Joel Marston was born Joel Friedman in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 30, 1922. He began acting as a teenager, and by 1944 he was on Broadway in Wallflower at the Cort Theatre. He went on to a screen and television career that ran from the late 1940s into the early 1990s. Few of his Elitch peers could match his range: Broadway juvenile to Hollywood character actor.
Marston’s connection to the Elitch Theatre stretched across sixteen years and seven summers: 1947, 1955, 1957, and four consecutive seasons from 1960 to 1963. He first appeared in 1947, a season led by Patricia Neal and Peter Cookson under longtime director George Somnes. He returned in the mid-1950s between film and television assignments, then rejoined the company for the early 1960s. By then the schedule had eased. The company had played seven days a week until 1960, when Sunday became a full day off. The Elitch still changed plays every week, and its marquee photographed in the early 1960s by Orin Sealy (now in the Denver Public Library collection) bills “Joel Marston” beside Mala Powers in The Seven Year Itch. He is also listed in the 1963 company program alongside Whitfield Connor, Mala Powers, Mary Jackson, and Joe E. Brown’s season-closing Harvey. That was a landmark year, when the Elitch Gardens Theatre Company became its own corporation and the theatre began shifting from resident stock to touring star packages.
Away from Denver, Marston worked steadily in Hollywood. His credits include Sky Dragon and several other 1949 films, TV’s Space Patrol, Ring of Fire, The Last Voyage, Heaven Can Wait, and guest spots on The Love Boat, Taxi, Dynasty, and T. J. Hooker.
Seasons at the Theatre
- 1947, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963
Productions/Roles:
- 1947: Summer stock company season (Patricia Neal and Peter Cookson, leads)
- The Seven Year Itch (billed with Mala Powers on the Elitch marquee)
- 1960–1963: Resident company member; named in the 1963 program with Whitfield Connor, Mala Powers, Mary Jackson, and others
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
- Broadway (1944–46): Five productions, beginning with Wallflower (Cort Theatre, 1944, as Warren James), then Good Morning, Corporal, The Streets Are Guarded, Marriage Is for Single People, and A Family Affair (1946). IBDB lists him as “Joel Marson.”
- Film debut, 1949: Sky Dragon, Mississippi Rhythm, Forgotten Women, Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters, There’s a Girl in My Heart
- Space Patrol (ABC, 1952–54): Recurring TV work in the early science-fiction series
- 1950s–60s films: Battle Taxi, The Fearmakers, The Decks Ran Red, The Last Voyage (1960), Ring of Fire (1961)
- Television: Public Defender, Bourbon Street Beat, The Lucy Show, Taxi, The Love Boat, Dynasty, and two years on General Hospital
- Star Trek, 1979–86: Star Trek: The Motion Picture; credited as dialogue coach on Star Trek III; coach for Shatner on T. J. Hooker (1982–86)
- Final film: Oscar (1991)
Elitch Theatre Connections:
- Starred with TWO Elitch Alums — Farley Granger and Sada Thompson — in The Carefree Tree by Aldyth Morris. Produced at the Phoenix Theatre (NYC – 1955) starring Larry Gates, Farley Granger, Joel Marston, Edith Meiser, Janice Rule, Blanche Yurka, Jerry Stiller (Of the comedy team, “Stiller and Meara”. Husband of Anne Meara. Father of Ben Stiller.), Sorrell Booke, Alvin Ailey, Frances Sternhagen, Sada Thompson (Star of television’s “Family”), etc. Directed by Jack Landau
Wikipedia Link:
