John Rollin Lupton (August 23, 1928 – November 3, 1993) was an American film and television actor.
Lupton was the son of Adelma and Dorothy (née Marsh) Lupton.[1] He developed an interest in drama while he was a student at Shorewood High School in Shorewood, Wisconsin.[2] He pursued acting via an apprenticeship with a stock theater company in New York, and after graduating he toured with the Strawbridge Children's Theater Company.[1]
After graduating from New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lupton acted with stock companies in Ocean City, New Jersey, and Saratoga Springs, New York. Lupton was signed as a contract player at MGM in Hollywood and made his first film appearance in On the Town in 1949.[1]
He co-starred in 1956 with Fess Parker in Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase. During the 1954-1955 television season, Lupton appeared as a college student in several episodes of the CBS sitcom, The Halls of Ivy. He also played Chris Lambert on the NBC series Fury (1955-1960),[3]: 373-374 Indian agent Tom Jeffords on the TV series Broken Arrow (1956-1958), and Frank on the ABC serial Never Too Young (1965-1966).[3]: 750 [3]
In 1959, Lupton was cast as a struggling writer in The Rebel Set. Also in 1959, he portrayed the historical Buffalo Bill Cody in the episode "The Grand Duke" on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days. The episode focuses on the friendship that developed when the skeptical Cody was assigned by the United States Army to escort The Grand Duke of Russia on a Western buffalo hunt. In 1961, Lupton was cast in another Death Valley Days episode, "South of Horror Flats", as Pinkerton agent Allen Hodges, who is hired by a ghost-plagued woman to take her and her fortune in gold to San Francisco.
In 1960, Lupton guest starred as Andrew Sykes in the episode "The Triple Cross" of the syndicated crime drama, U.S. Marshal. That same year, he appeared in a variety of programs, including Sea Hunt, Men into Space, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Gunsmoke as Ben Tolliver, another episode of Gunsmoke as Carl, Tales of Wells Fargo and Checkmate.
On April 25, 1961, Lupton played the role of Fred Powers in "Killers' Odds", an episode of NBC's Laramie. Series character Jess Harper (Robert Fuller) comes upon Powers, a stranger with a price on his head, although the charge is fraudulent because he had killed in self-defense. In 1961, Lupton was cast as Dr. John "Buzz" Neldrum in the episode "A Doctor Comes to Town" of the comedy-drama Window on Main Street, starring Robert Young as an author who returns to his hometown after the death of his wife and child. Lupton guest-starred as Amber in the 1961 episode "The Platinum Highway" of ABC's crime drama, Target: The Corruptors. He guest-starred in the 1965 episode "What Television Show Does Your Dog Watch?" of the CBS sitcom The Cara Williams Show. He also appeared on NBC's Daniel Boone.
Lupton later appeared in the 1965 biblical film The Greatest Story Ever Told as the speaker of the town of Capernaum, and as Jesse James in the 1966 cult horror Western, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter.
His later film career included roles in The Day of the Wolves (1971), The Astronaut (1972), Cool Breeze (1972), Napoleon and Samantha (1972), The Slams (1973), The Phantom of Hollywood (1974) and Airport 1975 (1974).
Other film appearances were in Disney's The World's Greatest Athlete (1973) as the race starter, The Whiz Kid and the Carnival Caper (1976), The Young Runaways (1978) and The Secret of Lost Valley (1980).
He was featured from 1967 to 1980 on the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives in the pivotal role of Dr. Tom (Tommy) Horton Jr.
John Lupton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located on the west side of the 1700 block of Vine Street.[4]
On April 7, 1956,[5] Lupton married Anne Sills, and they had a daughter, Rollin.[2] They divorced three years later, and on July 24, 1969, he wed Dian Friml in Las Vegas, Nevada,[6] to whom he was still married at the time of his death.
Lupton died in 1993, aged 65, from undisclosed causes, in Los Angeles, California.[7] He was survived by his daughter, Rollin Tyson Lupton (by his first wife, Anne); his second wife, Dian (Friml) Lupton (granddaughter of legendary composer Rudolf Friml); a stepson, Edward Beckley; and four grandchildren. His widow, Dian, died of cancer in 2005, aged 69.[8]
