Wright King

Wright Thornburgh King (January 11, 1923 – November 25, 2018) was an American stage, film and television actor whose career lasted for over forty years. He is best known for playing Jason Nichols in the television series Wanted Dead or Alive (1958–1961).

Early life and career King studied acting at the St Louis School of Theater, from which he graduated in 1941, before enlisting in the United States Navy during World War II, in which he served in the South Pacific campaign from 1943 to 1945.

King made his small screen debut in 1949 as Midshipman Bascomb in the television series Captain Video and His Video Rangers.

Throughout his career, he worked in both the United States and in the United Kingdom.

King was cast in numerous Westerns and is particularly known for his role in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Vivien Leigh (whom his character kisses). Prior to that, he had appeared in the original stage production, a performance which was lauded by drama critic Harold Hobson. In 1958 King appeared as the Kiowa Kid/Nevada Jones on the TV Western Cheyenne in the episode "Ghost of the Cimarron." In 1957 King starred as Joe Digger, a falsely accused horse thief who was hanged but saved, then hanged again after he killed one of his original executioners in the Gunsmoke episode "Born to Hang". King also appeared in eleven episodes of the television series Wanted Dead or Alive starring Steve McQueen, playing a young sidekick named Jason Nichols in nine of them. He also appeared in S2 E13 "No Trail Back" as Joe Hooker, the brother of a wanted man, who was bitten by a rabid dog. It aired 11/26/1959.

Other noteworthy film credits included roles in Cast a Long Shadow (1959), King Rat (1965), Planet of the Apes (1968), Finian's Rainbow (1968) and Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973).

In 1974, he played U.S. Senator Richard B. Russell Jr. of Georgia in the TV movie The Missiles of October, a dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Personal life King married June Ellen Roth in 1948. The couple had three sons, Wright Jr., Michael, and actor Meegan King.

He died in the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement community in Woodland Hills, CA, on November 25, 2018, at the age of 95.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1951 A Streetcar Named Desire Newspaper Collector 1956 The Bold and the Brave Technician Fifth Grade 1956 The Young Guns Jonesy 1956 Friendly Persuasion Forager Uncredited1956 Stagecoach to Fury Ralph Slader 1957 Hot Rod Rumble Ray Johnson - Arnie's sidekick 1959 The Gunfight at Dodge City Billy Townsend 1959 Cast a Long Shadow Noah Pringle 1962 Dangerous Charter Joe Shot in 19581965 King Rat Brough 1968 Planet of the Apes Dr. Galen 1968 Finian's Rainbow District Attorney 1972 Journey Through Rosebud Indian Agent 1973 Invasion of the Bee Girls Dr. Murger 1987 House Made of Dawn Father Olguin (final film role)

Selected television YearTitleRole Notes 1949 Captain Video and His Video Rangers Midshipman Bascomb 1950-51 Big Town Actor 2 episodes 1956 Cheyenne Frank Endicott Season 1/Episode 11 - "Quicksand" 1957 Cheyenne Blaney Wilcox / Pocatello Kid Season 2/Episode 15 - "Born Bad" 1957 Have Gun – Will Travel Jimmy O'Riley Season 1/Episode 16 - "Helen of Abajinian" 1957 State Trooper Jamie Syckles Season 2/Episode 29 - "The Widow Makers" 1958 Cheyenne The Kiowa Kid / Nevada Jones Season 3/Episode 14 - "Ghost of the Cimarron" 1959 Gunsmoke Crep Season 5/Episode 14 - "False Witness" 1959 Wanted Dead or Alive Seth Blake Season 1/Episode 36 - "Amos Carter" 1959-1960 Wanted Dead or Alive Jason Nichols Season 2 - 10 episodes1961 Hazel Leroy Season 1/Episode 2 - "Hazel Makes a Will" 1962 Gunsmoke Gant Season 8/Episode 11 - “Abe Blocker”1962-63 Perry Mason Lee Gregson 2 episodes 1963 The Twilight Zone Mr. Hecate Season 4/Episode 14 - "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville"1964 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Dr. Baines Season 1/Episode 10 - "Submarine Sunk Here"1965-66 The F.B.I. SAC Parker 2 episodes1968 Judd, for the Defense J.W. Roe Season 2/Episode 6 - "The Death Farm"1968 Mannix Robert Hartigan 2 episodes1969 The Outcasts Fred Willard Season 1/Episode 16 - "Act of Faith"1969 Lancer Zack Blake Season 1/Episode 22 - "The Knot"1970 The Andersonville Trial Major Hosmer PBS film version of 1959 Broadway play by Saul Levitt1970 Dan August Gordon Elliott Season 1/Episode 12 - "Quadrangle for Death" 1973 The Streets of San Francisco Les Slauson Season 2/Episode 9 - "The Twenty-Four Karat Plague" 1973 Room 222 Mr. Sheldon Season 4/Episode 23 - "To Go with the Bubbles" 1975 McCloud CarterSeason 6/Episode 4 - "Three Guns for New York"1976 How the West Was Won Infantry Captain Season 1, pilot episode - "The Macahans"1977 Police Woman Marston Season 4/Episode 8 - "Death Game"