Jack Webb
Personal Info
Known For Actor
Gender Male
Birthday 1920-04-02
Deathday 1982-12-23 (62 years old)
Place of Birth Santa Monica, California, USA
Also Known As John Randolph Webb, John Randolph
Jack Webb
Biography
John Randolph 'Jack' Webb, also known by the pen name John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet. He was also the founder of his own production company, Mark VII Limited. Born in Santa Monica, California, Webb grew up in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles as the child of a single mother after his father left home before he was born. During World War II, Webb enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, but he "washed out" of flight training and was granted a hardship discharge to care for his family. Following his discharge, he moved to San Francisco, where a wartime shortage of announcers led to a temporary appointment to his own half-hour comedy radio show on ABC's KGO Radio in 1946. By 1949 he had abandoned comedy for drama, and starred in numerous radio shows until finding success in film and television in the late 1950s. Webb had a featured role as a crime lab technician in the 1948 film He Walked by Night, a thinly-fictionalized recounting of the 1946 Walker crime spree. This experience gave Webb the idea for Dragnet: a recurring series based on real cases from LAPD police files, featuring authentic depictions of the modern police detective, including methods, mannerisms, and technical language. Following the success of Dragnet, Webb appeared in numerous television shows and specials, including the well-known 1972 series Emergency! During his work on a revival of Dragnet in 1982, Webb suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 62. His funeral was given full police honors, and then LAPD Chief Daryl Gates retired the badge number 714 used by Webb's Joe Friday of Dragnet fame.
Known For
Actor
as Sgt. Joe Friday (archive footage)
as Joe Friday (archive footage)
as Sergeant Joe Friday in Dragnet (archive footage)
as Narrator
as Self (archive footage)
as Joe Friday
as Security Man
as Narrator
as Narrator
as Sergeant Joe Friday
as On-Camera Narrator
as Narrator
as William 'Bill' Bowers
as Sam Gatlin
as Gunnery Sgt. Jim Moore
as Self
as Himself
as Pete Kelly
as Sergeant Joe Friday
as Self
as Self
as Ens. Anthony 'Tony' Barbo
as Correspondent Dickerman
as Joe Friday
as Augie
as Norm
as Artie Green
as Joe Regas
as Jack Webb
as Self
as Lee Whitey
as Bullseye (uncredited)
as Self
as Boy in Schoolyard (uncredited)
Producer
as Producer
as Executive Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Executive Producer
as Executive Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Executive Producer
as Executive Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Executive Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Executive Producer
as Producer
as Executive Producer
as Executive Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Producer
Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
as Director
Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
as Creator
Writer
as Writer
as Story