Kirk Alyn was cinema's first
Superman, making his debut in the late 1940s. He starred in two Superman serials: Superman
(1948), and Atomic Man vs. Superman (1950). Alyn was also handed the television
role of Superman before George Reeves, but turned it down cold, feeling he'd be further
typecast.
Born John Teggo, Jr. in Oxford, New Jersey, Alyn played in vaudeville
acts and also danced in chorus lines in the 1930s. Alyn followed friend Red Skelton to the
West Coast and then got himself into the movies. Married to actress-singer Virginia
O'Brien for six years, they had three children.
Alyn wound up typecast as he had feared, and survived largely in the
'50s and '60s appearing in commercials. Public interest in nostalgia in the 1970s brought
Alyn to Comic Book conventions, where many fans were able to talk to him and discover what
a perfect gentleman he was. Even at his age at that time, he was dapper, standing ramrod
straight and looming at 6'2". Incidentally, Alyn had an uncredited cameo as Lois
Lane's dad in the 1978 Christopher Reeve blockbuster, Superman. Alyn also
starred as a hero in the Blackhawk serial (1952), and guest-starred on the
classic Western television shows, Annie Oakley, and Buffalo Bill, Jr. ,
in two episodes of each. Alyn's Western films include Overland Mail Robbery and Pistol
Packin' Mama (both in 1943).
Alyn suffered from a lingering illness, and passed away at age 88 near
Houston, Texas. |
