JEFF CHANDLER

Jeff Chandler was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1918. He wanted to be an actor, but World War II intervened, and he served as an officer. After the war, he started a career in radio which brought him to the attention of Universal, and soon got the leads in many western and war movies, and also was the male lead in romances to top female stars. He stood out from other "hunky" actors of this time because of his prematurely grey hair. He worked steadily through the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, appearing in a total of 48 films, but tragedy struck in 1962 when he was being operated on for a slipped disc, and he died at just 42. His family received a large malpractice award. He received much unfortunate unwanted notoriety in 1999 when his former lover (and co-star) Esther Williams, in her tell-all biography said that Chandler was a cross-dresser! She would later admit privately that she had made it up to sell more books, but there are still likely those who believe this silly lie. Some of his movies include: Broken Arrow (nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this film), Return to Peyton Place, and War Arrow. He passed away in 1961 at the age of 42. He had back surgery to repair a slipped disc, and developed blood poisoning.