Mort Mills
Mort Mills was an American film and television actor who had roles in over 200 movies and television episodes. He was often the town lawman or the local bad guy in many popular westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. From 1957–1959 he had a recurring co-starring role as Marshal Frank Tallman in Man Without a Gun. Other recurring roles were as Sergeant Ben Landro in the Perry Mason series and Sheriff Fred Madden in The Big Valley. In 1958, he guest starred as a particularly greedy bounty hunter who clashes with Steve McQueen's character of Josh Randall in the CBS western series, .
Biography
During World War II Mills served in the 3rd Marine Parachute Battalion in the Pacific.Though Mills did much television work, he also found regular work in motion pictures. He is probably best known as the suspicious highway patrolman who follows Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Psycho. A few years later, he worked again with Hitchcock, playing a spy in East Germany under the cover of being a farmer in Torn Curtain. Mills also appeared with Charlton Heston in Orson Welles's Touch of Evil.
In 1955, he appeared as Samuel Mason on ABC's Disneyland miniseries Davy Crockett, starring Fess Parker. From 1957–1959, Mills co-starred with Rex Reason in the syndicated western series Man Without a Gun. He portrayed Marshal Frank Tallman. Reason played his friend, Adam MacLean, editor of the Yellowstone Sentinel newspaper. In 1961 he appeared as Jack Saunders in the TV western Lawman in the episode titled "Owny O'Reilly." In the 1965 Three Stooges film, The Outlaws Is Coming, Mills played Trigger Mortis.
Mills was a regular as police Lieutenant Bob Malone in Howard Duff's NBC-Four Star Television series, Dante, set at a San Francisco, California, nightclub called "Dante's Inferno". He appeared in eight episodes of Perry Mason, seven of them as Police Sgt. Ben Landro between 1961 and 1965.
His cousin, Mary Treen, was a film actress.
Acting roles
Starring in his own TV series
- Man Without a Gun as Marshal Frank Tallman
Recurring role in a series
- Perry Mason as Sgt. Ben Landro
- The Big Valley as Sheriff Fred Madden
Multiple appearances on a television series
- The Ford Television Theatre
- "The Cisco Kid
- Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
- Cheyenne
- The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure
- The 20th Century Fox Hour
- Gunsmoke
- Broken Arrow
- Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
- Trackdown
- The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
- '
- Wagon Train
- The Rifleman
- Maverick
- Bronco
- Sugarfoot
- Bonanza
- The Untouchables
- Tales of Wells Fargo
- Laramie
- Stagecoach West
- Kraft Suspense Theatre
- The Fugitive
- The Virginian
- Daniel Boone
- '
- Ironside
- The Guns of Will Sonnett
- Mannix
Single episode television appearances
- Biff Baker, U.S.A. – "Crash Landing" as Soldier
- Family Theatre – "A Star Shall Rise" as Scribe
- Gruen Guild Theater – "Girl from Kansas" as Boxcar Johnson
- I Led Three Lives – "The Spy" as Comrade Straight
- The Adventures of Kit Carson – Badman's Escape"
- Hopalong Cassidy – "Arizona Troubleshooters" as George Byers
- Rocky Jones, Space Ranger – Beyond the Curtain of Space as Ophician Soldier
- Waterfront – "Captain for a Day" as Darby
- Crusader – "The Farm" as Heinrich
- The Man Behind the Badge – "The Case of the Unwelcome Stranger" as Lloyd
- Treasury Men in Action – "The Case of the Ready Guns" as Ben Adams
- Big Town – "Shield of a Killer"
- The Lone Ranger – "Six-Gun Artist" as Lafe, Second Thug
- Cavalcade of America – The Doll Who Found a Mother
- You Are There – Decatur's Raid at Tripoli
- Sheriff of Cochise – "Fire on Chiricahua Mountains" as Barlett
- Crossroads – "Boom Town Padre" as Luke Cassidy
