Elliott Lewis (November 28, 1917 – May 23, 1990) was an American actor, writer, producer and director who worked in radio and television during the twentieth century. He was known for his ability to work in these capacities across all genres during the golden age of radio, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Radio". Later in life, he wrote a series of detective novels. Early years Elliott Bruce Lewis was born in New York City, on November 28, 1917, to Julius Lewis and Anne Rabinowitz Lewis. His father was a printer. He had one younger brother, Raymond. By 1930, the family was living in Mount Vernon, New York. Lewis headed west to Los Angeles to take a pre-law course in his twenties but found himself drawn to acting. He attended Los Angeles City College, where he studied music and drama. Radio career Lewis made his radio debut in 1936, at the age of 18. While Lewis was a student at Los Angeles CIty College, True Eames Boardman noticed him in a college play and invited him to read four lines in a biography of Simon Bolivar Boardman was producing for Sunday Workshop. Lewis' role was to scream and bang metal chairs in an earthquake scene. His mother drove him to the NBC studio, kissed him for luck, and waited in the car with the radio on. At the moment of her son's debut, a streetcar rumbled by, preventing her from hearing his big scene. Another early role was as Mr. Presto the Magician, on the transcription series The Cinnamon Bear (1937). In 1939, he became the host of Knickerbocker Playhouse. As an actor, Lewis was in high demand on radio, and he displayed a talent for everything from comedy to melodrama. He gave voice to the bitter Harvard-educated Soundman on the 1940–41 series of Burns and Allen and several characters (Rudy the radio detective, the quick-tempered delivery man, and Joe Bagley) on the 1947–48 series, many characters on The Jack Benny Radio Show (including the thuggish "Mooley", and cowboy star "Rodney Dangerfield"), a variety of characters on the Parkyakarkus show, and Rex Stout's roguish private eye Archie Goodwin, playing opposite Francis X. Bushman in The Amazing Nero Wolfe (1945). Lewis was one of several actors who had the title role in The Casebook of Gregory Hood, and he portrayed the title character in Hawk Durango. He played Harry Graves on