John Rollin Lupton (August 23, 1928 – November 3, 1993) was an American film and televisionactor.
Early years
Lupton was the son of Adelma and Dorothy (née Marsh) Lupton.[1] He developed an interest in drama while he was a student at Shorewood High School in Shorewood, Wisconsin.[2] He pursued acting via an apprenticeship with a stock theater company in New York, and after graduating he toured with the Strawbridge Children's Theater Company.[1]
In 1959, Lupton was cast as a struggling writer in The Rebel Set. Also in 1959, he portrayed the historical Buffalo Bill Cody in the episode "The Grand Duke" on the syndicatedanthology series, Death Valley Days. The episode focuses on the friendship that developed when the skeptical Cody was assigned by the United States Army to escort The Grand Duke of Russia on a Western buffalo hunt. In 1961, Lupton was cast in another Death Valley Days episode, "South of Horror Flats", as Pinkerton agent Allen Hodges, who is hired by a ghost-plagued woman to take her and her fortune in gold to San Francisco.
On April 25, 1961, Lupton played the role of Fred Powers in "Killers' Odds", an episode of NBC's Laramie. Series character Jess Harper (Robert Fuller) comes upon Powers, a stranger with a price on his head, although the charge is fraudulent because he had killed in self-defense. In 1961, Lupton was cast as Dr. John "Buzz" Neldrum in the episode "A Doctor Comes to Town" of the comedy-drama Window on Main Street, starring Robert Young as an author who returns to his hometown after the death of his wife and child. Lupton guest-starred as Amber in the 1961 episode "The Platinum Highway" of ABC's crime drama, Target: The Corruptors. He guest-starred in the 1965 episode "What Television Show Does Your Dog Watch?" of the CBSsitcomThe Cara Williams Show. He also appeared on NBC's Daniel Boone.
He was featured from 1967 to 1980 on the daytime soap operaDays of Our Lives in the pivotal role of Dr. Tom (Tommy) Horton Jr.
Walk of Fame
John Lupton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located on the west side of the 1700 block of Vine Street.[4]
Personal life
On April 7, 1956,[5] Lupton married Anne Sills, and they had a daughter, Rollin.[2] They divorced three years later, and on July 24, 1969, he wed Dian Friml in Las Vegas, Nevada,[6] to whom he was still married at the time of his death.
Death
Lupton died in 1993, aged 65, from undisclosed causes, in Los Angeles, California.[7] He was survived by his daughter, Rollin Tyson Lupton (by his first wife, Anne); his second wife, Dian (Friml) Lupton (granddaughter of legendary composer Rudolf Friml); a stepson, Edward Beckley; and four grandchildren. His widow, Dian, died of cancer in 2005, aged 69.[8]