From my collection: Carl Kent

Like most of the young performers profiled in these pages, Carl Kent probably did not consider his tenure as an RKO contract player the most important part of his life. The Akron, OH, native spent a total of five years in Hollywood, two of them under contract to RKO, where he was seen playing soldiers, marines, baggage clerks and, yes, even dog trainers in films ranging from My Pal Wolf (1944) to Zombies on Broadway (1945). Prior to that, he had served in WWII as an infantry officer. The son of an Akron physician, Carl Kent had graduated from Kentucky Military School and had begun a career as a radio announcer while attending Ohio State. That led to his screen career and, after relocating to Arizona in 1960, a lengthy stint in advertizing that included becoming television spokesman for Westward Pontiac and chairman of the board of Bozell and Jacobs, Inc. Carl Kent died of cancer at the age of 51 in Scottsdale, AZ, on June 4, 1970.