Editing Jack Webb (section)

==Career==

===Acting===
Following his discharge, Webb moved to [[San Francisco]], where a wartime shortage of announcers led to a temporary appointment to his own radio show on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s [[KGO (AM)|KGO Radio]].<ref name=pn>{{cite magazine| last1=Gustafson| first1=Craig| title=Pat Novak ... for Hire| magazine=Nostalgia Digest| date=Spring 2009| volume=35| issue=2| pages=4–9}}</ref> ''The Jack Webb Show'' was a half-hour comedy that had a limited run on ABC radio in 1946. Prior to that, he had a one-man program, ''One Out of Seven,'' on KGO in which he dramatized a news story from the previous week.<ref name=mnf />

By 1949, Webb had abandoned comedy for drama, and starred in ''[[Pat Novak, for Hire]],'' a radio show originating from KFRC about a man who worked as an unlicensed private detective. The program co-starred [[Raymond Burr]]. ''Pat Novak'' was notable for writing that imitated the [[hardboiled]] 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&nbsp;— like a furnace full of marshmallows." Early in 1949, Webb served as the main antagonist of [[Alan Ladd]]'s protagonist character Dan Holliday in "The Better Man" episode of the radio series ''Box 13'', which aired on January 2, 1949.

Webb's radio shows included ''[[Johnny Madero, Pier 23]];'' ''[[Jeff Regan, Investigator]];'' ''[[The Amazing Mr. Malone|Murder and Mr. Malone]];'' ''[[Pete Kelly's Blues (radio series)|Pete Kelly's Blues]];'' and ''One Out of Seven.'' Webb provided all of the voices on ''One Out of Seven,'' often vigorously attacking racial prejudice.

In 1950, Webb appeared in three films that would become cult classics. In ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'', he is the fiancé of [[William Holden]]'s love interest Nancy Olson (his performance is very animated and jovial, unlike his later deadpan style). He played a war veteran in [[Marlon Brando]]'s first feature, ''[[The Men (1950 film)|The Men]]''. And in the [[film noir]] ''[[Dark City (1950 film)|Dark City]]'', he co-starred with [[Harry Morgan]], his future partner on the second ''Dragnet'' series.

Webb's most famous motion-picture role was as the combat-hardened [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] [[drill instructor]] at [[Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island|Parris Island]] in the 1957 film ''[[The D.I.]]'', with [[Don Dubbins]] as a callow Marine [[private (rank)|private]]. Webb's hard-nosed approach to this role, that of Drill Instructor [[Technical sergeant|Technical Sergeant]] James Moore, would be reflected in much of his later acting, but ''The D.I.'' was a box office failure.

Webb was approached to play the role of Vernon Wormer, dean of Faber College, in ''[[Animal House|National Lampoon's Animal House]],'' but he refused, saying "the movie didn't make any damn sense"; [[John Vernon]] ultimately played the role.<ref>{{cite news| work=[[The New York Times]]| title=Food Fight! 'Fat, Drunk, and Stupid,' by Matty Simmons| first=Peter| last=Keepnews| date=June 1, 2012| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/books/review/fat-drunk-and-stupid-by-matty-simmons.html?_r=0}}</ref>

===''Dragnet'' and stardom ===
Webb had a featured role as a crime-lab technician in the 1948 film ''[[He Walked by Night]],'' based on the real-life murder of [[California Highway Patrol]]man Loren Cornwell Roosevelt, by [[Erwin Walker]].<ref>"Crazy Like A Fox". ''Los Angeles Times'', June 2, 1947; "Man Continues to Fight Police Despite Wounds". ''Los Angeles Times'' December 21, 1946.</ref> The film was produced in [[semidocumentary]] style with technical assistance provided by Detective Sergeant Marty Wynn of the Los Angeles Police Department. ''He Walked By Night's'' thinly veiled fictionalized recounting of the 1946 Walker crime spree gave Webb the idea for ''Dragnet:'' a recurring series based on real cases from LAPD police files, featuring authentic depictions of the modern police detective, including methods, mannerisms, and technical language.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Webb| first1=Jack| last2=Ellroy| first2=James| title=The Badge: True and Terrifying Crime Stories that Could Not be Presented on TV, from the Creator and Star of Dragnet| location=New York| publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press| isbn=978-1560256885| year=2005| page=103}}</ref>

