Sam Buffington

Sam Buffington (October 12, 1931 – May 15, 1960)[1] was an American actor whose short career included performances on stage, radio, film, and television. He was the star of the CBS radio series Luke Slaughter of Tombstone during 1958[2] and was one of three regular cast members on the Whispering Smith television series.[3] His stage and screen roles were limited to character parts.[4] His career was going strong and had good prospects when, at age 28, he committed suicide.[5]

Sam Buffington
Born
Samuel Elisha Buffington

(1931-10-12)October 12, 1931
Swansea, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMay 15, 1960(1960-05-15) (aged 28)
West Hollywood, California, U.S.
EducationLeland Powers School
OccupationActor
Spouse
Patricia Ann Whitehouse
​
​
(m. 1953)​

Early years

He was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, the youngest of four children for Carl Buffington, a lumber company manager, and Annette Gendron.[6][7] His parents were in their forties when Buffington was born, and his nearest sibling was eight years older.[7] At age 18, Buffington appears as a roomer in a Brookline, Massachusetts, boarding house during 1950,[8] when he was attending the Leland Powers School of Radio and Theater.[9] According to a 1951 newspaper article, he was working in nightclubs as an MC and comic dancer.[10]

Early career

Buffington's first known professional stage credits come from summer stock with the Allegheny Players at the Mishler Theatre in Altoona, Pennsylvania.[11] He was signed to perform character parts in six plays, each with a week-long run.[11] After the Mishler run completed, the Allegheny Players performed for a week in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, where Buffington had the male lead in a comedy.[12]

Radio and stage

For the years 1952 through 1955 Buffington worked in both radio and on the stage. His radio work was at a station in Providence, Rhode Island, where according to a later interview, he had three shows under three different names and as many voices.[13] Buffington lamented, "The unfortunate thing about it was that I only got the salary of one man".[13] His stage work continued to be with the Allegheny Players during the summer seasons.[14]

West Coast career

Screen beginnings

Discouraged by lack of work on the East Coast, Buffington and his wife moved to the West Coast during 1956.[15] He told a later interviewer: "We figured it couldn't be any worse. But it was. We had just $90 when we got here. The first eight months she had to work to support me".[15] Then he began appearing in small roles on television, and in a Grade B film, Invasion of the Saucer Men. His breakthrough came in May 1957 with an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, wherein he played a thoroughly disagreeable character.[16] Reviews claimed "...it's Sam Buffington's portrayal of a rude, sloppy hypochondriac which steals the show".[17] Within the next six months he would have roles in six films, all released in 1958, and five more television shows, an auspicious first year.[15]

For the film Damn Citizen, a reviewer said "Sam Buffington does a splendid job of making himself thoroughly unpleasant in the role of a gambling casino operator".[18] Another reported "Sam Buffington's cunning small-time gambler is about twice as convincing as the real thing would be and also very amusing".[19] This was the high point of his film career; in no other movie did he capture critical attention. His career would continue to thrive on the small screen, as he completed more television episodes with each succeeding year.

Buffington appeared as himself on a local interview program called Meet the People during February 1958.[20] This was a lead-in to his starring role on a new CBS national radio program.

Luke Slaughter of Tombstone

While filming an episode of The Gray Ghost, Buffington had asked Lillian Buyeff how she had gotten a gig on the radio drama Suspense.[15] She sent him to Bill Robson, a CBS radio producer, and about two months later Buffington was cast for the lead in a CBS radio western.[15]

Luke Slaughter of Tombstone began broadcasting on February 23, 1958, with Buffington playing the title character.[21] He portrayed a Civil War cavalryman, who after the war becomes a cattleman in Arizona.[22] The nationally heard program began five minutes after the hour, following a short CBS News break.[23] It was one of three western series broadcast by CBS on Sunday afternoons.[24] The program ran twenty-five minutes per episode, including commercials.[24]

The first episode had Slaughter drive a herd of cattle from Texas to Tombstone, while the second had him dealing with renegade lawmen who were after the proceeds from the cattle sale.[23] The series was suspended during July 1958, and Buffington used the time off to perform in Bell, Book and Candle with the La Jolla Playhouse.[25][26]

Despite his radio commitment, Buffington still managed to appear in sixteen episodes of television during 1958. He also completed film work for They Came to Cordura, released the following year.[27][28] For 1959 he did seventeen more television episodes, before landing a regular cast member spot in early 1960 on a new western series.[29]

Whispering Smith
Main article: Whispering Smith (TV series)

