BW - EP130—003: Philip Marlowe Comes To Radio—Van Heflin, Movie Star

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

Van Heflin was born on December 13th, 1908 in Walters, Oklahoma. The son of a dentist, he began his acting career on Broadway in the late 1920s. Between 1928 and 1936 he appeared in. Mr. Moneypenny, The Bride of Torozko, The Night Remembers, Mid-West, and End of Summer. That year Heflin signed with RKO and made his film debut opposite Katherine Hepburn in A Woman Rebels. He spent the next five years playing character parts. He made his radio debut on The Columbia Workshop in 1938. Heflin signed with MGM as the U.S. was getting into World War II. In 1942 his role as Jeff Hartnett in Johnny Eager won him a best-supporting actor academy award. He got top billing in two B-Films, Kid Glove Killer and Grand Central Murder. Both were popular. Encouraged, MGM cast him as Kathryn Grayson's love interest in a musical, Seven Sweethearts. He soon played Judy Garland's love interest in Presenting Lily Mars, before enlisting in the US army airforce as a combat cameraman. He made a radio appearance too, in Arch Oboler’s Parade over Mutual on August 2nd, 1945. This was less than two weeks before the end of the war. After the war, MGM loaned him to Hal Wallis to appear opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, and to Warner Bros to co-star with Joan Crawford in Possessed. It was a hit and more radio followed. On January 30th, 1947 Heflin guest-starred on this episode of Suspense. A month later he guest-starred on Family Theater, and in May, he was featured on Lux Radio’s “Vacation From Marriage.” Three weeks later, Heflin would begin playing Philip Marlowe.