In Remembrance: George D. Wallace

     George D. Wallace, the actor who starred as the heroic Commando Cody in the Republic serial Radar Men From The Moon, has passed away on July 22, 2005 in Los Angeles, CA. He was 88.

     Born on June 8, 1917 in New York City, Wallace moved with his mother to McMechen, West Virginia, where as a teenager he worked in the coal mines and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1936, he enlisted in the Navy and after serving his four years, during which time he became the Pacific Fleet’s light heavyweight boxing champion, he was discharged in 1940. He reenlisted after the start of World War II and served another four years as a chief bosun's mate. Following the war, Wallace held many odd jobs including meat packing and working as a lumber jack in the High Sierras. It was while working as bartender in Hollywood and singing along with the jukebox for tips, that Wallace was discovered by gossip columnist Jimmie Fidler, who helped launch Wallace’s showbiz career.

     Wallace made two small, uncredited film appearances - Inside The Walls Of Folsum Prison and The Fat Man (both 1951) – before being cast as the rocket pack wearing Commando Cody in the Republic Pictures serial Radar Men From The Moon. Wallace was the second of three actors to don the leather jacket and jet pack for Republic Pictures- Tristram Coffin wore the costume when he starred in the 1949 serial King Of The Rocketmen, while Judd Holdren took up the reins from Wallace later in 1952 when he starred in the third of Republic’s “Rocketmen” serials, Zombies Of The Stratosphere. Although not the best serial ever produced - Republic’s lower budgets couldn’t match the production value offered by some of the other studios - Radar Men From The Moon is remembered by fans as being one of the most fun and exciting. This is probably in part due to the physicality Wallace brought to the role.

     Following Radar Men From The Moon, Wallace continued to appear in small roles in numerous films including Submarine Command (1952), Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), Arena (1953), Drums Across The River (1954) and Destry (1954).

     For 1956’s Forbidden Planet, Wallace made a return to his naval roots of sorts, playing the bosun of a spaceship assigned to investigate the disappearance of a scientific expedition on a far-flung planet. It was while working on the film that Wallace was heard singing between shots by a casting director, who introduced him to Broadway composer Richard Rodgers. Wallace soon made his Broadway debut in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Pipe Dreams, before moving over to replace John Raitt as the lead in The Pajama Game in 1957. He also appeared in the Braodway productions of New Girl In Town and Jennie, as well as in touring productions of Camelot and The Man Of La Mancha.

     Wallace's career paused in 1960 after a horse fell on him and broke his back, while he was guest starring on an episode of the television series Swamp Fox. After seven months of recovery, Wallace returned to work.

     Wallace continued making small appearance in films from the 1960s onward, including Six Black Horses (1962), Texas Across The River (1966), Skin Game (1971), The Towering Inferno (1974), Billy Jack Goes To Washington (1977), The Stunt Man (1980), Punchline (1988), Postcards From The Edge (1990), Defending Your Life (1991), Diggstown (1992), Bicentennial Man (1999) and Nurse Betty (2000). His last film appearance was in 2002’s Minority Report.