This half-hour western series made at Revue Studios for NBC starred Audie Murphy and Guy Mitchell as frontier detectives for the Denver Police Department, c. 1870.[30] Buffington, who was third-credited, played their superior officer, Chief of Police John Richards.[31] In the film Unwed Mother he played husband to actress Dorothy Adams.[32]

Death and controversy

While Buffington's wife Pat was in Palm Springs, California, he wrote a note to her, locked himself in the bathroom, sealed air passages under the door and window, and turned on a gas jet.[33] When she returned home to West Hollywood, California, on Sunday evening, May 15, 1960, she had to break-in the bathroom door.[34] Buffington was dead; his note apologized to her for not being able to support her, and requested cremation.[33] Buffington's friends expressed surprise at the note, since he had made over $20,000 the year before[fn 1] and had good career prospects.[5] Brief stories appeared the next day in California newspapers detailing the circumstances. The UPI story, with a West Hollywood dateline, cited alternatively police and sheriff's detectives as the source,[34][35] but was carried by only one out-of-state newspaper.[36] There were no follow-up stories to the original UPI release, nor did any newspapers carry the original story after the first day. This was a highly unusual story arc for such a newsworthy event, and suggests UPI pulled the original release.

When a year had passed, and Whispering Smith was finally set to debut on NBC television, newspaper announcements made only a brief reference to "the late Sam Buffington, who died after only 20 episodes were filmed".[37]

Personal life

An accomplished painter of portraits in oil, Buffington once tried to make a living of it.[2] After he became an actor, he donated eight of his works to children's hospitals.[38]

Buffington married Patricia Ann Whitehouse on July 15, 1953, in Vance County, North Carolina.[39] They remained married at his death in 1960.[33]

Stage performances

Listed by year of first performance

Year Play Role Venue Notes
1951 You Can't Take It with You (play) Boris Kolenkhov Mishler Theatre Buffington's first role with the Allegheny Players.[40]
Ah, Wilderness! Nat Miller Mishler Theatre [41]
See How They Run Bishop of Lax Mishler Theatre [42]
Night Must Fall Hubert Laurie Mishler Theatre [43]
Petticoat Fever Rector Mishler Theatre [44]
Bertha the Typewriter Girl Daniel Desmond Mishler Theatre Buffington's first lead role was as a melodrama villain.[45]
Brighten the Corner Neil Carson Centre Theatre This was a 1945 comedy by John Cecil Holm that lasted only one month on Broadway.[12]
1954 The Curious Savage Standing Stone Playhouse
Tonight at 8.30 Toby Cartwright Standing Stone Playhouse Buffington was the male lead in Ways and Means.[9]
1958 Bell, Book and Candle Sidney Redlitch La Jolla Playhouse[fn 2] A single set version that starred Scott Forbes, Felicia Farr, and Darryl Hickman.[25]

Filmography
By year of first release
Year Title Role Notes
1957 Invasion of the Saucer Men Col. Ambrose
1958 The Rawhide Trail[fn 3] James Willard Filmed during October 1957.[46]
The Brothers Karamazov Tipsy Merchant Uncredited
Damn Citizen DeButts At least one newspaper account had the working title as Damned Citizen.[47]
King Creole Dr. Martin Cabot Uncredited
The Light in the Forest George Owens Filmed during August and September 1957.[48]
Unwed Mother[fn 4] Mr. Paully Filmed during December 1957, Buffington and Dorothy Adams play a married couple[fn 5] who are prospective adoptee parents.[49][32]
1959 Blue Denim Doctor Uncredited
They Came to Cordura First Correspondent Filmed on location at St. George, Utah, during November 1958.[27][28]

