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Byron Kane (May 9, 1923 – April 10, 1984) was a radio and film actor and producer. He was known for his collaborations with Blake Edwards and for his voice work.[1][2][3][4]
Kane was born in Vermont, and he grew up in California. His debut in radio came when, at age 17, he followed actress Jane Morgan into CBS studios. Once inside, he read an audition for Norman Corwin and gained the juvenile lead for the program being cast.[5]
Kane narrated the short Polly Wants a Doctor (1944).[4]
While Kane was stationed at Camp Fannin in 1943, he helped with Orson Welles's production of a radio program "to officially launch the Fifth War Loan drive."[6] Kane had been a member of Welles's The Mercury Theatre on the Air.[6] He worked in a war plant in 1944.[7]
Kane appeared on many radio programs during the 1940s and '50s, including Favorite Story, Gunsmoke, The NBC University Theater, Plays for Americans, Suspense, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and On Stage.[8][9][10]
Kane served as associate producer of Blake Edwards' detective television series Peter Gunn (1958-61); He also appeared uncredited in the show in the recurring role of Barney, the bartender. [11][12][13]
He voiced Peter Jones, a Black character, on the animated series The Hardy Boys (1969).[1][14]
Beginning in 1979, Kane performed on multiple episodes of Sears Radio Theater, a radio anthology series broadcast over the CBS Radio Network and later, the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Kane made his final acting appearance in Blake Edwards' comedy film S.O.B. (1981)[15]
Personal life and death
Kane's friends included Hal Ashby, Jeff Chandler, and Sammy Davis Jr.[16][17] He was a pallbearer at Chandler's funeral in 1961.[18]
Byron Kane died in Los Angeles on April 10, 1984, two weeks after suffering a heart attack. He was 60 years old.[2]
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