Philip Carey was an American actor who lived from July 15th 1925 to February 6th 2009. He is best known for his roles in shows such as One Life to Live, All My Children, Little House on the Prairie, The Bionic Woman, and Gunsmoke.
Early Life:
Phil was born in Hackensack, New Jersey but he grew up on Long Island. While there he served in the United States Marine Corps during the Second World War and the Korean War. I have to commend him for this because those were not easy times to serve in the military. After leaving the military he attended the University of Miami where he studied drama and met his first wife Maureen Peppler. This marriage lasted long enough for them to have three children but unfortunately it ended and he later married Colleen Welch; the two stayed together until his death.
TV Career:
When Phil started out in the acting business he career was going pretty ok, but hardly anybody knew his name. This all changed after he stared in the television show Ford's Theatre. On the show he played the part of about ten different characters on ten different episodes. After that show he started to score bigger roles in shows such as Gunsmoke; there was no turning back for Phil. The show that most people remember him for is the show he stared in right up to his death; One Life to Live. On this show he gave life to the character Asa Buchanan, he did such a great job on this show that he received four nominations from the Soap Opera Digest Awards. These nominations were for Outstanding Male Scene Stealer, Outstanding Male Showstopper, Outstanding Scene Stealer, and Outstanding Villain/Villainess. I am sure if Lung Cancer had not taken his life he would have won the award more than once. For the most part Phil Carey was not the main actor in the films, TV shows, and plays he stared in. He was usually one of the supporting actors; but this did not stop his career from being very successful. Often times we forget that not every actor can be the one who takes up "all" the camera time. When we do this we usually write off people such as Phil as not being good actors/actress, but some of the best actors/actresses are the supporting ones; the leading actors/actresses would be nothing without them.
Other achievements:
Though most people do not know this Phil did not have much of an acting career before the age of 50. In fact his career was going so far south that most of the roles he had been getting were roles that did not have names at all, for example in the movie The System he played an unaccredited role as Voice of Radio Broadcaster. If Phil had given up his career, I am sure that nobody today would have heard of him; let alone watch any TV shows with his name in the credits.
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