All All. Sign In. Advanced search. Search filters Expand all. Birth date. Enter full date. Page topics. Only includes names with the selected topics. Death date. Gender identity. Male Female Non-binary Other. Adult names. Exclude Include. Bridget Moynahan. Actress Director Producer I, Robot She is known for playing Dr. Jim Hutton. Actor The Green Berets Son of Col. Thomas R. Hutton and Helen Ryan, his parents divorced when he was an infant. Jim recalled seeing his father only twice before his death, and moved to Albany, New York, in A bright but troublesome child claiming to have been in five high schools and a boarding school , he excelled as a writer and won a journalism scholarship when he began writing sports for his high school newspaper.
At Syracuse University, he lost his position in the school of journalism and scholarship when he was bitten by the acting bug. He subsequently lost academic ambition and failed three classes as a freshman. He used his summers to train in summer stock, but his intentions to continue academic pursuits were ended when he was expelled from Syracuse as a sophomore and again at Niagara College as a junior. He lived in Greenwich Village for almost a year to pursue a career on the stage, but when out of money and unable to pay his rent or buy food, he joined the army and was assigned to special services to act in training films.
He was later stationed in Berlin, where he founded the American Community Theater, by renovating an abandoned theater for a GI production of the play "Harvey" which he starred in. Receiving high praise from officers including official commendation, his superior officer agreed to assign Hutton to manage the theater as part of his official duties and he produced, directed, and acted in five productions over two years, receiving the European Theater Award for Best GI Theater.
One of his productions, The Caine Mutiny , received the attention of director Douglas Sirk , who offered him the significant role of "Hirschland" in A Time to Love and a Time to Die as a young Nazi who commits suicide. Using his entire military leave to film for 22 days, Universal was so impressed they offered him a contract, but he still had 18 months of service. Within five days of his military discharge, he had married and moved to Hollywood to pursue a career, but by then the offer was off the table from Universal.
He eventually landed at MGM. The first role of significance to get attention and use his new stage name of Jim Hutton was the first season The Twilight Zone episode, And When the Sky Was Opened , which earned the newbie good notice within the industry. But despite their likable personalities and on-screen chemistry, none of the films captured the magic of the first film. Frustrated, Hutton campaigned for the lead in Period of Adjustment and then refused jobs for 15 months until MGM agreed to give him better roles or dissolve their exclusive contract.
