Alan Bunce

Intro

Alan Bunce was a stage, radio and television actor remembered particularly as Albert Arbuckle opposite Peg Lynch's Ethel. Their domestic comedy moved between broadcasting formats, making his voice and face familiar to audiences at different points in the growth of American television. Bunce also worked in feature films and held an important place in performers' union history. The two gallery images are separate publicity photographs from Ethel and Albert, one a portrait extracted from a 1953 photograph and the other a different two-person composition from 1954.

Career snapshot

Bunce was born in Westfield, New Jersey, on June 28, 1900. SAG-AFTRA's historical profile places him with the Institute Players in Brooklyn in 1920 and 1921, followed by a professional New York stage appearance in Eugene O'Neill's The First Man in 1922. His career therefore began well before the radio and television roles for which he became best known. In 1939 he took the title role in Young Doctor Malone, playing the physician Jerry Malone. He remained with that programme until November 1944, when Ethel and Albert became his next major broadcasting assignment.

The entry point

Lynch both wrote and performed Ethel and Albert. Bunce succeeded Richard Widmark as Albert and became her long-term acting partner. The television version had a standalone series during the 1950s after the characters appeared within The Kate Smith Hour. Their partnership also continued in The Couple Next Door on radio. The attraction of the format lay in the recognizable circumstances of a married pair rather than in a constantly changing lead cast. Bunce's work opposite the writer-performer was central to that continuity across successive programmes and broadcasting outlets.

Screen identity and style

Bunce served as the final national president of the American Federation of Radio Artists and the first president of the newly formed American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. SAG-AFTRA dates his AFTRA presidency to 1952-1954. The new organization resulted from AFRA's merger with Television Authority in September 1952. This responsibility overlapped with the television revival of Ethel and Albert in spring 1953. His union work belongs alongside his performance credits: he was helping represent broadcasting performers during a period when television was changing the business in which radio actors worked.

Collaborations and patterns

Broadway casting records show another substantial part of his career. He played Governor Alfred E. Smith in the original Sunrise at Campobello, which ran from January 1958 to May 1959. Earlier credits include Tommy Wentworth in Tell Me Pretty Maiden and Claude Pratt in Run Sheep Run. In 1957 he played the Captain in the musical Copper and Brass. Later appearances included Captain Chalmers in A Cook for Mr. General and a replacement engagement as Oscar Nelson in Mary, Mary beginning in September 1963. These individual roles demonstrate that his theatre career continued alongside broadcasting rather than ending when radio brought wider recognition.

Era reflection

Bunce returned to Governor Smith for the 1960 film of Sunrise at Campobello. Vincent J. Donehue directed, with Dore Schary writing and producing from his own play; Ralph Bellamy also repeated his stage role as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. AFI identifies Bunce and Ann Shoemaker among the performers who carried their Broadway parts into the film. The following year Bunce appeared as Dr. Jonas in William Castle's Homicidal, a very different production distributed by Columbia Pictures. Its cast included Glenn Corbett, Patricia Breslin and Eugenie Leontovich. These films place him in historical drama and suspense as well as the domestic comedy associated with Albert.

Legacy and rediscovery

Bunce died in New York on April 27, 1965. His surviving credits are best understood across several kinds of evidence: Broadway records identify specific stage engagements, AFI distinguishes the film characters, and the union's history records his organizational work. The photographs here concentrate on the broadcast partnership with Lynch, showing how radio colleagues were presented to television viewers. They do not illustrate every production in his career. Together with those casting and institutional records, they preserve the work of an actor whose professional life spanned theatre companies, network broadcasting, feature films and performers' representation.

Selected screen roles

• Young Doctor Malone: Dr. Jerry Malone — 1939-1944
• Ethel and Albert: Albert Arbuckle — Radio and television
• Sunrise at Campobello: Governor Alfred E. Smith — 1958 Broadway; 1960 film
• Homicidal: Dr. Jonas — 1961
• Mary, Mary: Oscar Nelson, replacement — From September 1963 Broadway

A career in pictures

Two distinct NBC publicity photographs document Alan Bunce and his television partnership with Peg Lynch.

Ethel and Albert premiere portrait (1953)

Albert Arbuckle publicity

Bunce portrait extracted from NBC television premiere publicity; the source archive explains the April 25, 1953 programme date.

Ethel and Albert television publicity (1954)

Albert Arbuckle

Peg Lynch at left and Alan Bunce at right in NBC publicity for the television comedy.

Rewatch notes

• He was AFRA's last national president and AFTRA's first.
• He played Governor Alfred E. Smith in both the Broadway and film versions of Sunrise at Campobello.