ed de Corsia* (Sep 29. 1905 - Apr 11. 1973)
Length: 5' 11" (1,8 m) Marriages: (1) Mary P. Robertson      (Jan 11. 1934  - 1935, divorced) (2) Rachel Thurber (1939 - 1966, divorced) Children: Gildea Edward (Feb 16. 1941 - Nov 22. 1944) Carey Elisabeth (Jun 21. 1943 - Mar 22. 2008) Deborah Ann (Nov 24. 1945 - Jan 20. 1947) Deirdre Ellen (Nov 24. 1945 - Aug 31. 2001) Sister: Adelaide (Mar 8. 1900) married             John Edelstein/Edell on Jan 6. 1923,             they had a child: Maurice Hyland (ca. 1924).
Above right: Young Ted de Corsia.
Edward Gildea de Corsia* was born September 29, 1905, in King's County, Brooklyn, NY. He was the only son of Edward G. de Corsia, a vaudeville actor from Texas, and Helen Lesage (aka Le Sage, Reilly, Rielly, O’Rielley, O’Reilley) a former school teacher turned actress of New York. As early as 1889 his parents performed together in The Sign of the Cross, a drama in four acts as part of the Wm. Greet's London Company. "E. Decorsia*" as Virturius, Captain to the Guard to Marcus and "Miss" Helen De Corsia* as Myrtelene. In Feb 1902 they performed this play in Los Angeles. By May it was performed on the East Coast in The Grand Opera House, N.Y. with Charles Dalton in the lead, Helen De Corsia* (sic) now played Ancaria "a dramatic and intense character forcefully", Virturius was played by T. Auburn with no mention of a part for Edward.
Reportedly from the age of six Ted performed in his father's act "Ed" or "Edward de Corsia and company" (with "Miss" Helen Le Sage and Fred Lewis) in a skit written by his father called Red Ike.  "This sketch is not to be judged from its title, which sounds rather dramatic, while, on the contrary, the playlet is a succession of laughs from start to finish and considered almost without equal as a laugh producer."
Above left: A picture of Edward de Corsia, vaudeville entertainer and Ted's father. Below right: Stage still from the vaudeville play Red Ike starring Edward de Corsia and Company. Edward de Corsia is posed with fur lined chapped and two drawn six guns to go with the rest of his cowboy attire. (Photograph by Baker Art Gallery, Columbus, Ohio)
In May 1910 a detailed and more neutral description of the western sketch, Red Ike was given in Variety after a performance in Chicago: "Opening with a delightful rendition of 'Garden of Roses' by Helen Le Sage, while the pretty scene basked in the glow of subdued lights, there was a promise of good entertainment which later switched to boisterous and noisy horseplay. A parson was made to do some undignified stunts, while fully dressed in 'the cloth'; de Corsia turned the place into a shooting gallery, and Miss Le Sage acted as well as any woman could be expected to under the conditions. While there is no absolute need of more than a couple of shots being fired off the stage, 'Red Ike' peppered away at an awful rate, booming his noisy revolvers (two of 'em) while children flinched and half the audience stuffed ears. It all started so nicely in a pretty cabin interior, tastefully draped and furnished, that is was disappointing to witness the finish. Of course there were laughs, Kedzie audiences laugh at each other- and that is presumed to be the alibi."
Because his parents’ career took them from town to town Ted attended school at various stopovers in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and other cities.  So he inherited his parents’ affinity for the stage and gained early experience as a child in touring road companies (1914-22). As a young man, de Corsia attended night school, earning money during the daylight hours as a plumber, electrician, and salesman. He also worked for a time as a short-order cook, which led de Corsia to open his own restaurant in Brooklyn – the venture was “an artistic success but a financial flop,” the actor later said. With his failed restaurant attempt behind him, de Corsia decided in 1923-24 to try his hand in the relatively new medium of radio, and found that he was an instant success. He was a member of Orson Welles’ famed "Mercury Players" and eventually, the actor formed his own company, "The Monticello Players". As de Corsia’s radio career continued to flourish, he took time out to appear on Broadway in "The Father Returns", (one of 4 parts of Little Theater Tournament) which closed shortly after its May 1929 opening, and as Theodore de Corsia in the 1930 production of Scarlet Sister Mary, starring Ethel Barrymore, whom de Corsia labeled “... the greatest actress in America and the most interesting person I have ever met.”  