Alan Curtis

Alan Curtis (July 24, 1909 - February 2, 1953) was an American film actor appearing in over 50 films. Born Harry Ueberroth in Chicago, Illinois, he began his career as a model before becoming an actor, appearing in local newspaper ads. His looks did not go unnoticed in Hollywood. He began appearing in films in the late 1930s (including a Technicolor appearance in the Alice Faye-Don Ameche film Hollywood Cavalcade and a memorable role in High Sierra (1941). He is probably best known as one of the romantic leads in Abbott and Costello's first hit movie Buck Privates. His chance for leading-man stardom came when he replaced the unwilling John Garfield in the 1943 production Flesh and Fantasy. Curtis played a ruthless killer opposite Gloria Jean. Unfortunately for both actors, the studio removed their performances from the final film. The footage was later expanded into a B-picture melodrama Destiny. The film failed to establish Curtis as a major-name star, but it did typecast him in hardbitten roles, like the man framed for murder in Phantom Lady (1944) and the detective Philo Vance. He starred in over two dozen movies and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Alan Curtis was married three times; his wives included actresses Priscilla Lawson and Ilona Massey. He died from complications during an operation in New York City, New York, he was 43. He is buried in the Ueberroth family plot in Evanston, Illinois.