Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1948)

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It was wonderful to watch the fine, intelligent, understanding way he handled the job. That was three years back and I’ve seen Howard Duff a lot since then. He’s changed, the way everyone changes. Essentially, though, he’s the same sort of guy he was when he was on Saipan. It was while we were sitting around my apartment one night that I found out how he became an actor. My wife, who has a curiosity about people, asked him. He grinned. “Like nine million other guys, I played the lead in a high school play and the bug hit me. After I graduated, I joined the Seattle Repertory Theater. I didn’t get any pay for this, so I worked as a window dresser in the Bon Marche department store.” “You never told me you could trim windows,” I said. “You never asked me,” Howard grinned. “Anyway, they fired me. I got a job as an announcer on KOMO in Seattle, quit that to go on tour with the Repertory Company. This is all pretty dull, isn’t it?” he said to my wife. “It sure is,” I said. “No, it isn’t,” she said. After his theater stint. Duff took fifty dollars and journeyed to San Francisco to try to get into radio. When forty-nine of the dollars were gone, he made it. Then the show moved to Hollywood and, shortly after that, the Army moved in on Mr. Duff. IT WAS an Actor’s Laboratory performance in a play called “The Birthday,” that caused movie studios to wave bags of gold under Duff’s eyes. He wasn’t interested in being just a movie actor. He told them that if they had a good part for an actor, he’d like to try for it. If you’ve seen Howard, you know he is not just “another face,” but an intelligent performer who knows what he’s doing and gets plenty of zing into it. I refer you to “Naked City” and “All My Sons.” Gals reading this would probably be interested in knowing some juicy details about his private life. Okay! He has a nice mother who lives in Seattle. I know she’s nice because he tells some very sweet stories about her. And he has a brother who works for the telephone company. In Hollywood, he lives in a small apartment, does his own cooking and likes to sleep late in the morning. He was the same way in the Army, the hardest guy in 67 to get out of the sack. Then he slept in his imderwear. I don’t know what he sleeps in now. By nature, this gent Howard Duff is serious and mature, easy on the nerves. If he says he likes Ava Gardner, he means it. Knowing Duff, I also know that it doesn’t make the slightest difference to him that she is a movie actress. She could just as well be a girl who sells ribbons in a department store. I still don’t understand why ex-sergeant Howard Duff is becoming such a big thing with the women. But my wife does. She explained it to me after he came to visit. “He’s a very nice, masculine-looking man,” she said. “He’s good looking, without being too handsome. He’s a warm person who gives you a feeling of solidity.” “If you were a bobby soxer,” I winced, “you’d say he’s solid.” It seems that I will have to get rid of this embarrassment I have about having a friend who is a movie actor. It looks as though his face is going to be gawking at me from the billboards for a long time to come and I will just have to get used to it. The End DIAMOND RINGS Fiery brilliance flatters the queenly fingers that wear these wondrous Treasureland Registered Diamond Rings. Regally enthroned in stunning settings — their excellence is assured, their value guarded by the Treasureland Certificate of Guarantee and Registration. Plan to see Treasureland Rings today. D14 — Solitaire $100.00 D14W — Wedding Ring $ 15.00 D1 4G — Gentlemen’s Wedding Ring $ 32.50 > Priced to include Federal Tax See your jeweler or write for Little Known Facts About Diamonds. TREASURELAND RING COMPANY Box I, Chicago 90, Illinois needs Dr. R. 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