Edward Binns was an American stage, film and television actor. He had a wide-spanning career in film and television, often portraying competent, hard working and purposeful characters in his various roles.
Early life
Binns was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Esther and Edward Thomas Binns. His family were Quakers. He graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1937.
Career
Stage
Binns's theatrical career began shortly after his 1937 college graduation, when he participated in a repertory theatre in Cleveland. He followed that with a year as actor and director of the Pan-American Theatre in Mexico City. Next, he went to the University of Pennsylvania as an instructor, directing stock theater companies. One of the first members of the newly formed Actors Studio, Binns began studying with Elia Kazan in late 1947. His Broadway credits include Ghosts, Caligula and Command Decision.
After appearing in a number of Broadway plays, Binns began appearing in films in the early 1950s. Some of his notable roles include playing Juror No. 6 in Sidney Lumet's directorial debut 12 Angry Men and Lieutenant GeneralWalter Bedell Smith in the Academy Award-winning film Patton starring George C. Scott. Binns was featured as a police detective in Alfred Hitchcock'sNorth by Northwest and played a key role as bomber pilot Colonel Grady in Fail-Safe. His other films include Judgment at Nuremberg, The Americanization of Emily, The Plainsman, Night Moves and The Verdict.
Television
Binns starred as Lieutenant Roy Brenner in Brenner, a crime drama on CBS. He also appeared in "more than 500 television programs, live, taped and film" including NBC's legal dramaJustice, Rod Cameron's syndicated State Trooper, the syndicated adventure series Whirlybirds, the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, The Dakotas, the ABC rodeo drama, Stoney Burke, and ABC's war drama12 O'Clock High. He was cast in CBS's Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Investigators and Thriller. Binns appeared as Colonel Robert Baldwin with June Allyson as his screen wife, Eleanor Baldwin, in the 1961 episode "Without Fear" of Allyson's CBS anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Also that year he made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, first as Lloyd Castle in "The Case of the Angry Dead Man," then as Charles Griffin in "The Case of the Malicious Mariner," and in an episode of The Asphalt Jungle. He had a leading role in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone in the 1960 episode "I Shot an Arrow into the Air". He portrayed a marine biologist obsessed with a whale in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "The Ghost of Moby Dick". Binns also appeared in two episodes of ABC's The Untouchables as gunman Steve Ballard and in a later episode as a doctor. He was a cast member of CBS's The Nurses from 1962 through 1964. He appeared in an episode of the ABC espionage drama Blue Light early in 1966, and in ABC's It Takes a Thief with Robert Wagner. Binns also appeared in one episode of the ABC series A Man Called Shenandoah, with Robert Horton, as General Korshak on CBS's M*A*S*H, in an episode of NBC's The Brian Keith Show, an episode of The Rockford Files, and in three episodes of ABC's The Fugitive. His distinctive voice was also heard in hundreds of radio and television commercials.
Personal life
Binns married journalist Marcia Legere in December 1956. He had one daughter with her and two daughters from a previous marriage. At the time of his death, he was married to actress Elizabeth Franz.
Death
Binns died from a heart attack at the age of 74 while traveling from New York City to his home in Connecticut. His ashes were scattered at his residence.
Partial filmography
Halls of Montezuma as First Soldier in Final Tracking Shot
