--- name: "Bradford Dillman" canonical: "https://film.one/person/bradford-dillman" roles: ["Actor"] born: "14 April 1930" died: "16 January 2018" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-19T16:48:00.146351+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Bradford Dillman Actor. Born 14 April 1930 in San Francisco, California, USA. Died 16 January 2018. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 14 April 1930, San Francisco, California, USA - **Died:** 16 January 2018 - **Also known as:** Brad Dillman - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_Dillman, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q896953, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0226947/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/18647 ## Fi1m on Bradford Dillman > A dark, well-bred face that Hollywood read as trouble: Bradford Dillman was at his best playing clever men you should not trust, and he spent most of his career being paid to be pleasant instead. The good work is early, and much of it is O'Neill. Watch Bradford Dillman in *Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971) and you see the problem. As Dr. Lewis Dixon, the animal psychologist who takes the talking chimpanzees under his wing, he is courteous, attentive and kind, and he has nothing to do but be those things and drive the car. He does it well. We found ourselves liking him and slightly sorry for him, because the face is that of a man who could plainly play something sharper, and the film never asks him to. The sharper thing came first. Dillman began on Broadway in 1956 as Edmund Tyrone in *Long Day's Journey into Night*, the first actor to play O'Neill's version of himself, and Fox signed him the following year. In *Compulsion* (1959), Richard Fleischer's film of the Leopold and Loeb case, he played Arthur Straus, the dominant half of the pair, opposite Orson Welles, and critics found him chilling: the intelligence turned all the way inward, the charm used as a weapon. That performance fixed him as a type. Dark hair, an Ivy League bearing, the look of a man from a good family with something to hide. For a few years he was the suave villain or the suspect, and he was good at it. Then he left Fox around 1962 and the parts got smaller. Through the 1970s and 1980s he worked steadily, mostly in television guest roles and supporting parts in films, and he was frank about why. He had six children to feed, and he called his policy "the Safeway solution": take what is going. It is an honourable reason and it produced a great deal of routine work. *Piranha* (1978) gave him a lead in a horror film that has since found a following, and *Escape* gave him the part described above. He is reliable in all of it, and reliable is the word one reaches for when the material is not. The exception, by his own account, is O'Neill. He went back to the playwright in John Frankenheimer's *The Iceman Cometh* (1973) as Willie Oban, and called it his favourite screen role. We have not reviewed it and will not judge it here, but it is telling that the part he loved was the one that let him be clever and ruined at the same time, which is the combination *Compulsion* had promised. So: one strong early film, a stage reputation the screen mostly wasted, and a long middle of decent men in decent suits. If you want to see what he could do, start with *Compulsion*. If you want to see what he was usually asked to do, *Escape* will tell you inside ten minutes, and you will like him anyway. ## Biography Bradford Dillman was an American actor and author. Born in San Francisco in 1930, he graduated from Yale University and studied at the Actors Studio. He made his Broadway debut in 1956, originating the role of Edmund Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's *Long Day's Journey into Night* and receiving a Theatre World Award. Dillman appeared in over 140 film, television and stage productions between 1953 and 1995. His film credits include Dr. Lewis Dixon in *Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971), J.J. in *The Way We Were* (1973), Captain McKay in *The Enforcer* (1976), Paul Grogan in *Piranha* (1978) and Captain Briggs in *Sudden Impact* (1983). He shared the Best Actor prize at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival for his role in *Compulsion*. He also appeared in episodes of *Columbo*, *Wonder Woman*, *Murder, She Wrote* and *Mission: Impossible*. Dillman died in Santa Barbara, California, in 2018. