Tod Griffin
Tod Griffin (born Arthur Griffin January 15, 1919 in Birmingham; died April 23, 2002 in Bishop, California) was a bomber pilot, actor and real estate agent.
Griffin's father moved his family to Birmingham from a Mississippi farm to work at U. S. Steel. He completed high school and college before joining the Alabama Air National Guard in 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, his unit was federalized and he flew forty bombing missions. After the war he applied for a job as an airline pilot, but was thought to be too old, at 26, to enter the field as a trainee. Instead he attended the Theater School of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall under the GI Bill. While in school, his wife supported them with office jobs. He began his acting career with the Red Barn Theater of Westborough in Worcester, Massachusetts and soon began landing film roles and guest spots on television. He starred as Commander Bill Hollister on the NBC kids' series "Operation Neptune".
The Griffins moved from Brooklyn to Hollywood, California in 1955. He began landing numerous roles in B-grade Westerns of the day. He starred opposite Barbara Eden in an episode of "How to Marry a Millionaire" and made two guest appearances in "Maverick". He played an intern in the 1957 exploitation film "She Devil" and starred in the following year's "She Demons". In 1960 he had a small part in "Lassie" and roles in Rory Calhoun's CBS series "The Texan". His last television role was as Joe Sanger in the detective series "COronado 9".
After ending his acting career, Griffin began work in industrial real estate sales, retiring in 1983. He retired to Inyo County, California, where he died in 2002.
References
- "Local man to star in new TV show" (June 1953) The Birmingham News via Birmingham Rewound
- "Tod Griffin" (February 7, 2013) Wikipedia - accessed February 10, 2013
External links
- Tod Griffin on IMDB.com