
Alfred Ryder
Alfred Ryder, the veteran actor who appeared on radio and Broadway and in the movies and TV and who also was a renowned stage director, was born Alfred Jacob Corn on January 5, 1916, in New York City. He made his professional debut as an actor at the age of eight and attended New York City's Professional Children's School. His Broadway debut came in 1929, when the 13-year-old Ryder played a "lost boy" in Eva Le Gallienne's production of J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan". Ryder studied acting with Benno Schneider, Robert Lewis and Lee Strasberg. He appeared in the 1938 Broadway production of "Our Town" - his Broadway debut as an adult performer - as well as numerous Broadway productions before World War II, including the 1939 revival of Clifford Odets's "Awake and Sing!". For many years he was the voice of Sammy in the radio serial "Rise of the Goldbergs" Ryder joined the Army Air Force during World War II, eventually appearing in the U.S. Army Air Force's gala Broadway stage show "Winged Victory" in 1943. The following year, he made his movie debut as "PFC Alfred Ryder" in the film version of the show Winged Victory (1944)). After the war he made more films, including director Anthony Mann's classic 1947 film noir T-Men (1947). On Broadway, he appeared as Oswald in the 1948 revival of Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" and as Mark Antony in the 1950 production of "Julius Caesar". Also that year, he appeared as Orestes in the Broadway play "The Tower Beyond Tragedy".
Ryder had the singular honor of being cast as the understudy for Laurence Olivier in one of the legendary actor's greatest roles, that of Archie Rice, in the 1958 Broadway production of John Osborne's "The Entertainer". Olivier's Archie Rice is considered one of the greatest performances of the 20th century, and Ryder was chosen to keep the Broadway patrons in their seats in the event the great British theatrical knight couldn't go on. Ryder also appeared in the original Broadway production of Eugène Ionesco's absurdist masterpiece "Rhinoceros" in 1960.
A noted theatrical stage director with such companies as Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, Ryder made his Broadway directorial debut with the play "A Far Country" in 1961. He subsequently directed two more Broadway productions, "The Exercise" in 1968 and the 1971 revival of August Strindberg's "Dance of Death."
Despite his achievements on the stage, film and radio, Ryder is mostly remembered as a prolific and versatile TV character actor. He made over 100 appearances on TV, including memorable turns on Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) (he appeared as Prof. Robert Crater in the series' very first aired episode, "The Man Trap"), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) (two appearances as the ghost of Nazi U-boat commander Capt. Gerhardt Krueger), and The Invaders (1967) (appearing as The Alien Leader). Ryder retired from screen acting in 1976 to concentrate on the stage, both as an actor and director. He died on April 16, 1995 in Englewood, NJ, at the age of 79. He was married to actress Kim Stanley, with whom he had a child, from 1957 until 1964, and he was the brother of actress Olive Deering.
From the IMDB Mini Bio for Alfred Ryder
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.146 |
Birthday | 1916-01-05 |
Place of Birth | New York City, New York, USA |
Also Known As |

1947

T-Men
6.8/82
Two U.S. Treasury ("T-men") agents go undercover in Detroit, and then Los Angeles, in an attempt to break a U.S. currency counterfeiting ring.
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T-Men

1944

Winged Victory
5.5/2
Pinky Scariano, Allan Ross, and Frankie Davis all join the Army Air Forces with hopes of becoming pilots. In training, they meet and become pals with...
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Winged Victory

1969

True Grit
7.3/788
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marsha...
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True Grit

1959

The Story on Page One
5.1/4
An adulterous couple is accused of murder after the woman's husband is shot and killed during a scuffle. A high-profile court case tells the story.
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The Story on Page One

1972

Probe
5.5/4
That hipster ring that special agent Hugh Lockwood wears? It's a camera, transmitting image and sound of his surroundings. It's also a scanner, detect...
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Probe

1974

The Legend of Hillbilly John
5.3/3
A roaming hillbilly, on a quest to defy the Devil, encounters several supernatural characters and does battle with his silver-stringed guitar.
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The Legend of Hillbilly John

1964

Invitation to a Gunfighter
5.9/53
In New Mexico, a Confederate veteran returns home to find his fiancée married to a Union soldier, his Yankee neighbors rallied against him and his pro...
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Invitation to a Gunfighter

1974

Indict and Convict
0/0
A prosecutor must try his friend, a deputy district attorney, who has been charged with murdering his wife and her lover.
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Indict and Convict

1980

Bogie
5/2
The Humphrey Bogart story from the early '30s until his death, covering the period as a struggling young actor through movie stardom and his marriages...
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Bogie

1963

The Raiders
4.5/8
Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane help a Texas rancher against the railroad.
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The Raiders

1976

Tracks
5.3/10
A soldier returns from Vietnam on special assignment, accompanying the body of his friend by train to California for burial. During the trip, he falls...
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Tracks

1975

The Specialists
0/0
Inspectors for the U.S. Public Health Service try to track down the cause of a rash of mysterious ailments suddenly appearing among the general popula...
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The Specialists

1939

The 400 Million
5.9/7
The 400 million people of China are heirs to a great civilization, as their pagodas and stone lions can attest. But they are under attack from the Jap...
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The 400 Million

1969

Operation Heartbeat
0/0
Lawsuits fly when a widow believes a gifted surgeon allowed her husband to die so his heart could be transplanted into the doctor's ailing mentor and...
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Operation Heartbeat

1955

Julius Caesar
0/0
The assassination of the would be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and his fellow Senators has tragic consequences for the idealist and the republ...
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Julius Caesar

1967

Hotel
6.1/21
This is the story of the clocklike movements of a giant, big city New Orleans hotel. The ambitious yet loyal manager wrestles with the round-the-clock...
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Hotel

1969

The D.A.: Murder One
0/0
A Deputy District Attorney suspects that a nurse has been murdering her rich husbands and relatives by giving them unneeded insulin doses, but his sup...
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The D.A.: Murder One

1978

Sergeant Matlovich vs. the U.S. Air Force
4.3/3
The true story of Leonard Matlovich, a U.S. Air Force sergeant who, in 1975, publicly divulged his homosexuality and fought to remain in service.
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Sergeant Matlovich vs. the U.S. Air Force

1974

W
6/10
Is a young woman being stalked by her ex, or is she imagining things?
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W

1973

The Stone Killer
6.179/78
A Los Angeles detective is sent to New York where he must solve a case involving an old Sicilian Mafia family feud.
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The Stone Killer

1975

The Abduction of Saint Anne
6/1
A cynical detective and a Roman Catholic bishop team up to investigate the reported miraculous powers of a 17-year-old girl being held captive in the...
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The Abduction of Saint Anne

1975

Escape to Witch Mountain
6.4/210
Tia and Tony are two orphaned youngsters with extraordinary powers. Lucas Deranian poses as their uncle in order to get the kids into the clutches of...
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