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, nytimes.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971), Fi1m 77, as Dr. Lewis Dixon — [page](https://film.one/film/escape-from-the-planet-of-the-apes.md) ## Complete filmography (129) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Heart of Justice* (1992), as Mr. Burgess - *Christine Cromwell* (1989), series, Actor - *Lords of the Deep* (1989), as Dobler - *Heroes Stand Alone* (1989), as Walt Simmons - *The Man Outside* (1987), as Frank Simmons - *Covenant* (1985), as Eric Noble - *Treasure of the Amazon* (1985), as Clark - *Murder, She Wrote* (1984), series, as Dennis McConnell, Dep. Police Comm. Bradley Folkes, Eric Benderson, Carl Dorner, Richard Ellston, Avery Stone, Arthur Brent, Simeon Kershaw - *Hot Pursuit* (1984), series, as Victor Modrian - *Hot Pursuit* (1984), as Victor Modrian - *Sudden Impact* (1983), as Captain Briggs - *Matt Houston* (1982), series, Actor - *Hotel* (1982), series, as Paul Stanton - *King's Crossing* (1982), series, as Paul Hollister - *Falcon Crest* (1981), series, as Darryl Clayton - *Dynasty* (1981), series, Actor - *Running Scared* (1980), as Arthur Jaeger - *The Legend of Walks Far Woman* (1980), as Singer - *Tourist* (1980), as Harry Flemington - *The Memory of Eva Ryker* (1980), as Jason Eddington - *Before and After* (1979), as Jack Matthews - *Guyana: Crime of the Century* (1979), as Dr. Gary Shaw - *Love and Bullets* (1979), as Jim Brickman - *Jennifer: A Woman’s Story* (1979), as Donald Prince - *Sword of Justice* (1978), series, as Harry Gaedel - *Piranha* (1978), as Paul Grogan - *The Swarm* (1978), as Major Baker - *The Amsterdam Kill* (1977), as Odums - *The Incredible Hulk* (1977), series, Actor - *The Lincoln Conspiracy* (1977), as John Wilkes Booth - *The Hostage Heart* (1977), as Dr. Eric Lake - *The Enforcer* (1976), as Captain McKay - *Charlie's Angels* (1976), series, as Tony Kramer - *Kingston* (1976), as Avery Stanton - *Street Killing* (1976), as Howard Bronstein - *Mastermind* (1976), as Jabez Link - *Widow* (1976), as Richard - *One Away* (1976), as Ruben Bass - *Demon, Demon* (1975), as Sam - *Wonder Woman* (1975), series, as Arthur Deal III - *Death in Deep Water* (1975), as Gary Stevens - *Medical Story* (1975), series, as Dr. Gerald Warren - *Three for the Road* (1975), series, Actor - *Bug* (1975), as Prof. James Parmiter - *The Next Voice You See* (1975), as Stan Kay - *Bronk* (1975), series, as Luke - *Force Five* (1975), as Michael Dominick - *The Legendary Curse of the Hope Diamond* (1975), as Ned McLean - *Adventures of the Queen* (1975), as Martin Reed - *Please Call It Murder* (1975), as Lt. Danny Ianello - *A Black Ribbon for Deborah* (1974), as Michel Lagrange - *The Disappearance of Flight 412* (1974), as Maj. Mike Dunning - *The Manhunter* (1974), series, Actor - *99 and 44/100% Dead* (1974), as Big Eddie - *Gold* (1974), as Manfred Steyner - *Chosen Survivors* (1974), as Peter Macomber - *Last Bride Of Salem* (1974), as Matt Clifton - *Murder or Mercy* (1974), as Sam Champion - *The Iceman Cometh* (1973), as Willie Oban - *The Way We Were* (1973), as J.J. - *Deliver Us from Evil* (1973), as Steven Dennis - *Thriller* (1973), series, as Stan Kay, Gary Stevens - *Barnaby Jones* (1973), series, as Terry McCormack, Charles Kohlmeyer / Stanley Rickland - *Moon of the Wolf* (1972), as Andrew Rodanthe - *The Streets of San Francisco* (1972), series, Actor - *The Delphi Bureau: The Merchant of Death Assignment* (1972), as Randy Jamison - *The Eyes of Charles Sand* (1972), as Jeffrey Winslow - *The Sixth Sense* (1972), series, Actor - *The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler* (1971), as Sen. Clayton Zachary Wheeler - *Revenge!