Turning the pages back... October 22, 1955 (10/22/00)

Turning the pages back...

October 22, 1955

Forty-five years ago, John Hodiak, an American actor of Ukrainian descent, died in Tarzana, Calif., at the age of 41. The Weekly of October 22, 1955, reported: "A brilliant career was suddenly brought to an end when John Hodiak, a younger-generation American of Ukrainian descent, famed motion picture, stage and television star, died last Wednesday, October 19." The cause of death was coronary thrombosis.

Born on April 16, 1914, in Pittsburgh, Mr. Hodiak worked as a radio announcer and actor for several years before signing with Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in 1942. He made his film debut in 1943 in "A Stranger in Town." Ultimately he appeared in 34 Hollywood films. Among the most significant were Alfred Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" and "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier" (both made in 1944); "A Bell for Adano" (1945) - his favorite role and his favorite film; and "The Harvey Girls" (1946).

In 1946 he married actress Anna Baxter. The couple had a daughter who was 2 at the time of their divorce in 1954.

On the theater stage Mr. Hodiak was widely acclaimed for his role as Lt. Maryk in "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" (1953). Critic Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times said Mr. Hodiak's performance "has strength, charm and candor, and has the stamp of a human being. Every stroke in it is genuine and pertinent."

In an interview given to New York Daily News columnist Ed Sullivan, John Hodiak concluded a retracing of his career by noting: "Actually, I've always been lucky."

Source: "John Hodiak, 41, stage, film, TV actor, succumbs," The Ukrainian Weekly, October 22, 1955; "John Hodiak: Actually, I've Always Been Lucky," The Ukrainian Weekly, October 29, 1955; "Hodiak, John" in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 2, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988.

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