im Hutton (31 May 1934  - 2 June 1979 )

Height: 6' 5" (1m96)
Weight: 195 pounds
Wife:  Maryline Poole Adams (book illustrator),
           divorced twice
Children: Heidi Hutton (Sept '59),
                 Timothy Hutton (16 Aug '60, actor)
                 Punch ('71, second marriage)

The 'definite' Ellery Queen due to his likeable impersonation in the NBC-TV series. Hutton died of cancer at age 46 -- just short of the start of his son Timothy Hutton's career (with an Oscar for 'Ordinary People'). Born as Dana James Hutton in Binghamton, New York he was stationed in Germany during his military service. Whilst performing in a military show he was discovered by director Douglas Sirk who promptly cast him in 'A Time to Love' and 'A Time to Die' (1958).  On tv he starred in The Twilight Zone episode "And When the Sky Was Opened" (11 Dec 1959) Three astronauts have returned from the first space flight. Jim plays Major William Gart, hospitalized with a broken leg, contacted by Colonel Clegg Forbes (an excellent Rod Taylor) which seems the only one to remember the existence of Colonel Ed Harrington.

The Universal released pictures led to an MGM contract for the young actor. There he got a string of lighthearted comedies, the most popular being 'Where the Boys Are'  (1960) for which he gained recognition with the youth population for his role. Op August 16. 1960 his son Timothy was born.

Perhaps MGM had plans to turn Hutton into the new Jimmy Stewart, for the studio insisted upon casting their young star in roles calling for ingenuous clumsiness. His quintessential role was perhaps as 'The Horizontal Lieutenant' (1962), in which his constant bumbling eventually transforms him into a war hero. Hutton was romantically paired with Paula Prentiss in 4 consecutive films: Where the Boys Are (1960), The Honeymoon Machine (1960), Bachelor in Paradise (1961) and The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962).

They worked so well together that many fans assumed Hutton and Prentiss were married when in fact she was the longtime wife to Richard Benjamin. According to Prentiss they were paired because they were at the time Hollywood's tallest contract players (he at 6' 5" and she at 5' 10").

He played opposite Hollywood greats as Jane Fonda in George Roy Hill's 'Period Of Adjustment' (1962) or Burt Lancaster  in 'The Hallelujah Trail' (1965) but the next big break for Jim Hutton was the 1966 film 'Walk, Don't Run'. Cary Grant plays matchmaker for Jim and Samantha Eggar during the 1966 Olympics in Tokyo. Although Hutton was allowed a few non-comedy "outdoors" roles in 'Major Dundee' (1965) and 'The Green Berets' (1969),  for the most part he was locked into playing gangling young goofs. Jim Hutton starred in nearly a dozen TV movies. When finally, in the mid-1970s, he snagged the television for which his screen persona worked quite well: Ellery Queen. The actor was charming and convincing as the self-effacing, deceptively preoccupied criminologist, especially when he turned to the camera 45 minutes into each Ellery Queen episode and invited the folks at home to help him solve the mystery.

According to Tim, his father loved his profession, and that love was his legacy to his son. Father and son also shared passions for horse racing, poker, jazz, and tennis. The day after one of their tennis games, Jim Hutton visited his doctor and learned that he had terminal cancer. He telephoned his son and told him: "I've got six months to a year to live."
"The biggest shock was that he was dying so quickly,"
June 2. 1979 Jim Hutton passed away in Los Angeles, California at the age of forty-five from cancer of the liver