Covering all bases he even registered a musical song called We're Sweethearts, We Too in 1932 On Jan 11, 1934 Ted was first married to Mary Robertson. They divorced in ‘35. Ted de Corsia was a big fella with a rather gravelly voice enhanced by a strong Brooklyn accent which led him into playing tough guy and bad guy roles for the most part. On occasion he would turn up as a Judge or perhaps a policeman but generally he was one of the "evildoers". He was a fine actor and the partial listing of his radio roles will illustrate his afore-mentioned versatility. Blackstone Plantation ( CBS & NBC 1929-1933) had talk, songs and music with hosts Frank Crumit and Julia Sanderson, de Corsia was a regular cast member (as was Santos Ortega). The March of Time (CBS & others, 1931-1945 inclusive) was sponsored by TIME magazine. This excellent program which dramatized current news events and also interviewed those individuals which helped make the news by using talented actors who could wonderfully well mimic the newsmakers of the day such as the superb Agnes Moorehead who did a great Eleanor Roosevelt! During nine years de Corsia was a recurring regular and often called upon to portray Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, President Herbert Hoover and Huey Long, among others. Ted (also an excellent animal mimic) was famous for his Hoover imitations during the ex-President's incumbency in the White House, but after Hoover's decline the luckless March of Timer almost disappeared from the program. So when General Hugh S. Johnson started to capture the headlines (Oct 1933 - Oct 1934) however, Ted learned the General's tricks of delivery and pronunciation by listening to the radio and studying the newsreels. His versatility in radio was the stuff of legend – on one occasion, he was scheduled to perform in a two-man dramatic program, but before the show went on the air it was learned that the other actor could not make it to the station. So de Corsia went on alone – playing both parts. He worked nine years in total for the program. The series Don Winslow of the Navy (NBC-Blue 1937-1944 then ABC 1944) where Raymond Edward Johnson (eventually the somber host of Inner Sanctum) starred in the title role in these tales of a Commander in the U. S. Navy also had Corsia was a cast member. In The Buddy Clark Show, (CBS-Radio then Mutual, 1938-1939) singer Clark hosted along with regular cast members Anne Elstner (the "soap's Stella Dallas), Nan Wynn and Ted de Corsia. Beginning in January 1939 (1935?) he was frequently heard on The Cavalcade Of America (CBS-Blue-NBC, Jan 16. 1939 - Jul 12. 1948, min. 10 episodes). The Shadow episode "The Ghost of Captain Bayloe" was originally broadcast over radio station WOR Mutual on Feb. 5, 1939. This is one of the few Shadow episodes scripted by Manfred B. Lee and Fred Dannay (aka Ellery Queen). Ted de Corsia was part of the cast. This was a one-off; his recurrent role in the series came later. Around October ‘39 he became "Sergeant Velie" on CBS’ Adventures of Ellery Queen. Ted de Corsia, who regularly went fishing (bluefish and tuna) off the New Jersey coast, also maintained a poultry farm, near New York, in Bucks County, Pa. During the New York broadcasts, he often sold his eggs & asparagus to his fellow players and members of the Ellery Queen production. Ted played the role until late 1946. He reprised it when Ford Theatre re-ran a first-season j hour long episode "Bad Boy", with Howard Lindsay as host and the following actors: Hugh Marlowe (EQ), Santos Ortega (IQ), Ted de Corsia* (Velie), Charlotte Keane (Nikki) (1-4-48).
Above left: (From L to R) Ellery Queen (Sydney Smith), Ted de Corsia as Sergeant Velie and Santos Ortega as Inspector Queen in The Adventures of Ellery Queen (about Oct 1943 - late 1946). Above right: Ted de Corsia was a regular cast member in Big Town as "Eddie, the cab driver".
The Columbia Workshop was a radio program inaugurated as a showcase for aspiring radio actors and writers to "do their stuff" and it was an enormous help to so many. He was in at least 7 episodes of The Columbia Workshop (CBS, Oct 5. 1939 - Apr 12. 1942) but it's his first contribution that had our attention. In "The Great Microphone Mystery" a 30-minute episode the "Workshop Presents Queen" with a decidedly mysterious mystery for its contribution to Leap Year Day with Ellery Queen in person (Hugh Marlowe), and Sergeant Velie (Ted de Corsia) in "The Strange Case of the Leap Year" broadcast aka "Hex Marks the Spot" (reran on February 29, 1940). Around 1939-40 Ted married Rachel Thurber from Norfolk Virginia. The couple had four children, including twin daughters, between 1941 and 1945. In The Shadow (CBS-Radio-NBC-Radio- Mutual 1930-1954 inclusive) one of radio's most famous shows, de Corsia (Mutual, March 10. - May 26. 1946, at least 8 episodes) was one of six fine actors who portrayed Commissioner Weston (Santos Ortega being one of the other six). The crime drama Big Town (CBS & others, 1937-1952) starred film actor Edward G. Robinson as "Steve Wilson", editor of The Illustrated Press and had stories based on real newspaper files. Film actress Claire Trevor was his lovely sidekick "Lorelei Kilbourne" and de Corsia was a regular cast member as "Eddie, the cab driver". (Later on TV during 1953 -54 he guest starred in the same CBS series)