Television performances
Television in original broadcast order
Year Series Episode Role Notes
1957 Cheyenne The Iron Trail Allen Chester
The Man Called X Passport
Conflict Capital Punishment Starred Will Hutchins, with Rex Reason, Edward Binns, Ray Teal, and Barbara Eiler.[50]
Highway Patrol Trojan Horse Whitey Larkin
Cheyenne The Spanish Grant Sam Tyson
Tales of Wells Fargo The Lynching Sheriff Bill Egan
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 2 Episode 35: "The West Warlock Time Capsule" Waldren Reviewers praised Buffington's portrayal of the hypochondriac brother-in-law.[51]
Schlitz Playhouse The Face of a Killer
The Adventures of Jim Bowie Epitaph for an Indian Sheriff Pete Webber
The Adventures of McGraw Lucky's Diner Lucky
General Electric Theater The Iron Rose Bill Meadows Buffington was impressed with the acting talent of episode star Vincent Price.[52][53]
Maverick The Quick and the Dead Ponca Brown
The Gray Ghost Jimmy Matt Dawson
1958 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 3 Episode 15: "Together" Charles Directed by Robert Altman, it starred Joseph Cotten and Christine White.[54]
Sugarfoot Deadlock Ruby Martin
Meet the People (1958-02-05) Himself Local noontime interview program on KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles.[20]
Tombstone Territory The Outlaw's Bugle Monte Davis Buffington starts a newspaper called The Bugle to secretly aid cattle rustlers.[55]
Maverick The Seventh Hand Logan Buffington uses Samantha Crawford (Diane Brewster) as a catspaw to strike at Bret Maverick (James Garner).[56]
The Adventures of Jim Bowie Up the Creek Sheriff [47]
Mike Hammer For Sale, Deathbed, Used Sam Earl
The Silent Service The Tigershark Chief Joe Wilson
U.S. Marshal Ambush Rich
Behind Closed Doors Trouble in Test Cell 19 William Horne [57]
77 Sunset Strip Casualty Vincent Manchester
Wanted Dead or Alive The Favor Fred the Bartender
Maverick The Thirty-Ninth Star Bigelow
Peter Gunn Death House Testament Professor Olford As an alcoholic professor, Buffington administers a truth serum to Peter Gunn.[58]
Sugarfoot Yampa Crossing Henry Dixon Buffinton's role in this was described as "a genial opportunist".[59]
Wanted Dead or Alive Eight Cent Reward Hap Haefer A Christmas story with Buffington as one of three frontier "wise men".[60]
1959 Zane Grey Theater Day of the Killing Frank - Bartender
Wanted Dead or Alive Six-Up to Bannach Abb Crawford Buffington rides shotgun on a stagecoach transporting dynamite.[61]
Perry Mason The Case of the Foot Loose Doll Fred Ernshaw Buffington is a junior partner to an unscrupulous detective.[62]
Maverick Yellow River Prof. von Schulenberg [63]
Steve Canyon Blackmail Karl Janosek
Black Saddle Client: Jessup Noah Bailey
The Ann Sothern Show The Square Peg Mr. Stewart [64]
Gunsmoke Buffalo Hunter Cook
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 4 Episode 30: "A Night with the Boys" Smalley Buffington is a bullying boss who forces his employee (John Smith) into a poker game.[65]
Bat Masterson The Death of Bat Masterson Judge D.B. Hodie As a crooked judge, Buffington conspires to steal Masterson's (Gene Barry) money.[66]
The Thin Man Hamilton Hollered Help Doc
The Rough Riders Reluctant Witness[fn 6] Ephraim Hoggs Buffington, at age 27, plays an old hermit.[67]
Whirlybirds The Perfect Crime Mayor Edwards
The Alaskans Gold Sled Count Meshikov Buffington plays a treacherous guide to lost gold.[68]
77 Sunset Strip Thanks for tomorrow Mr. Anton
Maverick A Fellow's Brother Burgess When Bret Maverick gets a local reputation, it attracts bounty hunter Burgess (Buffington).[69]
Mr. Lucky Little Miss Wow Freddy Furlong Buffington and Don Gordon are inept kidnappers of Yvonne Craig.
1960 Alcoa Theatre The Last Flight Out Informer Story set in Quemoy during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.[70]
Hawaiian Eye Then There Were Three Big Jim MacIntosh Buffington is a treacherous estate manager who seeks an inheritance.
The Man from Blackhawk Execution Day Josiah Cartwright
Laramie Saddle and Spur Franklin
Bourbon Street Beat Ferry to Algiers Junius Rattner
1961 Whispering Smith 17 episodes John Richards Buffington had been filmed in 17 episodes prior to his death in May 1960.
The Barbara Stanwyck Show A Man's Game Vic Trenton First broadcast in July 1961, it must also have been filmed prior to May 1960.

Notes
  1. The equivalent of over $200,000 in 2023.
  2. Prior to the 1983 revival of this production company it had no dedicated venue, instead relying on the auditorium of La Jolla High School.
  3. The working title was The Rawhide Breed.
  4. The working title was Teen-Age Mother.
  5. Adams was 31 years older than Buffington, who at age 26 seemed twice his actual age.
  6. IMDb has the episode as "Reluctant Hostage".

References
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  6. Massachusetts, U.S., Birth Index, 1860-1970 for Samuel E. Buffington > Births > 1931-1935, retrieved from Ancestry.com
  7. 1940 United States Federal Census for Samuel E Buffington, Massachusetts > Bristol > Swansea > 3-102, retrieved from Ancestry.com
  8. 1950 United States Federal Census for Samuel E Buffington, Massachusetts > Norfolk > Brookline > 11-75, retrieved from Ancestry.com
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