Ted de Corsia

Edward Gildea De Corsia was born on September 29, 1903, in New York City.

He grew up in Manhattan and began his career as a radio performer in the late 1920s, working on various network dramas before transitioning to stage and film work.

Before moving to Hollywood, de Corsia became known for his deep voice and commanding presence in crime and mystery radio programs, including The Shadow and Gang Busters.

Radio:

De Corsia was a member of the cast of Blackstone Plantation. He starred in the title role on Mike Hammer and played Sergeant Velie on The Adventures of Ellery Queen. He also voiced roles on Family Theater, The March of Time, Cavalcade of America, Gang Busters, and The Shadow.

Film:

He made his film debut in Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and went on to make a career playing villains and gangsters in 1940s and 1950s films, including The Naked City (1948), The Enforcer (1951), Crime Wave (1954), The Big Combo (1955), The Killing (1956), Baby Face Nelson (1957), Slightly Scarlet (1956), and The Joker is Wild (1957).

In his last feature, The Outside Man (1972) with Ann-Margret and Angie Dickinson, his character, the mobster Victor, is killed off early in the film, but he later appears as his embalmed corpse, posed in a chair, holding a cigar.

Television:

In the late 1950s and 1960s, he appeared in a number of television series, mostly westerns. He appeared in S2 E15 of Wanted: Dead or Alive playing George Winters in "Chain Gang" which aired 12/10/1959.

He was featured on three episodes of the CBS courtroom drama series Perry Mason, including the episodes "The Case of the Drifting Dropout" (1964), in which he played murder victim Mort Lynch, and "The Case of the Positive Negative" (1966), in the role of murder victim George Emory. Other notable television series appearances included The Lone Ranger; The Untouchables; The Twilight Zone; Sea Hunt; I Dream of Jeannie; The Outer Limits, and The Monkees