- Panic!" – "The Subway" as Detective
- Casey Jones – "Night Mail" as Mike Nelson
- Broken Arrow – "Black Moment" as Halley
- Zorro – "Garcia Stands Accused" as Lancer
- Have Gun – Will Travel – "The Man Who Lost" as Ben Coey
- The Alaskans – "Million Dollar Kid" as Wilkes
- Law of the Plainsman – "The Gibbet" as Zeb Derkson
- The Man from Blackhawk – "Station Six"
- Bat Masterson – "Who'll Bury My Violence?" as Barney Kaster
- Wichita Town – "Man on the Hill" as Pete Bennett
- The David Niven Show– Sticks and Stones as Police Lieutenant O'Brien
- The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor – The Scalpel as Dr. Bruce
- The Aquanauts – Deep Escape
- Dante – "Opening Night" as Lt. Robert Malone
- Markham – "13 Avenida Muerte" as Cal
- Tate – "The Mary Hardin Story" as Tetlow
- The Texan – "Thirty Hours to Kill" as Ben Dawson/Blackie Dawson
- Shotgun Slade – "The Deadly Key" as Ben Wesley
- Men into Space – "Shadows on the Moon" as Dr. George Coldwell
- Pony Express – "Special Delivery" as Strobridge
- Johnny Ringo – "Killer, Choose a Card" as Jed Matthews
- Lawman – "Owny O'Reilly, Esq." as Jack Saunders
- GE True – "The Black-Robed Ghost" as Det. John Duncan
- The Wild Wild West – "The Night of the Casual Killer" as Chuck Harper
- My Favorite Martian – "The Time Machine Is Waking Up That Old Gang of Mine" as Jesse James
- A Man Called Shenandoah – "The Locket" as Sheriff
- Bewitched – "Speak the Truth" as Traffic Policeman
- Death Valley Days – "No Gun Behind His Badge" Whalen
- The Green Hornet – "Give 'Em Enough Rope" as Alex Colony
- Laredo – "Finnegan" as Muldoon
- The Iron Horse – "Explosion at Waycrossing" as Sheriff Harkness
- The Invaders – "Condition: Red" as Mr. Arius
- Felony Squad – "The Death Bag" as Louie Antonides
- Maya – "The Legend of Whitney Markham" as Frank Sanders
- The Outcasts – "They Shall Rise Up" as Tauber
- The Name of the Game – "A Wrath of Angels" as Berg Jannsen
- Land of the Giants – "Home Sweet Home" as Constable
- Lancer – "The Rivals" as Kling
- Adam-12 as Luke Nathan
- Alias Smith and Jones – "McGuffin" as First Man
- The Mod Squad – "Kill Gently, Sweet Jessie"
- The Streets of San Francisco'' – "Deathwatch" as Victor W. Snyder
Theatrical films
- Affair in Trinidad as Martin, Wittol's Henchman
- No Holds Barred as Second Mug
- The Juggler as Policeman
- The Farmer Takes a Wife as Floyd
- Hannah Lee: An American Primitive as Doctor
- Texas Bad Man as Bartender
- The Wild One as Deputy
- It Should Happen to You as Photographer
- Drive a Crooked Road as Garage Foreman
- Pushover as Second Bartender
- A Star Is Born as Makeup Man
- Cry Vengeance as Johnny Blue-Eyes
- Jupiter's Darling as Hannibal's Guard
- Dial Red O as Newspaper Photographer
- The Naked Street as Finney
- To Hell and Back as Soldier in Bunk
- The Marauders as Carmack
- Trial as Reporter
- Desert Sands as Woloack, Radio Man
- Ransom! as Service Man
- The Harder They Fall as Reporter in Hospital
- Crashing Las Vegas as Oggy
- Tension at Table Rock as Deputy Sheriff
- The Shadow on the Window as Myra's Husband
- The Iron Sheriff as Range Detective Sutherland
- Man in the Shadow as Empire Ranch Gateman Bill Edmunds
- Bombers B-52 as Sergeant addressing Flyers
- Touch of Evil as Al Schwartz, District Attorney's Assistant
- Ride a Crooked Trail as Pecos
- Psycho as Highway Patrol Officer
- Twenty Plus Two as Harbin
- Gunfight at Comanche Creek as Ben Bady
- The Quick Gun as Cagle
- Bullet for a Badman as Ira Snow
- Where Love Has Gone as Petey Peterson
- The Outlaws Is Coming as Trigger Mortis
- Blindfold as Homburg
- Torn Curtain as Farmer
- Return of the Gunfighter as Will Parker
- The Name of the Game Is Kill! as Sheriff Fred Kendall
- Strategy of Terror as Victor Pelling
- Breakout as Middleton
- Soldier Blue as Sgt. O'Hearn