American actor of stage and screen known for Westerns, war films, and the long-running sitcom F Troop.
Background
Born Forrest Meredith Tucker in Plainfield, Indiana, he ran away from home as a teenager and worked in burlesque before signing a film contract with Columbia Pictures.
Career
He played second leads in dozens of Westerns and war films through the 1940s and 1950s, including John Wayne’s “Sands of Iwo Jima.” He starred as the scheming Sgt. Morgan O’Rourke on ABC’s “F Troop” from 1965 to 1967, and later returned to film in “Chisum” and the Burt Reynolds Western “Cannonball Run II.”
Style
Tucker was known for a broad-shouldered physical presence and easy comic timing, equally comfortable in Western leads and sitcom characters.