Lon McCallister

He started his career as a teenage bit actor in such wholesome, folksy tales as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) and Judge Hardy's Children (1938). As an adult, he found the strength of his career riding on that same homespun sentiment. Lon McCallister was born Herbert Alonzo McCallister, Jr. in Los Angeles, on April 17, 1923, but was almost immediately called "Buddy" to those closest to him. He attended high school at Marken Professional School, a training ground for Hollywood hopefuls, and eventually managed to secure unbilled parts, starting with the plush Norma Shearer/Leslie Howard starrer, Romeo and Juliet (1936). Lon became close friends with the film's director, George Cukor, and attributed his biggest break to Cukor when he earned a supporting role as a pilot in Winged Victory (1944), after toiling in obscurity for nearly 6 years. Lon also stood out in the films Stage Door Canteen (1943), as the unassuming soldier who falls for canteen hostess Marjorie Riordan, and in the warm and winning horse-racing tale, Home in Indiana (1944), opposite rising star Jeanne Crain. His WWII induction into the Army put a direct hit on his career momentum, but he managed to recover and pick up where he left off. For starters, Lon won a solid role in the melo-thriller, The Red House (1947), starring Edward G. Robinson and Judith Anderson. The film also co-starred Allene Roberts, who became a life-long friend. Although he starred in the down-home comedy romance, Summer Lightning (1948) along with June Haver, the movie is barely remembered today except for featuring an unbilled Marilyn Monroe rowing a canoe. Lead roles for Lon in the serviceable adventures Pride of Kentucky (1949) with Shirley Temple, The Big Cat (1949), The Boy from Indiana (1950) and Montana Territory (1952) also came and went. He decided to end it in films with the "B" Korean War drama, Combat Squad (1953). Some reports state he lost interest and sought self-satisfaction, elsewhere; others claim that his perennially boyish good-looks and diminutive stature hurt his adult career (although it did not seem to hurt the equally short and youthful-looking Alan Ladd). In any event, Lon quit the business in the late 1950s and found lucrative ventures in real estate and property investment. He was in declining health by the time he died on June 11, 2005, of heart failure. He was living in the Lake Tahoe area where he had recently bought property. Never married, he was 82 at the time of his death, and was survived by his brother, Lynn, and sister, Kathleen.