1905-1988
Beloved character actor Chick Chandler was born Fehmer Christy Chandler on this day in Kingston, New York. He began acting and dancing as young man of just twelve (having entertainment and writing roots on the maternal line with his mother, a published sportswriter; and his grandfather, a prominent conductor). His father was a military man, and a doctor to boot, and had plans for his son to follow him into the military. Toward this end, Chandler was sent off to a military academy around the same time that he got into performance. He did graduate with distinction and rank at the age of 16, and was all set to continue on his education and to have a long career in the Army. This did not last long, he soon dropped all of this and went to work on a local tramp steamer (that was a "pick up boat" as opposed to a liner which would operate on a fixed schedule, tramp steamers did work where and when required) with an eye on getting back onto the stage. He began to work in vaudeville, but he was education minded young man and had no aversion to hard work, so he pursued acting and dancing lessons and for a time went to the then famous dance school of choreographer Ned Wayburn, who was hugely successful on Broadway. Chandler had a natural talent for comedy and worked all through the 1920's in comedic roles on the stage in vaudeville. In addition to dancing, he was a popular monologist. He was billed by his birth name Fehmer Chandler during this period of his career, but began to be billed by his childhood nickname "Chick" in the 1930's, when he was working in radio. He did not get into the film business earnestly until 1933 after he was signed by David O. Selznick to an contract with RKO, but he did make an appearance in one film in the 1920's. Chandler had a named role in the Edgar Lewis 1925 western Red Love; he would not appear in a film again until he showed up in his first RKO picture--Sweepings--with Lionel Barrymore. He thereafter became a supporting actor (almost never a lead) in very high demand for decades. Predictably, he was an actor very much suited to television roles; having made his small screen debut in 1951 with appearances on The Bigelow Theater, a CBS live dramatic anthology series. Most of his career after this point was taken up with guest appearance on various television shows and one starring role in the short lived 1961 Dick Sargent series "One Happy Family" as Barney Hogan. Though, he did act in the odd film here and there. His last acting job came on a 1971 episode of "Bonanza" (a series that he had five previous guest appearances on) as Carroway in Face of Fear (13.8), after which he retired. He passed away a sudden heart attack in 1988 on the 30th of September at the age of 83. His wife of 57 years followed him the next day dying of cancer at the same hospital that Chandler died in the day before. It is believed that he may have been visiting his dying wife when the heart attack occurred. His burial details are currently unknown.
Chandler in 1962 guesting on Mister Ed
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