The Legendary Voice Behind
Dragnet's Sgt. Ben Romero
This article is an excerpt
from RUSC Member's Area
William Barton Yarborough was born in Texas to Patrick D. and Mollie Ardena Yarborough on October 2, 1900. He began his acting career in the theater, where he studied with the Eva Le Gallienne Company. Though he would go on to work in all four areas of show business, Theater, Film, Radio and Television, it was his work in radio that would be best remembered. He starred in several long-running programs as well as guest starred on many others, and it wasn't long before Barton Yarborough became one of radio's busiest character actors.
On Friday, April 29, 1932, NBC aired its newest soap opera from 9:30 PM to 10:00 PM. It told the story of Henry and Fanny Barbour and their five children, Paul, Hazel, Claudia, Clifford and Jack. The show was One Man's Family and in the role of Clifford was Barton Yarborough. He would remain with the series until his death in 1951. The show ran until May 8, 1959, leaving behind 3256 episodes (not counting repeats), making it the longest-running series on American radio.
I Love A Mystery first aired on Monday, January 16, 1939, on NBC. The show was produced by One Man's Family producer, Carlton Morse and starred three of Family's cast members. Pulling double duty was Michael Raffetto as Jack, Barton as Doc Long and Walter Paterson as Reggie. Joan Blondell's sister, Gloria, joined the three adventurers as Gerry Booker. It aired Monday through Friday as a fifteen-minute show, but later became a weekly half-hour show. Each adventure would run between 12 and 25 shows.
The first episode consisting of 14 parts was The Case Of The Roxy Mob. It ran from January 16, 1939 to February 2, 1939. In 1945, Columbia Pictures brought the radio show to the screen for three films, 1945 - I Love A Mystery, 1946 - The Devil's Mask and 1946 - The Unknown in which Barton played the role of Doc Long. On December 29, 1949, Bart's last adventure on I Love A Mystery aired. It was called Find Elsa Holberg - Dead or Alive.
On July 31, 1948, Barton guest-starred with Hans Conreid on the radio crime drama, Jeff Regan, Investigator. The star of the show was a 28-year-old named Jack Webb and the two would become great friends, which would lead him to be cast in probably his most remembered role on radio in 1949.
That new show was, of course Dragnet, which Jack Webb not only created, wrote, produced and directed but also starred. This was his dream and he wanted Bart to be a part of it. The new show was going to be a real-life cop show. It would be about two Los Angeles detectives and the stories would come straight from the files of the L.A.P.D., Chief William Parker offered his and his department's help. Webb would star as Sgt. Joe Friday and Bart would co-star as Sgt. Ben Romero. Of all the partners Friday had, Romero was to be the only one to be equal in rank to Friday.
Homicide was the pilot episode and was aired on June 2, 1949. Friday and Romero are working the Homicide division when two officers are gunned down. Frank Lovejoy guest-starred..
On December 13, 1951, Dragnet broadcast Big Overtime in which Friday and Romero are working Homicide when a banker's daughter is kidnapped. This was Barton Yarborough's 133rd appearance as Sgt. Ben Romero. It was also his last. They started in Homicide and they ended in Homicide.
On the evening of December 19, 1951 at 8:55 PM, Barton Yarborough died of a heart attack at his home in Burbank, California. He was 51. He left his second wife, Janet, and daughter, Joan.
Eight days after Bart's death on December 27, 1951, Webb remembered his friend in a new radio episode that was dedicated to Barton Yarborough called The Big Sorrow. Friday is working Homicide when he gets the news that his partner, Ben Romero, has died at his home from a heart attack. The show centers around the search and capture of two escaped convicts and Barney Philips stepped in as Friday's new partner Sgt. Ed Jacobs.
In 1951, Webb decided to make Dragnet a weekly TV series with himself and Yarborough, while they continued doing the radio series. The TV pilot was filmed in late 1951 and was set to be shown in December.
The pilot episode, The Human Bomb aired on December 16, 1951, with guest stars Stacy Harris, Herb Butterfield, Jack Kruchen, Sam Edwards, Barney Philips as Officer Sam Erickson and Raymond Burr as The Chief- Thad Brown. The pilot was a hit and the series was set for January 3, 1952. The second episode, The Big Actor was already in the can.
On January 3, 1952, the first episode of the season aired. The Big Actor was Barton Yarborough's last screen appearance.
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