Here is the biography of Howard Duff:
Howard Green Duff was born on November 24, 1913, in Bremerton, Washington. He grew up in and around the Seattle area, attending Roosevelt High School, where he played basketball and acted in school plays. After studying drama, he became an acting member of the Repertory Playhouse in Seattle. Military service interrupted his early career, and he served with the U.S. Army Air Force's radio service from 1941 to 1945.
After his discharge, he returned to his acting pursuits and won the role of "Sam Spade" on NBC Radio, playing the role Humphrey Bogart made famous in "The Maltese Falcon." He eventually left the program when his film career settled in and Stephen Dunne took over the radio voice of the detective in 1950 for its final season.
Duff's post-war movie career started with the hard-hitting film noir "Brute Force" (1947),in which he received good notices as an ill-fated cellmate to Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford, and others. He was known for his radio voice and was given special billing in the movie's credits as "Radio's Sam Spade."
He was married to actress Ida Lupino from 1951 to 1966, and they had one daughter, Bridget Duff, born in 1952. The couple co-starred in four hard-boiled film dramas during the 1950s, including "Jennifer" (1953),"Private Hell 36" (1954),"Women's Prison" (1955),and "While the City Sleeps" (1956).
Duff's career spanned over four decades, during which he appeared in a wide range of films, including westerns, adventure films, and drama. He also had a successful career in television, appearing in numerous dramatic showcases and starring in the TV series "Mr. Adams and Eve" (1957) with his wife.
After his divorce from Ida Lupino, Duff married Judy Jenkinson, a non-professional, who survived him. He died on July 8, 1990, at the age of 76, due to a heart attack in Santa Barbara, California.
