Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: John Randolph Webb , John Randolph

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Santa Monica, California, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 42

TV Involvements: 40


Most Famous Work

Biography

John Randolph 'Jack' Webb, also known by the pen name John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet. He was also the founder of his own production company, Mark VII Limited. Born in Santa Monica, California, Webb grew up in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles as the child of a single mother after his father left home before he was born. During World War II, Webb enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, but he "washed out" of flight training and was granted a hardship discharge to care for his family. Following his discharge, he moved to San Francisco, where a wartime shortage of announcers led to a temporary appointment to his own half-hour comedy radio show on ABC's KGO Radio in 1946. By 1949 he had abandoned comedy for drama, and starred in numerous radio shows until finding success in film and television in the late 1950s. Webb had a featured role as a crime lab technician in the 1948 film He Walked by Night, a thinly-fictionalized recounting of the 1946 Walker crime spree. This experience 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. Following the success of Dragnet, Webb appeared in numerous television shows and specials, including the well-known 1972 series Emergency! During his work on a revival of Dragnet in 1982, Webb suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 62. His funeral was given full police honors, and then LAPD Chief Daryl Gates retired the badge number 714 used by Webb's Joe Friday of Dragnet fame.  

Most Famous Work

The Ford Television Theatre
Average
6
Dragnet
Average
7

Dragnet

(1951) Creator
Adam-12
Average
7

Adam-12

(1968) Creator
Temple Houston
Average
6

Temple Houston

(1963) Creator
The New Adam-12
Average
9

The New Adam-12

(1990) Creator
Emergency!
Average
8

Emergency!

(1972) Creator
Project U.F.O.
Average
7

Project U.F.O.

(1978) Creator
77 Sunset Strip
Average
7

77 Sunset Strip

(1958) Producer

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2016 Sgt. Joe Friday (archive footage)
2013 Joe Friday (archive footage)
2004 Sergeant Joe Friday in Dragnet (archive footage)
1971 N/A
Narrator
Self (archive footage)
1969 Joe Friday
1968 Security Man
1967 Narrator
N/A
Narrator
1962 Self
N/A
On-Camera Narrator
Narrator
1961 William 'Bill' Bowers
N/A
1959 Sam Gatlin
1957 Self
Gunnery Sgt. Jim Moore
1955 Himself
Pete Kelly
1954 Sergeant Joe Friday
1953 Self
1952 Self
1951 Sgt. Joe Friday
Ens. Anthony 'Tony' Barbo
Correspondent Dickerman
1950 Jack Webb
Augie
Self
Norm
Artie Green
Joe Regas
1949 Lee Whitey
1948 Bullseye (uncredited)
Self
1932 Boy in Schoolyard (uncredited)
Year Character Movie/Tv

Creator

Production

Directing

Writing

Year Role Movie/Tv
1967 Writer
1952 Story
Year Role Movie/Tv

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