Marshall Thompson

Biography: A descendant of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, he planned to become a clergyman but then gave it up for an acting career. Onscreen from 1944, his lanky frame and innocent face led him to be typecast in naive juvenile roles during his early career. Later he landed mature leads and second leads, often playing armymen or astronauts. He directed himself in one film, A Yank in Vietnam (1964). He has done much TV work, including starring roles in the TV series World of Giants (1959-60) and Angel (1960-61). In the early '60s he was hired by Ivan Tors productions as an actor and director of animal shorts; this led to a starring role in Tors's popular feature Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965), which led in turn to a lead role in the derivative Daktari TV series in the late '60s, a few episodes of which he directed.