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After one year of college he dropped out and moved to England, where he acted in provincial theaters. He returned to the U.S. and worked his way up from stock to Broadway, leading to a film contract with Warners; he debuted onscreen in the ruthless title role of The Mask of Dimitrios (1944). Afterwards he was often typecast as a well-dressed, sleek cad, and in most of his later films he portrayed smooth scoundrels; occasionally, however, he played sympathetic leads. In the late '50s he quit making films, focussing instead on TV and the stage. He appeared in several films in the early '60s before dying of a brain tumor at 51. He was married to stage actress Ruth Ford.