Jack Webb
2nd April 1920 - 23rd December 1982
Jack Webb was born John Jack Randolph Webb in Santa Monica, California, on April 2, 1920.
Famous for his role as detective Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet, Jack Webb actually performed nearly every role imaginable in show business: actor, producer, director, writer using the pseudonym John Randolph, editor, major studio executive and owner of an independent production company.
His four decades broadcasting career began in radio, first as a disc jockey, then as host of his own comedy and variety show The Jack Webb Show in spring 1946. His first true success was in 1947 in the role of the hard-boiled detective Pat Novak in the radio show Pat Novak for Hire.
He also played the lead starring role in Johnny Modero: Pier 23, Jeff Regan Investigator, One Out of Seven and Pete Kelly's Blues and featured regularly in Escape a most notable episode Poison by Roald Dahl in which Webb played the lead.
In 1948 he played a small role in the movie He Walked by Night. It was this film that inspired Webb to create Dragnet his own police program based on actual cases from the files of the L.A.P.D. and in which he played the lead role of Detective Sergeant Joe Friday. Webb worked in close contact with the Los Angeles police department who approved scripts and production for every Dragnet episode.
Dragnet premiered on June 3, 1949 on the NBC radio network and was a huge success. Known for his tremendous respect for the people in law enforcement, Webb said that in his show he wanted to perform a service for the police by showing them as heroes and perhaps make their life a little easier. He even performed charity work for widows and orphans of police officers killed in duty.
In 1951 Dragnet moved to television, becoming the highest-rated crime drama in broadcast history. It started on December 16, 1951 and it ran until September 1959. The show began with the words the story you are about to hear (see) is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. In Webb's series, good always triumphed over evil and the law always represented the best interests of all members of the society.
Webb did such a good job with Dragnet that people actually started to call the LAPD wanting to speak to Webb's character, Sgt. Joe Friday.
Because of the large volume of calls, the police department eventually came up with the standard answer: "Sorry, it's Joe's day off".
Dragnet's huge success stimulated Jack Webb's career as a director of both television and feature films and as an independent producer. His production company - Mark VII Limited - produced all the Dragnet television episodes, including the four-year return in 1967 until 1970.
In his personal life, Jack Webb was defined by his love of jazz. He had over 6,000 jazz albums in his private collection. Jazz was also responsible for his first marriage with singer and actress Julie London. They married in 1947, raised two children and divorced in November 1953. Webb went on to marry three more times.
On the 23rd December 1982 Jack Webb passed away at the age of 62 from a massive heart attack in Los Angeles, California. He was buried in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles and was given a funeral with full police honors, including a 17-gun salute.
Although he had never actually served on the police force, after his death, the badge number 714, used by his character Joe Friday in the Dragnet radio and TV shows, was officially retired by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Happy listening my friends,