Home of the Brave (CBS, Jan 6. - Oct 19. 1941), a short-lived series, told the story of Joe, the telephone linesman, who was madly in love with the pretty girl Casino, but she did not return his affection. It depicted his vain attempts to change her mind. Ted played "Patrick Mulvaney." A life-long Brooklyn Dodgers fan, Ted de Corsia even went as far as to ask the announcer to announce on air Dem Bums' scores during relevant performances of the comedy Joe and Mabel (NBC, 1941-42). Joe was a Brooklyn cab driver in love with the beautiful manicurist Mabel. She was ready to get married but Joe was altar-allergic and Mabel was out to change his mind. Ted played "Joe Sparton", the preacher-shy hero and Ann Thomas was his ever-lovin' "Mabel". In Twenty-Six By Corwin (CBS, May 4. - Nov 9. 1941) de Corsia along with harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler and Frank Lovejoy (Nightbeat) stars in the delightful comedy of an unprepossessing little harmonica player who becomes, of all things, a diplomat! Written and hosted by the brilliant writer Norman Corwin. At its peak, the crime anthology series Suspense was one of radio's high profile dramatic shows. Top film stars loved it, "If I ever do any more radio work, I want to do it on 'Suspense', where I get a good chance to act," said Cary Grant in 1943. Ted appeared in Suspense in at least 13 episodes (CBS, Nov 10. 1942 - Oct. 5 1958). Saturday Showdown (NBC, 1943). John Gibson was the host and the Murtock sisters, Tommy Taylor and de Corsia were regulars on this program of music and songs. On Nov 18. 1943 Ted became member of the board of directors of the New York local American Federation of Radio Artists (In Dec 1948 he ran for treasurer of the NY AFRA). McGarry and His Mouse ( NBC-Mutual, 1946-47) Dan McGarry is a young rookie policeman with the NYPD. The "Mouse" is what he affectionately called his girlfriend Kitty Archer. Where Dan went, so went "Mouse" and Dan has a penchant for getting into trouble! Ted was the second of three actors to play Dan McGarry (1946). He left because a Hollywood film project kept him too busy to keep the role. Orson Welles, de Corsia’s old pal from the Mercury Theater days, had asked him to come to Hollywood. So de Corsia's first credited film role was in Welles's The Lady from Shanghai (Columbia, Apr 14. 1947) starring Orson and his soon-to-be bride Rita Hayworth.

