Donald Elson

Short Biography

Donald Elson was raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, just a "whoop and a holler" from Hollywood. He was a young college student at the outbreak of WWII. After serving in the Air Force, he attended the Columbia Radio School of Broadcasting on the GI Bill and pursued a career as a radio announcer at stations in Texas and Oklahoma before returning to college. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA degree in Theatre Arts in 1949 and headed to New York. Elson became a successful Broadway actor, appearing in "Inherit The Wind, " "Desire Under the Elms, " "Peter Pan, " "Threepenny Opera" and numerous off-Broadway productions. He returned to Hollywood in the early 1960s, "saddling up" in a string of TV Westerns. His skill and craftsmanship have enabled him to portray a wide variety of characters. Why is that craggy face so "gol`durn" familiar? Because we`ve seen it a thousand times in television series, anthologies and Movies of the Week . . . as well as countless television commercials!