Men Of Character Character Actors
Ben Alexander
Dragnet (original) (TV)/ Officer Frank Smith
Man In The Shadow/ Ab Begley
Felony Squad (TV)/ Desk Sgt. Dan Briggs
Buried Alive/ Riley
Ben Alexander was an American character actor who began his career as a child actor and then moved on to adult roles.
He is best known for his role in the TV series Dragnet as Officer Frank Smith.
He was born as Nicholas Benton Alexander at Goldfield, NV in 1911.
Alexander made his screen debut at age five in Every Pearl A Tear. He continued on to make around thirty films as a child actor.
He also went on to portray Lillian Gish's younger brother in D. W. Griffith's Hearts Of The World.
In the 1930's Alexander played many leads and second leads in many B grade films.
Some of Ben Alexander's film roles as an adult were:
All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) as Kemmerich
Many A Slip (1931) as Ted Coster
It's A Wise Child (1931) as Bill Stanton
Are These Our Children (1931) as Nick Crosby
Suicide Fleet (1931) as Kid
High Pressure (1932) as Geoffrey Weston
Tom Brown Of Culver (1932) as Cpl. John Clarke
The vanishing Frontier (1932) as Lucien Winfield
What Price Innocence? (1933) as Tommy Harrow
This Day And Age (1933) as Morry Dover
Stage Mother (1933) as Francis Nolan
Once To Every Woman (1934) as Joe
Most Precious Thing In Life (1934) as Gubby Gerhart
The Life Of Vergie Winters (1934) as Barry Preston
Flirtation (1934) as Dudley
Grand Old Girl (1935) as Tom Miller
Born To Gamble (1935) as Paul Mathews
Reckless Roads (1935) as Wade Adams
Annapolis Farewell (1935) as Adams
Splendor (1935) as Western Union Messenger
The Fire Trap (1935) as Bob Fender
Hearts In Bondage (1936) as Eggleston
Red Lights Ahead (1936) as George Wallace
Shall We Dance (1937) as Evans, A Bandleader
The Legion Of Missing Men (1937) as Don Carter
The Outer Gate (1937) as Bob Terry
Western Gold (1937) as Bart
The Spy Ring (1938) as Capt. Don Mayhew
Mr. Doodle Kicks Off (1938) as Larry Weldon
Convict's Code (1939) as Jeff Palmer
Buried Alive (1939) as Riley
The Leather Pushers (1940) as Dan Brown, Announcer
Criminals Within (1941) as Sgt. Paul, The Traitor
Dragnet (1954) as Officer Frank Smith
Man In The Shadow (1957) as Ab Begley
People (1957-TV) as The Reporter
Ben Alexander starred in two TV series:
Dragnet as Officer Frank Smith from 1952 to 1959.
Felony Squad as Desk Sgt. Dan Briggs from 1966 to 1969.
The only other TV programs that Mr. Alexander appeared on were Party Time At Club Roma ( as the host) , The Joseph Cotten Show-On Trail and Batman in the episode The Yegg Foes In Gotham as Detective Beside Trash Can.
Jack Webb wanted him to come back again for the revived Dragnet series in 1966 but Alexander had already signed to do Sgt Briggs on Felony Squad. Harry Morgan took his place as Joe Friday's partner for that Dragnet series.
Alexander has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for radio, television and movies.
He owned and operated the Ben Alexander Ford car dealership in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles from 1953 until his death.
Alexander also owned and operated the Ben Alexander Dream House Motel on Cahuegna Blvd in Hollywood.
He was involved with a talent show for young people which was broadcast on Oakland's KTVU-TV which was a local station in the San Francisco Bay area.
Ben Alexander was married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth Robb (1941 - 1947) and ended in divorce with one child being produced from the marriage.
His second wife was Lesley Smith and they were married from 1950 until his death. The couple had two children.
His son, Nicholas Benton Alexander, started one of the first BMW dealerships in the U. S.. It is still located in downtown Los Angeles and is now managed by Nicholas Benton Alexander V.
Ben Alexander passed away in 1969 at age 58. He was found dead at home of natural causes by his family when they returned home from a camping trip.
I enjoyed his role as Officer Frank Smith on Dragnet and Desk Sgt Briggs on Felony Squad as well the films Dragnet and Man In The Shadow.
Louie The Movie Buff