Above left: In radio's Joe and Mabel (NBC, 1941-42) Ted played a Brooklyn cab driver "Joe Sparton", the preacher-shy hero and Ann Thomas was his ever-lovin' "Mabel". Above right: Among Ted de Corsia's most remembered roles was that of "Willie Garzah the Harmonica" who famously fell to his death from a steel-girdered bridge in Jules Dassin’s in The Naked City (Universal, Mar 3. 1948).

Among his most remembered roles was that of "Willie Garzah the Harmonica" who famously fell to his death from a steel-girdered bridge in Jules Dassin’s in The Naked City (Universal, Mar 3. 1948) with Barry Fitzgerald and Howard Duff. 1949 and 1950 proved a fruitful years since he started (long) runs in several famous radios series: Let George Do It (Mutual-Don Lee, May 9. 1949 - Oct. 20. 1952, min. 19 episodes); The Whistler (CBS, May 29. 1949 - Feb 24. 1952, min. 8 episodes); This Is Your FBI (ABC, Jun 3. 1949 - Jan 23. 1953, min. 17 episodes); The Lux Radio Theatre (CBS, Oct 3. 1949 - Feb 22. 1955, min. 22 episodes); Escape (CBS, Oct 15. 1949 - Sep 4. 1954, min. 12 episodes); Pursuit with Ted (CBS, Oct 27. 1949 - Apr 11. 1950, min. 6 episodes) first cast as Inspector Harvey of Scotland Yard, then by the second episode as Inspector Peter Black of Scotland Yard; Hallmark Playhouse which offered classic stories on radio (CBS, Feb 23. 1950 - Feb 1. 1953, min. in 47 episodes) and in it's successor The Hallmark Hall Of Fame (CBS, Feb 8. 1953 - Jan 9. 1955, min. 27 episodes); Richard Diamond, Private Detective in which both Ted de Corsia (NBC, Sep 24. 1949 - March 21. 1952, min. 16 episodes) and Virginia Gregg appeared; Family Theatre (Mutual, Feb 1. 1950 - Nov 24. 1954, min. 35 episodes); Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (CBS, Feb 3. 1950 - Sep 21. 1956, min. 11 episodes);  Night Beat (NBC, Mar 13. 1950 - Sep 18. 1952, min. 6 episodes); and Mr. President about little known episodes in the lives of various U. S. presidents. Sometimes Ted de Corsia (ABC, Nov 5. 1950 - Sep 22 1953, min. 10 episodes) served as performer, narrator. Obviously, judging from the above (partial!) listings, de Corsia was able to perform well in just about every type of acting role available to him. In 1951 he took over Orson Welles's role in the Lux Radio Theater presentation of "The Third Man". Another outstanding role for de Corsia, this time for the movies, was that of "Rico" in The Enforcer (Warner, Jan 25. 1951) which starred Humphrey Bogart as a police lieutenant. This movie allegedly was based on real-life crime happenings such as the criminal "Rico's" falling out of a window to his death, while in custody, after turning state's evidence.

Above left: Opposite Humphrey Bogart in The Enforcer (Warner, Jan 25. 1951). Above right: One of many times Ted de Corsia was called upon to play "Chief" or "Indian" here in New Mexico (United  Artists, May 18. 1951).

In A Place in the Sun (Paramount, Aug 14. 1951) with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift  he had "good guy" role for a change, he played the Judge. Radio's That Hammer Guy was another tale of a tough NY-based private eye who loves women,  gets beaten up regularly, and is always involved with criminals in one way or another. Based on a Mickey Spillane character "Hammer" which was played by Ted de Corsia during the entire Hollywood production run (Mutual, Nov 24, 1953 - Oct 1954). When film and TV work began to occupy more of his time, he dropped out of radio in the early ‘50s. His film career could certainly be called much more than moderately successful.

Films with which de Corsia was affiliated included: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Walt Disney, Dec 23. 1954) with James Mason as the mad Captain Nemo, co-starring a young Kirk Douglas and de Corsia as Captain Farragut (above left); Man With the Gun (United Artists, Nov 5. 1955) opposite Robert Mitchum (above right).

