Ted de Corsia was born Edward Gildea De Corsia in Brooklyn on Sept. 29, 1903. Ted’s career was in radio until age 45 when he launched a successful career in films as a character actor.

He was chunky, thick- necked, black-haired and he managed to scowl and bluster his way through more than 50 films. His very first film experience was in making two short features in which he did not appear but did the narration: Brooklyn USA (1947) and Brooklyn Makes Capital (1948). His raucous voice, set features and slitted eyes made him a favorite for aggressive gangster roles, and he is best remembered for his first role in The Naked City (’48), which was filmed entirely on location in New York City. He played the role of Garzah, a murderer who is chased by the police. A film reviewer commented: “He flees for his life, with police hot in pursuit through the streets and on the elevated trains of Manhattan, a spectacular chase that culminates on the high girders of the Brooklyn Bridge, where cops are forced to shoot the killer to death.�

His many other films include 5 Card Stud, Nevada Smith, The Quick Gun, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and Baby Face Nelson. He played gangsters, a judge, an Indian chief, a policeman, a professor, ship captain and many other roles.

In 1955 Howard Hughes produced the film The Conqueror on location in Utah, 136 miles from an atomic test site. Of 220 who worked on the film, 90 contracted cancer, half of whom died later. The more notable who later died were Dick Powell (who directed the film), John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Agnes Moorehead. The film was a notorious flop. Ted de Corsia’s part in the film was as father of Susan Hayward, but luckily he did not contract the deadly cancer. He died in April of 1973 of natural causes.

— Vernon Parker

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