* (1971), as Frank Klaner - *Five Desperate Women* (1971), as Jim Meeker - *Columbo* (1971), series, as Tony Goodland — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/columbo.md) - *Cannon* (1971), series, Actor - *Brother John* (1971), as Lloyd Thomas - *Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971), as Dr. Lewis Dixon — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/escape-from-the-planet-of-the-apes.md) - *The Mephisto Waltz* (1971), as Bill Delancey - *Longstreet* (1971), as Duke Paige - *Alias Smith and Jones* (1971), series, Actor - *Night Gallery* (1970), series, as Richard Upton Pickman (segment "Pickman's Model") - *The Mary Tyler Moore Show* (1970), series, as Matt Bryan — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-mary-tyler-moore-show.md) - *Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?* (1970), as Capt. Myerson - *McCloud* (1970), series, as Michael Dominick - *Black Water Gold* (1970), as Lyle Fawcett - *Medical Center* (1969), series, as Inspector Fellows - *Marcus Welby, M.D.* (1969), series, as Ken McGurney - *The Bridge at Remagen* (1969), as Maj. Barnes - *Fear No Evil* (1969), as Paul Varney - *The Mod Squad* (1968), series, Actor - *The Name of the Game* (1968), series, as Earl Keith - *Jigsaw* (1968), as Jonathan Fields - *The Helicopter Spies* (1968), as Luther Sebastian - *Sergeant Ryker* (1968), as Capt. David Young - *Judd, for the Defense* (1967), series, Actor - *Ironside* (1967), series, Actor - *Mission: Impossible* (1966), series, as Paul Shipherd — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/mission-impossible-1966.md) - *Felony Squad* (1966), series, Actor - *Shane* (1966), series, as Maj. George Hackett - *The Plainsman* (1966), as Lt. Stiles - *Court Martial* (1966), series, as Capt. David Young - *A Rage to Live* (1965), as Sidney Tate - *The F.B.I.* (1965), series, as Roger Leroy Mason, George Bellamy, Lawrence Reynolds, Curtis Breer, Neil Stryker - *The Wild Wild West* (1965), series, Actor - *The Big Valley* (1965), series, as Eric Mercer, Dr. James Beldon - *Profiles in Courage* (1964), series, as Edmund G. Ross - *The Man from U.N.C.L.E.* (1964), series, as Luther Sebastian - *12 O'Clock High* (1964), series, Actor - *Kraft Suspense Theatre* (1963), series, as Capt. David Young - *Espionage* (1963), series, as Magnus Anderssen - *The Greatest Show on Earth* (1963), series, Actor - *Breaking Point* (1963), series, Actor - *Monstrosity* (1963), as Narrator (voice; uncredited) - *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962), series, as Bill Nelson, Howard Clements - *The Virginian* (1962), series, as Sam Harder - *Alcoa Premiere* (1961), series, Actor - *Ben Casey* (1961), series, Actor - *Dr. Kildare* (1961), series, as Tony Warren, Andrew Webb, Rev. Andrew Webb - *Francis of Assisi* (1961), as Francis Bernardone of Assisi - *Kraft Mystery Theatre* (1961), series, Actor - *Sanctuary* (1961), as Gowan Stevens - *Circle of Deception* (1960), as Capt. Paul Raine - *Crack in the Mirror* (1960), as Larnier / Claude - *Compulsion* (1959), as Arthur A. Straus - *In Love and War* (1958), as Alan Newcombe - *Naked City* (1958), series, as Roger Fallon - *A Certain Smile* (1958), as Bertrand Griot - *Matinee Theater* (1955), series, Actor - *Climax!* (1954), series, as Greg Fletcher - *Keep Our Honor Bright* (1953), as Student - *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as Erik Valkay ## Gallery - ![Bradford Dillman](https://film.one/media/person/1097851/gallery-7a69ef123249.jpg) Bradford Dillman — ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Bradford_Dillman_1966.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Bradford Dillman](https://film.one/media/person/1097851/gallery-c69c8b42d743.jpg) Bradford Dillman — Image via TMDB - ![Bradford Dillman](https://film.one/media/person/1097851/gallery-2562e70f792d.jpg) Bradford Dillman — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 1 won - Theatre World Award 1957: Theatre World Award (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bradford-dillman