This was the high point of his film career in no other movie did he capture critical attention. Another reported "Sam Buffington's cunning small-time gambler is about twice as convincing as the real thing would be and also very amusing". įor the film Damn Citizen, a reviewer said "Sam Buffington does a splendid job of making himself thoroughly unpleasant in the role of a gambling casino operator". Within the next six months he would have roles in six films, all released in 1958, and five more television shows, an auspicious first year. Reviews claimed ".it's Sam Buffington's portrayal of a rude, sloppy hypochondriac which steals the show". His breakthrough came in May 1957 with an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, wherein he played a thoroughly disagreeable character. Then he began appearing in small roles on television, and in a Grade B film, Invasion of the Saucer Men. The first eight months she had to work to support me". He told a later interviewer: "We figured it couldn't be any worse. West Coast career Screen beginnings ĭiscouraged by lack of work on the East Coast, Buffington and his wife moved to the West Coast during 1956. His stage work continued to be with the Allegheny Players during the summer seasons. Buffington lamented, "The unfortunate thing about it was that I only got the salary of one man". His radio work was at a station in Providence, Rhode Island, where according to a later interview, he had three shows under three different names and as many voices. Radio and stage įor the years 1952 through 1955 Buffington worked in both radio and on the stage. After the Mishler run completed, the Allegheny Players performed for a week in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, where Buffington had the male lead in a comedy. He was signed to perform character parts in six plays, each with a week-long run. Early career īuffington's first known professional stage credits come from summer stock with the Allegheny Players at the Mishler Theatre in Altoona, Pennsylvania. According to a 1951 newspaper article, he was working in nightclubs as an MC and comic dancer. At age 18, Buffington appears as a roomer in a Brookline, Massachusetts, boarding house during 1950, when he was attending the Leland Powers School of Radio and Theater. His parents were in their forties when Buffington was born, and his nearest sibling was eight years older. He was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, the youngest of four children for Carl Buffington, a lumber company manager, and Annette Gendron. His career was going strong and had good prospects when, at age 28, he committed suicide. His voice gave him a start in radio, but by his mid-twenties he had a deep-lined countenance and was balding, limiting his stage and screen roles to character parts. He was the star of the CBS radio series Luke Slaughter of Tombstone during 1958 and was one of three regular cast members on the Whispering Smith television series. Sam Buffington (Octo– May 15, 1960) was an American actor whose short career included performances on stage, radio, film, and television.
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