With much assistance from Wynn and legendary LAPD chief [[William H. Parker (police officer)|William H. Parker]], ''Dragnet'' premiered on NBC Radio in 1949 and ran until 1957. It was also picked up as a television series by [[NBC]], which aired episodes each season from 1952 to 1959. Webb played Sgt. [[Joe Friday]] and [[Barton Yarborough]] co-starred as Sgt. Ben Romero. After Yarborough's death, [[Ben Alexander (actor)|Ben Alexander]] joined the cast.<ref>{{Cite AV media| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCcPPiondX4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/FCcPPiondX4| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live| title=Jack Webb Dedicates Dragnet Radio Episode 133 "The Big Sorrow" to the memory of Barton Yarborough "who created and portrayed the role of Sargent Ben Romero"| website=YouTube| access-date=January 28, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
[[File:Jack Webb Harry Morgan Dragnet 1968.JPG|thumb|left|Webb with [[Harry Morgan]] in [[Dragnet (1967 TV series)|''Dragnet 1968'']]]]

Webb was a stickler for attention to detail. He believed viewers wanted "[[realism (arts)|realism]]" and tried to give it to them. Webb had tremendous respect for those in law enforcement. He often said, in interviews, that he was angry about the "ridiculous amount" of abuse to which police were subjected by the press and the public. Webb was also impressed by the long hours, the low pay, and the high injury rate among police investigators of the day, particularly in the LAPD, which had by then acquired a notorious reputation for jettisoning officers who had become ill or injured in the line of duty; in Webb's book, ''The Badge'', one of Erwin Walker's victims, LAPD detective Lt. Colin Forbes, was among those whose experiences were so noted.<ref>Webb and Ellroy, p. 103: "One of many examples of selfless service was that of LAPD detective Lt. Colin Forbes, who went to work each day carrying a .45-caliber slug next to his spine after being shot by none other than [[Erwin Walker]]. After his health was ruined from years of stakeouts and violent altercations with criminals, Lt. Forbes would be pensioned off at a mere $300 a month by the LAPD at the age of 46."</ref>

In announcing his vision of ''Dragnet,'' Webb said he intended to perform a service for the police by showing them as low-key working-class heroes. ''Dragnet'' moved away from earlier portrayals of the police in shows such as ''Jeff Regan'' and ''Pat Novak,'' which had often shown them as brutal and even corrupt. ''Dragnet'' became a successful television show in 1952. [[Barton Yarborough]] died of a heart attack in 1951, after filming only two episodes, and [[Barney Phillips]] (Sgt. Ed Jacobs) and Herbert Ellis (Officer Frank Smith) temporarily stepped in as partners. Veteran radio and film actor Ben Alexander took over the role of jovial, burly Officer Frank Smith. Alexander was popular and remained a cast member until the show's cancellation in 1959. In 1954, a full-length feature-film adaptation of the series was released, starring Webb, Alexander, and [[Richard Boone]].

The television version of ''Dragnet'' began with this narration by [[George Fenneman]]: "Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent." Webb would intone, "This is the city: Los Angeles, California." He would then make a historical or topical point, describe his duties, his partner, and superior on the episode. The radio series had a similar opening, though Webb, as Friday, did not give a unique Los Angeles-themed opening. Webb then set the plot by describing a typical day and then led into the story. "It was Wednesday, March 19th. It was cool in Los Angeles. I was at headquarters, working narcotics&nbsp;..." At the end of each show, Fenneman repeated his opening narration, revised to read: "The story you have just seen is true. The names were changed to protect the innocent."

A second announcer, [[Hal Gibney]], usually gave dates when and specific courtrooms where trials were held for the suspects, announcing the trial verdicts after commercial breaks. Many suspects shown to have been found guilty at the end were also shown as having been confined at [[San Quentin Rehabilitation Center|San Quentin State Prison]]. Webb frequently recreated entire floors of buildings on sound stages, such as the police headquarters at [[Los Angeles City Hall]] and a floor of the ''[[Los Angeles Herald Examiner]].''

During ''Dragnet''{{'}}s early days, Webb continued to appear in movies, notably as Artie Green, the best friend of [[William Holden]]'s character in the 1950 [[Billy Wilder]] film ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]].'' The character Green was an assistant director and fiancé to script reader Betty Schaefer (played by Nancy Olson).

In ''Dark City'', Webb played a vicious [[card sharp]] and Harry Morgan a punch-drunk ex-fighter, in contrast to the pair's straight-arrow image in the later ''Dragnet''. Also in 1950, Webb appeared in ''[[The Men (1950 film)|The Men]]'', Marlon Brando's debut film. Both actors played paraplegics undergoing rehabilitation at a veterans' hospital. In a subplot, Webb's character, a cynical intellectual, is fleeced of his life savings by a woman who feigns romantic interest.

In 1951, Webb introduced a short-lived radio series, ''[[Pete Kelly's Blues (radio series)|Pete Kelly's Blues]]'', in an attempt to bring the music he loved to a broader audience. That show became the basis for a 1955 [[Pete Kelly's Blues (film)|film of the same name]]. In 1959, a television version was made. Neither was very successful. The character of Pete Kelly was a [[cornet]] player who supplemented his income from playing in a nightclub band by working as a private investigator.