1956 proved a very busy year for the actor with films such as: another gangster flick Slightly Scarlet (RKO, Feb 15. 1956) with John Payne, The Kettles in the Ozarks (Universal, Mar 14. 1956) were de Corsia even joined Ma and Pa Kettle, Mohawk (20th Century Fox, Apr 1. 1956), The Killing (United Artists, May 19. 1956) and  Dance With Me Henry (United Artists, Dec 22. 1956) were de Corsia cavorted with the zanies Abbott and Costello.  But one film from that year many remember, not for particularly happy reasons, is The Conqueror (RKO, Mar 28. 1956). The film was directed by Dick Powell (the singer turned excellent actor and director) and starred the great John Wayne in the title role. The movie was shot, evidently for scenery purposes, near a nuclear test site in Utah. It is alleged that many of the people connected with this film eventually died of cancer (due to, and caused by, or accredited to the film site). Included were its stars, John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, Powell himself and Ted de Corsia.... We will never know for certain***.

Above: Gunfight at the OK Corral (Paramount, May 30. 1957) starring Burt Lancaster (far right) and Kirk Douglas, de Corsia was "Shanghai Pierce" (left foreground).

The following year brought us: Gunfight at the OK Corral (Paramount, May 30. 1957) starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas (de Corsia was "Shanghai Pierce"), the gangster flick Baby Face Nelson (United Artists, Dec 11. 1957) starring Mickey Rooney, and The Joker is Wild (Paramount, Aug 23. 1957) with Frank Sinatra playing the embattled comedian "Joe E. Lewis". Possibly the Suspense radio broadcast of Oct. 5, 1958 was the last time Ted could be heard on radio. Other performances include the role of "Police Chief Hagedorn" in 5 episodes of TV's Steve Canyon (Pegasus, Jan 3. - May 5. 1959) based on the comic strip created by Milton Canniff.

Above left: Ted with Cameron Mitchell in Inside the Mafia (United Artists, Sep 1959). Above right: Ted de Corsia with Ina Balin opposite Paul Newman in a scene from From The Terrace (20th Century Fox, Jul 15. 1960).

Above left:  In the TV series Shirley Temple's Storybook Ted is a police officer playing in the episode "Pippi Longstocking" (Henry Jaffe, Jan 8. 1961) with Gina Gillespie and Wiliam Edmundson. Above right: It's Only Money (Jerry Lewis Productions, Nov. 21, 1962) with Jerry Lewis where he once again got to play a "good guy" (police) on a rare occasion. Featured here alongside female lead Joan O'Brien.

In 1960 he was "Ralph Benziger" in From the Terrace (20th Century Fox, Jul 15. 1960) a potboiler starring the handsome blue-eyed Paul Newman and his stunning wife Joanne Woodward and he was "Buffalo Horn" in Oklahoma Territory (United Artists, Mar 1960). Other movies included King of Kings (MGM, Oct 30. 1961, voice only), It's Only Money (Jerry Lewis Productions, Nov. 21, 1962) with Jerry Lewis in which de Corsia was a policeman (again good guy), and Blood on the Arrow (Allied Artists, Oct 11. 1964) were he played "Jud". One of his vilest, most depraved characters was created in Audie Murphy’s The Quick Gun (Columbia, Apr 1. 1964). Leading lady Merry Anders thought, “He was just great though. Just perfect as his character. It helped me in a way because I was supposedly so terrified of him I was speechless.” He was "Captain McTigue" in The King's Pirate (Universal, Aug 1967), "Eldon Bates" in 5 Card Stud (Paramount, Jul 10. 1968) opposite Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum. Seems he covered all bases and had a most successful and steady film career but de Corsia had his share of television work as well appearing in episodes several popular series: The Twilight Zone (CBS, Oct 23. 1959 & May 15. 1964), Rawhide (6 episodes for CBS, Apr 1. 1960 - May 14. 1964), Gunsmoke (CBS-Arness, Feb 24. 1962 & Apr 9. 1966), Death Valley Days (Syndicated, Apr 21. 1964 - Mar 22. 1966), Perry Mason (CBS, May 7. 1964 - May 1. 1966, min. 3 episodes), Get Smart (CBS, Jan 29. 1966 & Nov 18. 1967), Green Acres (Filmways, Nov 15. 1967), and in two episodes of The Monkees' second season when he appeared in "Hitting the High Seas" (NBC - Screen Gems, Nov 27. 1967) as Frank, and in "The Devil and Peter Tork" (NBC-Screen Gems, Feb 5. 1968) as Blackbeard.

