BIO

Dan Duryea was born in White Plains, New York, in 1907.   His father was a textile salesman.   He expressed an early interest in drama in high school and went on to major in English at Cornell University in New York.

Duryea entered the advertising business, but after a mild heart attack in his late twenties, he changed course to pursue his early love: acting.

He made his Broadway debut in Dead End (1935-1937), at the age of 28, but did not appear in the 1937 film version.   In 1939, he was in the stage hit The Little Foxes (1939-1940) opposite Tallulah Bankhead and this time went on to reprise his role in the 1941 film with Bette Davis.   He never returned to the Broadway stage.

By the 1950s, Duryea spent most of his time appearing in television programs and an occasional Western. He starred in the series China Smith (1952) and The New Adventures of China Smith (1953).   His last film appearance was in 1968.

Duryea married Helen Bryan in 1932.   They raised two children. One became the actor Peter Duryea who passed away in 2013. His wife died in 1967.

Duryea died of cancer in Hollywood, in 1968, at age 61.

Additional Broadway stage history is available at:

Additional biographical information is available at:

NOTED FILMS

Complete filmography at:

TV SERIES

China Smith

The New Adventures of China Smith

Wagon Train

Peyton Place