Leading Men Rex Reason
This Island Earth/ Cal Meacham
The Creature Walks Among Us/ Dr. Thomas Morgan
Smoke Signal/ Lt. Wayne Ford
Yankee Pasha/ Omar Id Din
Per Quinlan's Film Stars:
Chunky, cheerful looking American actor ( born in Germany) with blue eyes and dark wavy hair., who looked a star prospect after playing the leading role in his first film. But a major studio ( Universal- International) took him up and seriously disrupted his career by changing his name to Bart Roberts before allowing him too late to revert to the real one. Reason's roles declined by the end of the fifties and starred in two TV series( Man With Out A Gun and The Roaring Twenties) before dropping from sight in the mid 1960's.
Reason was born in Berlin, Germany in 1928 to an American family that returned to Los Angeles shortly thereafter where he was raised.
Rex was the elder brother of actor Rhodes Reason.
He began his stage career in 1948 at the Pasadena Playhouse. He performed there for three years before coming to the notice of Hollywood.
In 1951 he was given a screen test at Columbia Pictures and was cast as the lead in the film Storm Over Tibet.
Reason stayed under contract for two more years at Columbia before switching to Universal in mid 1953 after making a promising appearance in Salome with Rita Hayworth.
He was a tall ( 6' 3") handsome leading man with a distinctive baritone voice.
Reason made two films at Universal under the name of Bart Roberts before he demanded that he use his own name.
The film roles of Rex Reason were:
Scaramouche (1952) as Edmond
Models, Inc (1952) as Hotel Desk Clerk
Storm Over Tibet (1952) as David Simms
Salome (1953) as Marcellus Fabius
Mission Over Korea (1953) as Major Jim Hacker
China Venture (1953) as Lt. Cross
Taza, Son Of Cochise (1954) as Naiche
Yankee Pasha (1954) as Omar Id Din
Smoke Signal (1955) as Lt. Wayne Ford
This Island Earth (1955) as Dr. Cal Meacham
Allen In Movieland (1955-TV) as Lt Atkins
Kiss Of Fire (1955) as Duke Of Montera
Lady Godiva Of Coventry (1955) as Harold
Raw Edge (1956) as John Randolph
The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) as Dr. Thomas Morgan
Badlands Of Montana (1957) as Steven Brewster
Band Of Angels (1957) as Capt. Seth Parton
Under Fire (1957) as Lt. Steve Rogerson
The Rawhide Trail (1958) as Jess Brady
Thundering Jets ()1958) as Capt. Steve Marley
The Sad Horse (1959) as Bill MacDonald
The Miracle Of The Hills (1959) as Scott Macauley
He walked out on his film contract with Warner Brothers in 1961 when he was being considered for a starring role in John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate. Laurence Harvey was cast in the role instead.
Rex Reason starred in two TV series:
Man Without A Gun 1957 -1959) as Adam Mac Lean
The Roaring 20's ( 1960-1961) as Scott Norris
Other TV programs that Rex Reason appeared on were Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars, Lux Video Theater, Matinee Theater, The Millionaire, Tales Of The 77th Bengal Lancers, The Ford Television Theater, Conflict, The Web, Trackdown, 77 Sunset Strip, Bronco, Bourbon Street Beat, Sugarfoot, The Alaskans, Perry Mason, G E True Theater and Wagon Train.
When his film and television career ended he worked as a real estate broker as well as a second career as a voice over actor.
Reason was married three times with the first two marriages ending in divorce. His third wife was Shirley Hake and the marriage lasted from 1965 until his death. The couple had three children.
Rex Reason passed away in November, 2015 at age 86 from bladder cancer.
I always enjoyed this actor especially in the films This Island Earth,The Creature Walks Among Us, Smoke Signal, Yankee Pasha, Taza -Son Of Cochise, Salome and Badlands Of Montana.
Louie The Movie Buff