David Janssen (March 27, 1931 – February 13, 1980) was a Golden Globe-winning Emmy Award- nominated American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the hit television series The Fugitive (1963–1967) with Barry Morse.
Janssen was born David Harold Meyer in Naponee, Nebraska to banker Harold Edward Meyer (May 12, 1906 – November 4, 1990) and Berniece Graf (May 11, 1910 – November 26, 1995). They were married on May 22, 1930 in Nebraska and divorced in 1935. Following his parents' divorce when he was five, his mother took him to Los Angeles, California. She eventually married Eugene Janssen (February 18, 1918 – March 30, 1996) on September 29, 1940 in Los Angeles. His father married Reva Kroeger in 1941. David used his stepfather's name after he entered show business as a child. He attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. His first film part was at the age of thirteen, and by his twenty-fifth birthday, he had appeared in twenty films and served two years as an enlisted man in the United States Army. During his Army days Janssen became friends with fellow soldiers Martin Milner and Clint Eastwood.
He starred in the television series Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957-60), O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971–72), and Harry O (1974–76). His films include John Wayne's The Green Berets (1968), the science fiction film Marooned, and a starring role in Generation, a comedy that also featured Pete Duel, Kim Darby, and Carl Reiner. At the time of his death, Janssen had just begun filming a television movie playing the part of Father Damien, the priest who dedicated himself to the leper colony on the island of Molokai. The part was eventually reassigned to actor Ken Howard.
He was married twice, first to Ellie Graham on August 23, 1959 in Las Vegas, Nevada; they divorced on August 23, 1969. He dated actress Rosemary Forsyth for a few years. From October 4, 1975 to his death, he was married to sometime actress and model Dani Crayne Greco, born Darlyne Danielle Swanson on December 25, 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dani was previously married to singer Buddy Greco; they divorced in April 1974.
A smoker and a heavy drinker, plus a constant worker, Janssen was only 48 when he died of a sudden heart attack in 1980 in Malibu, California two days into filming. He was interred in the Hillside Memorial Cemetery in Culver City, California.
