Les Damon Collection

Les Damon
(1908 – 1962)

Les Damon was an actor his whole life. Born in Providence, 1908, he began learning his craft by touring with the Albee regional stock company, and eventually, went to England to apprentice with the Old Vic Company.

When he returned to America he was a seasoned professional actor, but there were more seasoned actors than there were jobs. He found his way to the Chicago radio industry, where actors were in demand for the Soap Operas. The Hummert Radio Factory was notorious for getting as much as they could out of their actors for little pay and less credit, but Damon seemed happy to have work.

Eventually, he found his way to New York where NBC placed him as radio's first Nick Charles in The Adventures of the Thin Man. As a working actor, he found himself in a number of roles. He was a regular player on the wartime anthology Words at War.

Damon answered his country's call and signed up. Although his acting experience could have got him a cushy Special Services posting, he put it all on the line, flying "over the Hump" in the China-Burma Theater, delivering supplies to Chiang Kai Shek's army. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

Returning from the War, Damon reclaimed his role on The Thin Man and found regular work as a supporting player on DuPont's Cavalcade of America. He made a couple of appearances on Gangbusters, including "The Case of the Park Avenue Pilferers", a pair of smooth operators looting apartments of New York's richest.

In 1950, Damon landed the radio role most associated with his name, The Falcon. Damon took the role over from Les Tramayne, but made it his own with a combination of his suave persona and hardboiled sensibility.

Damon was very much a man of his times. In the summer of 1950, he appeared twice on Dimension X. "Beyond Infinity" is the story of a couple who is shrunk to atomic size by a scientist's secret ray. Later in the decade, Damon appeared on eight episodes of X Minus One.

In 1954, Damon joined his co star from Thin Man, Claudia Morgan, for a season on The Adventures of the Abbotts. (Ms. Morgan went through several "husbands" on both shows. On Thin Man she starred with Les Damon twice, Les Tremayne twice, and David Gothard. On The Adventures of the Abbotts there was Don Briggs, Les Damon, and Mandel Kramer.)

By now, Damon was building a career playing character parts on TV, appearing on The Jackie Gleason Show, The Honeymooners, As the World Turns, The Edge of Night, even Have Gun, Will Travel. However, he still found time for radio by appearing on Suspense and Your's Truly, Johnny Dollar in 1960. One of his last appearances was in a supporting role on the Suspense episode "Lunatic Hour" on June 17, 1962. Les Damon succumbed to a massive heart attack on July 21, 1962. He was 53 years old.