Charles Lang

Born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1915, Charles Lang played semi-professional baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm team before being spotted by a Hollywood talent scout in a Manhattan restaurant in 1937. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and made his Broadway debut in "Pastoral" in 1939 before being signed to a 40-week contract with Paramount Studios. Lang launched his film career in the 1940 drama One Crowded Night (1940). He also appeared in Keep 'Em Flying (1941) with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941) with W.C. Fields. He also co-starred with Fay Wray in Wildcat Bus (1940). Turning to screenplays in the 1950s, Lang wrote The Magnificent Matador (1955), a bullfighting film starring Maureen O'Hara and Anthony Quinn, as well as Budd Boetticher's Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) and Decision at Sundown (1957), both starring Randolph Scott. Lang wrote the first produced episode of the classic Warner Bros. TV western Cheyenne (1955), although it aired second after the show's premiere in the fall of 1955. His TV writing credits also include episodes of Perry Mason (1957), Bonanza (1959) and The High Chaparral (1967). Had 2 children with Helen Parrish - a son named Charles George Lang, Jr. (b.1948) and a daughter named Molly Lang (b.1952).