Morgan Conway(1903-1981)
- Actor
- Editorial Department
Square-jawed
'tough guy' actor Morgan Conway's chief claim to fame was being the screen's first feature film Dick Tracy (though Ralph Byrd,
who bore a closer physical resemblance to
Chester Gould's comic strip detective, had
previously enacted the part in four 1930's Republic serials). Columbia
University graduate Conway, incidentally a founding member of the
Screen Actors Guild, started off in films as a small-part actor,
playing just about anything from hoodlums to murder victims. His break
came courtesy of a long-term contract with RKO (1939-47), which starred
him as the nominal hero or romantic interest in a number of
modestly-budgeted second features. His role as the stoic Dick Tracy,
taking on protagonists with names like Splitface, Cueball, Vitamin
Flintheart and Filthy Flora of the Dripping Dagger Inn, proved to be
the high point of Conway's brief sojourn in Hollywood. Despite
objections from the author, RKO reinstated Ralph Byrd for the next
Tracy instalment. Conway's contract was not renewed and he left the
industry forthwith to work in real estate on the East Coast.
