect coach working in feature films and Television. Ken passed away
in 1987 at the age of 65.
