Michael St. Angel

Second lead and featured actor Michael St. Angel was born in Rockford, Illinois in 1916, the son of prominent business man Jasper St. Angel. Following high school the darkly handsome youth attended Wisconsin's Beloit College majoring in drama, then later transferred to Iowa's St. Ambrose College where he became a drama teacher after receiving his degree. Deciding to pursue acting professionally, he left his teaching post after only a couple of years and returned to Wisconsin where he joined up with the Belfry Players and traveled the country in stock shows. He eventually made it to New York and in July of 1942 made his Broadway debut in the small role of a soldier in "The Cat Screams". The show closed four days later. Two months later he was cast in the much more successful comedy "Janie," which ran well over a year. A Warner Bros. talent scout picked up on Michael's dark, wavy-haired good looks and convinced him to travel West to audition for the lead role of George Gershwin in the biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945). The part went to Robert Alda, however, and he was about to return to NY when a meeting with RKO Studios resulted in a contract. Michael started out inauspiciously in tiny parts starting out with the film Gangway for Tomorrow (1943). Following a couple of other obscure bits, he secured more visible roles in Bride by Mistake (1944) and Marine Raiders (1944), which led to the romantic co-starring role opposite Elaine Riley in the Leon Errol comedy starrer What a Blonde (1945). Michael showed enough promise from this to be cast as the second lead role in the thriller The Brighton Strangler (1945) which toplines John Loder as an actor dangerously obsessed by the title role he plays on stage. Michael married Fox singer/dancer Marjorie Holliday in 1945. After the birth of their son Jasper Michael, Jr. in 1951, she abandoned her career for family obligations. But Michael's film career already went into a steep decline as quickly as it peaked. Before he knew it, he found himself back to minor roles in such films as First Yank Into Tokyo (1945), The Madonna's Secret (1946) and The Truth About Murder (1946). Over his objections, RKO changed his marquee name to "Steven Flagg" to give his career a boost but little changed. Under this name he found work with former co-star Leon Errol in several of the star's short films. Producer Howard Hughes kept Michael under contract despite his lack of stature and following a few parts in such films as Easy Living (1949), Flying Leathernecks (1951), The Pace That Thrills (1952) and The French Line (1953), he was dropped. Quickly switching his stage name back to his real name, Michael moved more and more towards TV work. One very promising opportunity in 1957 to star as TV detective Mike Hammer fell through. Outside of acting, to make ends meet Michael worked for producer Howard Hughes over at TWA at one point and also served as a personal assistant to his old friend, columnist Walter Winchell. Finally, in 1959, Michael went into business for himself, opening his first restaurant. In the next couple of decades only occasional small acting roles came his way both on film (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), 4 for Texas (1963), Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966), The Love Machine (1971)) and TV ("The Gale Storm Show," "The Untouchables," "The Virginian," "Love, American Style," "The Magician"). Following wife Marjorie's sudden death at age 48 in 1959 of a cerebral hemorrhage, Michael ventured on in the restaurant business as manager of his last eatery, Michael's Los Feliz. He died in 1984 at age 67 at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital survived by his son.