Happy Birthday, Bob Bailey

Jun 13, 2017

Actor Bob Bailey was born June 13, 1913. To old time radio fans, Bailey is best remembered for a pair of detective roles: as ex-GI turned gumshoe George Valentine in Let George Do It, and as “America’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator” Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

Bailey began his career in Chicago radio with appearances on That Brewster Boy, Meet Corliss Archer, and other programs originating from the Windy City. Between 1943 and 1944, he was under contract at 20th Century Fox. Bailey made several pictures at Fox, including the Laurel & Hardy films Jitterbugs and The Dancing Masters.

In 1946, Bailey starred as George Valentine, a private detective who solicited clients through a newspaper ad offering to shoulder the danger they couldn’t handle. Bailey’s performance in Let George Do It made Valentine tough but funny, a scrappy and hard-working gumshoe. Bailey starred in the show until 1954.

The following year, he stepped into the shoes of Johnny Dollar. Under the direction of Jack Johnstone, Bailey starred as Dollar in a series of nightly serialized stories that remain some of the finest drama produced during the Golden Age of Radio. The program went back to a weekly format in September 1956, and Bailey would remain in the title role until 1960 when production moved to New York. He left a run of nearly five hundred episodes and cemented himself as the definitive version of the character.

Unlike some of his peers from the era, Bailey didn’t go on to a long television career outside of a handful of appearances in the 1960s. Struggles with alcoholism and later a stroke kept him off of the screen. Fortunately for us, there are dozens of hours of his memorable performances as two of radio’s best detectives.