quickly became highly sought-after; his burly frame and craggy, intense features, coupled with a gruff, powerful voice lent themselves to a wide variety of roles. Most often, he played lovable father figures, stern businessmen, heavies, ship captains, or authority figures of some sort. During the 1940s, he was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He served as host of the 1950s television series The Man Behind the Badge. On April 16, 1958, Bickford appeared with Roger Smith in "The Daniel Barrister Story" on Wagon Train. In this first-season episode, Daniel Barrister, played by Bickford, objects to medical treatment for his wife, Jenny, the victim of a wagon accident. Meanwhile, Dr. Peter H. Culver, played by Smith, has successfully fought a smallpox epidemic in a nearby town. He is taken to the wagon train by scout Flint McCullough, portrayed by series regular Robert Horton, to treat Mrs. Barrister. Viewers never knew if Barrister yielded to allow Dr. Culver to treat Jenny. Bickford continued to act in generally prestigious projects right up to his death. He guest-starred on The Islanders, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, and The Eleventh Hour. In his final years, Bickford played rancher John Grainger, owner of the Shiloh Ranch, on The Virginian. Bickford was well-liked by both fans and his fellow actors, including series lead James Drury. According to Drury, Bickford, who guest-starred earlier in the series in an unrelated role, wished he could have been on the series from the beginning. According to Paul Green, author of A History of Television's The Virginian, 1962-1971, Bickford's vigorous portrayal of John Grainger helped restore the quality of the show after what some considered a chaotic fourth season. Two of the actor's most memorable late-career, big-screen roles came in the Western The Big Country (1958), as a wealthy and ruthless rancher, with Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston; and in the drama Days of Wine and Roses (1962), as the forlorn father of an alcoholic, with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who resembled Bickford, ran The Big Country four nights in a row in the White House when it was first released. Personal life Bickford married Beatrice Ursula Allen in 1916, in Manhattan. The couple had a son, Rex, and a daughter, Doris. Some sources have stated that Rex died in 1960, but this is disputed by a newspaper story printed at the