Fletcher Markle (March 27, 1921 – May 23, 1991) was a Canadian actor,
screenwriter,
television producer and
director. Markle began a radio career in Canada, then worked in radio, film and television in the United States.
He worked with a group whose members included
John Drainie,
Lister Sinclair, and
Alan Young on such local stations as
CJOR,
CKWX and the
CBC network.[5] During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.[2]
In 1945, Markle received a $1,500 grant from
Twentieth Century Fox to finish his partly autobiographical novel There Was A Young Man. The award came while he was working on the Radio Folio series for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).[2] The CBC had commissioned Markle to write that program, which consisted of self-contained complete episodes that ranged from light to serious in content. Markle had earlier written the Baker's Dozen series on CBC.[6]
The group moved to
Toronto, and Markle had a role as an actor in Journey Together (1946). Markle then moved to New York City, and although not listed in the credits, contributed to the screenplay for
Orson Welles's The Lady from Shanghai (1947).[citation needed]
During his time in New York, he contributed to the
CBS radio anthology, Studio One. In late 1952, he was brought in to replace Worthington Miner on the TV version of that program.[7]
In 1956, Markle and his wife,
Mercedes McCambridge, launched a company to produce feature films and content for independent television. Cubano Productions initially gained rights to 23 stories by Burnham Carter. The stories, which had been published in The Saturday Evening Post, centered around a young Cuban couple and their Cafe Mosca in Havana. They were to form the basis of a 30-minute TV series, Tonight in Havana. Markle and McCambridge also planned to develop the stories into feature films.[9]
Markle received an Academy Award nomination for the documentary film The V-1: Story of the Robot Bomb,[1] which he wrote and narrated.[11]
Personal life
Markle married Helen Blanche Willis in Toronto in 1944, and they divorced on June 14, 1949.[12] They had a son, actor and writer Stephen Markle.[1] He later married actress Mercedes McCambridge,[13] and they divorced in 1962[14] after 12 years of marriage, during which he adopted her son.[15] Markle's third marriage was to Dorothy Conradt, from 1963 until his death in 1991.
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ab"Fletcher Markle (1921-1991)". History of Canadian Broadcasting. Canadian Communications Foundation. Archived from
the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.