Brad Dexter

At 85 years old, Brad Dexter has this physical status:

Boris Michel Soso, 1917-1991, 2002) was an American actor and film director.

He is best known for his tough-guy and western roles, including the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven (1960) and a number of Sidney J. Furie films including Lady Sings the Blues.

He is also known for his brief marriage to Peggy Lee, a close friendship with Marilyn Monroe, and for rescuing Frank Sinatra from drowning.

The dexter's tougher roles contrasted with his outgoing and sociable real-life persona.

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Life and career

Dexter was born in Goldfield, Nevada, the second of three children (all boys) born to Marko and Ljubica ooo (later known as Marko and Violet Soso), who were ethnic Serb immigrants from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbian was Dexter's first language.

Soon after, the family departed for Los Angeles, where he attended Belmont High School. Dexter, who was tall, burly, and handsome with brilliant blue eyes, was usually given supporting roles as a nimble character. Dexter, who began as an amateur boxer, attended the Pasadena Playhouse, where he studied acting. He was only interested in the Mortal Storm (1940). During World War II, he enlisted for military service with the US Army Air Corps, where he met and befriended Karl Malden, a fellow Serbian-American, and appeared uncredited in the Corps's game and film Winged Victory (1944).

Dexter appeared in Heldorado (1946), a Roy Rogers western called "Barry Mitchell," shortly after the war. In Sinbad the Sailor (1947), he was also credited under this name. In 1949, he appeared on Broadway in Magnolia Alley.

Brad Dexter later changed his name and appeared in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and Fourteen Hours (1951). In RKO's The Las Vegas Story (1951), starring Victor Mature and Jane Russell, Dexter's breakthrough role was as a villain. In Macao (1952), RKO starred him in a similar role as Russell. RKO has agreed to a deal.

He was married to singer Peggy Lee from January to November 1953. The union came to an end. She said that he never worked during their marriage.

In 99 River Street (1953), Dexter was heinous to John Payne. He then signed a deal with 20th Century Fox for whom he made Untamed (1955), and Between Heaven and Hell (1956) with Fleischer, 1954).

In The Oklahoman (1957), produced by Walter Mirisch, Dexter appeared in Run Silent Run Deep (1958), as a villain. He mainly concentrated on television, but he did appear in episodes of Climax!, How to Marry a Millionaire, Cricket Masterton, Mr. Lucky, This Man Dawson, 40, Robert Dawson, Cult 45, and Wanted: Dead or Alive, starring Steve McQueen, appeared on television. In 13 Fighting Men (1960), he made the occasional feature film, such as Last Train From Gun Hill (1959), directed by John Sturges (1959), and Vice Raid (1959).

In The Magnificent Seven (1960), directed by John Sturges for Walter Mirisch's production company The Mirisch Company, Dexter was then cast as a gunslinger. Both Sturges and Mirisch had worked with Dexter before. It was his best-known role and the most famous film. In The Magnificent Seven, characterizing him as a "tough guy at his best," Dexter's obituary put Harry Luck's portrayal of him as "overshadowed" by his contemporaries: the obituary in The Guardian singled him out.

The Magnificent Seven's popularity didn't immediately help Dexter's career: he returned to television, appeared in The Aquanauts, Hawaiian Eye, General Electric Theatre, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Investigators, and Alcoa Premiere. He may have appeared in It Started in Tokyo (1961), The George Raft Story (1961) (playing Bugsy Siegel), X-15 (1962) with Charles Bronson and Johnny Cool (1963). In Taras Bulba (1962), Kings of the Sun (from the designers of Magnificent Seven), and Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964).

In 1963, Dexter was cast as California Supreme Court Justice David S. Terry in "A Gun Is Not a Gentleman" on the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. Carroll O'Connor portrayed the United States. Senator David C. Broderick of California, who fatally injured Justice Terry in an 1859 duel, died. Despite being a member of the Democratic Party, Terry, a slave rights activist, sluggishly condemned the anti-slavery Broderick.

During the production of the World War II film None but the Brave (1965), Dexter's friendship with Frank Sinatra began when Dexter saved Sinatra from drowning on May 10, 1964. The couple, artist Howard Koch, was drowned in a snail of the outgoing tide and almost drowned Sinatra and Ruth Koch, the wife of producer Howard Koch. Dexter and two surfers, Sinatra's co-star, swam out and rescued them. Dexter was later given a Red Cross medal for his bravery. Sinatra's founder, Graceful, has been named vice president of Sinatra Enterprises.

After Dexter appeared in Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965), he made another film with Sinatra, Von Ryan's Express (1965). Dexter yelled that working made him "frust as hell" earlier this year. You don't have no control over the medium in which you're embedded...you have no say over your destiny."

The Naked Runner (1967), which starred Sinatra and was shot in London, was produced by Dexter. Dexter and director Sidney J. Furie clashed with Sinatra over the latter's inability to finish the film, and Dexter resigned after it was completed. "I was the only one who kicked Sinatra," says the narrator. At the time, Dexter said, "I couldn't put up with his nonsense." Dexter denied there was any connection with Sinatra on the public. He said he had asked Sinatra's company to produce a film with Furie based on the Sam Sheppard case.

The programme eventually became The Advocate (1970), starring Barry Newman as Petrocelli. He made two other films for Furie: Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970) starring Robert Redford (1970) and Lady Sings the Blues (1972), starring Billie Holiday, and Big Bangs (1972) starring Diana Ross as Billie Holiday.

Dexter returned to acting in Jory (1973), Shampoo (1975), Vigilante Force (1976), and guest appearances on McCloud, Kojak, S.W.A.T., Project U.F.O., and The Incredible Hulk (1977). Karl Malden appeared in Dexter's TV series Skag (1980). He appeared in Cognac (1988).

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