Louis Jean Heydt

Early life

Heydt was born in 1903 (not 1905, as many sources have it) in Montclair, New Jersey, the son of German parents George Frederick Heydt, a jeweler and the secretary and executor for Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the former Emma Foerster.

He was educated at Worcester Academy and Dartmouth College. He initially wanted to be a journalist and worked as a reporter for The New York World. Heydt received his start in the theatre while visiting a classmate backstage while The Trial of Mary Dugan was in rehearsal. As an actual reporter, he caught the attention of the producers and was offered the role of a reporter in the play. He made his stage debut therein and went on to appear in a dozen plays, including Strictly Dishonorable, Before Morning and Happy Birthday. He also played in the London company of The Trial of Mary Dugan.

Film and TV career

In the 1930s, Heydt traveled to Hollywood, where he appeared in over a hundred films, most notably Gone With the Wind (1939), The Great McGinty (1940), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946).

Heydt moved early into television, initially taking roles in basic Westerns and related programs such as outlaw Tom Horn on the 1950s western television series Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by Jim Davis. He appeared in eleven episodes of Richard Carlson's 1958-1959 western series, Mackenzie's Raiders.

Heydt guest starred on the Adventures of Superman, Treasury Men in Action, Cavalcade of America, TV Reader's Digest, Crossroads, Lux Video Theatre, Fury, The Man from Blackhawk, Wagon Train, and Maverick.

Personal life and death

Heydt married Leona Maricle, an actress in the Broadway company of The Trial of Mary Dugan, on August 13, 1928. He later married Donna Hanor.

Heydt died of a heart attack on January 29, 1960, in Boston, where he collapsed immediately after leaving the stage following the first scene of a pre-Broadway performance of the play, There Was a Little Girl, in which he appeared opposite Jane Fonda. Actor Joseph Curtiss carried him to his dressing room, but it was apparent that he had died instantly. Heydt's understudy, William Adler, finished the performance and the run.