Unsung supporting performers

From time to time, I come across a performer who makes a vivid impression, and my first thought is, "Who is that, why have I never seen them before and what else has he/she done?"

Sam Buffington made only a handful of big-screen appearances - a half dozen or so - but amassed dozens of television credits in a career before the cameras that lasted only three years. 



I think I first noticed him in a 1950s Maverick appearance (of which he made four others) and have since caught him in Perry Masons, Alfred Hitchcocks, 77 Sunset Strips and other shows of the era. He had screen presence to burn, naturalistic ease before the camera and a marvelously resonant voice, all of which made him an attention grabber. He was as ideally suited to playing malevolence as he was to geniality, but was at his best combining the two as shady but likable rogues. 

The clip below from a 1957 show called The Gray Ghost gives only a rough idea of what he had to offer (his first scene starts at 1:20):

If you're interested, stick around for his scene that starts at 4:09. He doesn't have to do much to dominate (or watch the whole episode; his scenes are worth it).

While nowhere near representing the range of which I learned he was capable, Buffington is nevertheless acting rings around the show's star, Tod Andrews. One remarkable thing is that he was all of 25 at the time. Like '70s - '80s counterpart Wilford Brimley, Buffington's screen persona was that of maturity far beyond his actual years. He died in 1960 at only 28, by his own hand, while engaged in a regular role on Audie Murphy's show, Whispering Smith. A relative reported later that his suicide was suspected among the family to have been the result of internalized conflicts related to sexuality, a tragic and all too common circumstance of the times. 

Whatever the case, I can conjecture only that television and films of succeeding years missed out on what promised to be a great deal of quality work. And I know that when his name turns up in the cast of a film or show I've not seen, I'm going to witness more of it.    
 

Another in the recent series of actors who could easily pass for siblings:

Oh, that's just too strange and spooky (but in the best way possible.) I was scrolling down when I thought of Lois Nettleton myself and in the space of two seconds at the very most, I saw your post. Dang! Pow! Snap! Zoom! I love it when this kind of thing happens! It's a sign of love and affirmation from the universe.

The lovely Miss Nettleton with the supernaturally sweet eyes appeared in three of my favorite tv shows: "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "The Twilight Zone" and "The Golden Girls".