Watch Ralph Byrd Videos

Ralph Byrd (22 April 1909 – 18 August 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, movies and television. Byrd was a good, all-purpose actor with a gift for delivering dialogue in a natural, ingratiating way. Once established in Republic Pictures' Dick Tracy serials (beginning in 1937), he was usually cast in action features (as a truck driver, lumberjack, cowboy, etc.), despite not having the usual brawny frame that went with these roles. He had a strong, resolute jaw, however, which gave him a heroic... MORE

Ralph Byrd (22 April 1909 – 18 August 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, movies and television. Byrd was a good, all-purpose actor with a gift for delivering dialogue in a natural, ingratiating way. Once established in Republic Pictures' Dick Tracy serials (beginning in 1937), he was usually cast in action features (as a truck driver, lumberjack, cowboy, etc.), despite not having the usual brawny frame that went with these roles. He had a strong, resolute jaw, however, which gave him a heroic presence. Byrd married actress and model Virginia Carroll in 1936. The couple remained together until Byrd's death in 1952. Republic cast Byrd as Chester Gould's comic-strip detective Dick Tracy in the 1937 serial of the same name. The film was so successful that it spawned three sequels (unheard of in serials): Dick Tracy Returns, Dick Tracy's G-Men (featuring a young Jennifer Jones, under her real name of Phylis Isley), and Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. (reissued in 1952 as Dick Tracy vs. Phantom Empire). RKO Radio Pictures made a feature film, Dick Tracy, in 1945, but not with Ralph Byrd (see the Wikipedia LESS