Birthday: 13 February 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Birth Name: Lyle Stathem Bettger
Height: 183 cm
Handsome, blond-haired, steely-eyed villain in many film Westerns. He was never the grizzled outlaw, covered in trail dust. No, he was the immaculate-looking, "respectable" (but two-faced) dandy in silk damask vest, often puffing suavely on a cheroot, whose ashes he then might contemptuously flick in the hero's face. He could confron...
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Handsome, blond-haired, steely-eyed villain in many film Westerns. He was never the grizzled outlaw, covered in trail dust. No, he was the immaculate-looking, "respectable" (but two-faced) dandy in silk damask vest, often puffing suavely on a cheroot, whose ashes he then might contemptuously flick in the hero's face. He could confront an antagonist wearing a wry smile, even while neatly inserting his dirk between the latter's ribs. One wonders why Bettger, with his Aryan looks and menacing sneer, never became typecast as the stereotypical Nazi SS officer or Gestapo interrogator. (Perhaps the man was just fortunate in that regard.) Show less «
[about his constantly being cast in films as the villain] It was tough being a dad at that time. I r...Show more »
[about his constantly being cast in films as the villain] It was tough being a dad at that time. I remember my two sons, then seven and eight, accompanying their mom to one of my movies. I was, of course, the villain, and near the end where you have the big fight my sons yelled out, "Gee, I hope my daddy wins". But they were disappointed. Show less «