by Hal Erickson
biography
Warner Anderson claimed that he made his first film appearance as a four-year-old juvenile actor in a 1915 Charles Ray vehicle. His first stage credit, Maytime, came two years later. During his early adulthood, Anderson worked as a straight man in vaudeville and burlesque. In the 1940s, he came to prominence as announcer for radio's Bell Telephone Hour. While most of his film roles were supporting, Anderson was starred in the early special-effects-fest Destination Moon. Warner Anderson's TV credits include a four-year run as Lt. Ben Guthrie on Lineup (aka San Francisco Beat) in the mid-1950s, and a lengthy tenure as newspaper editor Matthew Swain on the 1960s nighttime serial Peyton Place.