Above left: Steve McQueen (L) in a scene with Ted (R) as barkeeper in Nevada Smith (Paramount, Jun 10. 1966). Above right: Ted de Corsia (left) with Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum in 5 Card Stud (Paramount, Jul 10. 1968).

Above left: In an episode of The Monkees' second season (NBC -  Screen Gems, Feb 5. 1968) Ted de Corsia appeared in "The Devil and Peter Tork" as Blackbeard. Above right:  In Un homme est Mort (aka The Outside Man, United Artists, Jan 1973) starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ted de Corsia played the mobster Victor.

Ted's last film was the French-made movie Un homme est Mort (aka The Outside Man, United Artists, Jan 1973) starring Jean-Louis Trintignant  in which he played the mobster Victor. After his character is killed, de Corsia later appears as his embalmed corpse, posed in a chair, holding a cigar. Ted de Corsia was divorced and living at 320 North Lapeer Ave. in Beverly Hills, California when he died on April 11, 1973, in Encino, Los Angeles, at 67 of cerebral thrombosis. He’d been a patient at West Valley Community Hospital for two weeks prior to his death. His body was cremated at Oddfellows Crematory through Price-Daniel mortuary. Ashes scattered at sea.**

Notes: * There are various spellings for the name "de Corsia" such as Decorsia, De Corsia,... or even "De Corsica". However, the official spelling evidenced by all kinds of official sources is "de Corsia." ** IMDb states, "his body was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea." We initially followed Betsy W.'s Old Time Radio Page (Jan 2009), which indicated, "his body was willed to medical science." This doesn't exclude the fact that, certainly in California, both could have happened. The current information is found in the book Resting Places by Scott Wilson. *** The movie was, inexplicably filmed in the Utah desert just upwind from the atomic bomb test site at Yucca Flats, Nevada. Cast and crew were plagued by cancer deaths at a rate over 3 times the national average. As ascertained by People magazine in 1980, out of a cast and crew totaling 220 people, 91 of them developed some form of cancer, and 46 had died of the disease amongst them John Wayne, Dick Powell, Agnes Moorehead, Rita Hayward, Thomas Gomez, Ted de Corsia, and Pedro Armendariz, who beat kidney cancer in the 1950s but committed suicide in 1963 when cancer of the larynx was diagnosed. Many of the cast of the movie were heavy smokers. The approximately 100,000 people who lived in the three-state fallout zone north and east of the testing site are more likely to have been affected than the Hollywood visitors. All dates for movies are for the first US release. All dates for TV programs are original first airdates. All dates for (radio) plays are for the time span the actor was involved. Facts in red still need confirmation.

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Other references (1) Wikipedia (2) IMDb (3) Dec 28. 2006 Old Time Radio column by the late Betsy W(einberg) (4) RUSC (5) Remembering Ted de Corsia (6) IBDB and IBDB (7) OTRRpedia (8) Noir’s Goon Squad: Ted de Corsia at ciminalelement.com (9) Radiogoldindex (10) Playbill.com and Playbill.com Additional video & audio sources (1) Gunfight at the O.K. Coral (1957) film clip (2) Crime Wave (1954) film clip (3) The Big Combo (1955) film clip (4) The Killing (1956) film clip

This actor profile is a part of Ellery Queen a website on deduction. The actor above played Velie in a radio series of The Adventures of Ellery Queen. Click Uncle Sam if you think you can help out...! Many of the profiles on this site have been compiled after very careful research of various sources. Please quote and cite ethically!

Page first published on Augustus 8. 2016 Latest update April 6. 2024

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