Matinee Classics - Victor French Biography & Filmography

Victor French ACTOR

PHOTOS

VICTOR FRENCH BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Victor French was born on December 4th, 1934 in Santa Barbara, California with the birth name Victor Edwin French. His father, Ted French, was a actor and stuntman which is what first peaked his interest in the entertainment industry. Victor had many movie roles, some of which were "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn just to name a few, "Charro!" (1969) starring Elvis Presley and "Rio Lobo" (1970) starring John Wayne in the latter part of Wayne's career.

He began acting in his early twenties, mostly also doing stunt work. He appeared on such television series as, "Two Faces West" (1961), "Hawaiian Eye" (1963), "The Dakotas" (1963), " 77 Sunset Strip " (1963), "The Virginian" (1962-1964), "The Wild Wild West" (1965), "Rawhide" (1965), "Dr. Kildare" (1965), "Batman" (1966), "Death Valley Days" (1966), "Lassie" (1965-1966) and "Get Smart" (1965-1966), portraying Agent 44.

One of his most well known roles was as Mr. Edwards, on the television series, "Little House on the Prairie" (1974) which lead to his own sitcom titled, "Carter Country" (1977). Some of his latest roles were on the television movies, "Little House: Look Back to Yesterday" (1983), "Little House: The Last Farewell" (1984), "Little House: Bless All the Dear Children" (1984) and the television series, "Highway to Heaven" (1984-1989) co-starring with Michael Landon.

In addition to his career as an actor he worked on the other side of the industry as a director for a number of Los Angeles based local theaters. He also directed such television series as, "The Fantastic Journey", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", "Dallas", "Father Murphy", "Fame" and "Highway to Heaven" among others.

In 1998, Victor French was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

He married twice throughout his lifetime, first to Judith Schenz in 1959 and they had three children together before the marriage came to an end in 1975. He then married Julie Cobb in 1976 however by 1978, this marriage came to an end. He did not re-marry and on June 15th, 1989 he passed away at the age of fifty four, in Los Angeles, California after suffering from lung cancer.