Jack Webb

John Randolph "Jack" Webb ( April 2 of 1920 - December 23 of 1982 ) was an American actor nominated for an Emmy as well as radio and television producer, film director and author, best known for his portrayal of Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet. He founded his own production company, Mark VII Limited. Following his discharge, he moved to San Francisco to star in his own radio show on ABC's KGO Radio. The Jack Webb Show was a half-hour comedy that had a limited run on ABC radio in 1946. By 1949 he had abandoned comedy for drama, and starred in Pat Novak for Hire, a radio show about a man who worked as an unlicensed private detective. The program co-starred Raymond Burr. Pat Novak was notable for writing that imitated, almost to parody, the hard-boiled style of such writers as Raymond Chandler, with lines such as: "She drifted into the room like 98 pounds of warm smoke. Her voice was hot and sticky--like a furnace full of marshmallows." Webb's radio shows included Johnny Modero, Pier 23; Jeff Regan, Investigator; Murder and Mr. Malone and One Out of Seven. Webb did all of the voices on One Out of Seven, often vigorously attacking racial prejudice.

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