Luke Halpin
 

Luke Halpin: Biography


Luke Austin Halpin was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City on April 4, 1947 to Helen and Eugene Halpin. He has one older brother, Eugene, Jr., and one older sister, Joan. When he was growing up, he also had a dog, Whisky.

While a student in 1955, Luke took up piano lessons. His music teacher, Rose Clark, was impressed by Luke's "all-American" look and encouraged him to try out acting. Luke was introduced to James Merrick, a CBS casting director. He agreed that the youngster had something special even though he had never acted before.

Luke turned out to be a natural, and in 1955, Luke made his film debut as Brucie in the Studio One in Hollywood (TV Series, 1948–1958) Season 8 episode "Miracle at Potter's Farm." This 60-minute episode was filmed in NYC, and aired Dec 19, 1955. The role of Jen Potter was played by Natalie Wood, whose recent film Rebel Without A Cause (1955) had just been released earlier in October.

Numerous roles followed. By the age of 15, Luke had already appeared on most of the major TV series of the day: Armstrong Circle Theater, United States Steel Hour, Studio One ("A Christmas Surprise" in 1956 with Orson Bean), Kraft Theatre, Harbor Master, Everglades, The Phil Silvers Show, The Defenders, Route 66, Naked City, and Young Doctor Malone. He did three additional appearances for Studio One: A Matter of Guilt (1957, as Frank Clarke), A Christmas Surprise (1956) and My Son Johnny (1956, as Johnny).

Luke also did guest appearances on Judd for the Defense ("The Worst of Both Worlds" in 1968 as Kenny Carter) and The Dating Game (in 1968, where he was the one picked).

Luke appeared in Bracken’s World in Season 1, Ep 9, "All the Beautiful Young Girls," broadcast Nov 14, 1969. Luke played Ben Cabot Jr., and had a brief shirtless scene.

In addition to television, Luke's early career included stage roles.

In 1957, he was in the TV special Annie Get Your Gun TV Special. Luke played Mary Martin's younger brother (by about 35 years). Luke appears in several scenes, sings and dances. There's a soundtrack record of the show.

From 1959-1960, he appeared in Take Me Along, a stage musical version of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness which opened at the Shubert Theatre (Los Angeles) in Oct 1959 and ran for 16 months, and starred Jackie Gleason, Walter Pidgeon, and Robert Morse. Luke also sang in this production. The RCA original cast recording is available on CD. Records indicate Luke left the cast in the summer of 1960.

In 1961, Luke appeared in a TV broadcast of Waiting For Godot with Burgess Meredith and Zero Mostel. Other stage projects included Peter Pan (1960, his second project with Mary Martin) and Annie Get Your Gun.

The 15-year-old TV/stage veteran got his biggest break when, after impressing TV producer Ivan Tors with his swimming skills, he was picked to be Sandy Ricks in the film feature Flipper. Filmed in 1962 and released in the US on Aug 14, 1963, the film was so successful, it spawned a sequel, Flipper's New Adventure (US release June 24, 1964), as well as a TV series that ran 1964-1967 (88 episodes over three seasons).
Luke Halpin - Tiger Beat's debut issue, Sept 1965


Athletic and exceptionally good-looking, Luke Halpin was a natural to play the young swimmer/diver Sandy Ricks. Luke learned how to swim when he was 4 years old, at Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York City. Luke loved to swim and declares water-skiing one of his favorite sports. "Being in the water is like second home to me," Luke told Teen Life magazine. Luke Halpin became a favorite among teenagers and was often featured in youth magazines like 16, Tiger Beat, and Bravo.

On March 30, 1964 (just days before turning 17), Luke Halpin appeared on To Tell The Truth. One of the interviewers asked him what he wore during filming. Luke smiled and answered "cut-down blue jeans." The guests on To Tell The Truth are expected to fool the interviewers, but Luke was perfectly correct in his answer: during the filming of Flipper, Luke Halpin was often stripped down to just cutoff jeans. In the end, two out of the three interviewers correctly identified the "real" Luke Halpin from three guests.

Luke's costars in the TV series were Tommy Norden (Bud) and Brian Kelly (Porter).

Norden was born Sep 25, 1952, also in New York City, and was five years younger than Luke Halpin. After Flipper ended, he went on to appear in the TV series Search For Tomorrow as Dr. Gary Walton before retiring from Hollywood to join a family business.

Kelly, born Feb 14, 1931 in Detroit, was the son of a Michigan governor. He had already been appearing regularly on TV before nabbing his big role as Porter Ricks. Kelly was only 16 years older than Luke Halpin who played his son. A crippling motorcycle accident in 1970 ended his on-camera career. But Kelly used his settlement money to produce films, serving as executive producer of the Harrison Ford's Blade Runner (1982). Kelly died in 2005 at age 73 of pneumonia.

The Flipper TV show featured many future film/television stars, including Burt Reynolds (in Season 2), Martin Sheen (in Season 3), Marshall Thompson and Cheryl Miller (Daktari), Barbara Feldon (Get Smart), Daniel J. Travanti (Hill Street Blues), and Lynda Day George.

Other notable personalities were long-time radio-TV vet Andy Devine (1905-77), Ulla Stromstedt (1939-86), Hollywood screen star Gloria DeHaven (1925- ), veteran Western star Dan White (1908-80), Tony Award and Golden Globe winner John Kerr, and Phil Vandervort (married Lucie Arnaz). The TV series was also a major factor in the current appreciation for the care and protection of dolphins. Forty years later, Flipper is still in syndication.

During the TV series, Luke Halpin enlisted in the National Guard. His hair was a bit shorter in Season 3.

Following the end of the TV series, however, Luke's acting days dwindled, as he appeared in other less well-known films, including If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, Island of the Lost, and Shock Waves (available on DVD which includes an interview with Luke).

The TV series continued in reruns for years, but Luke never collected any income through residuals. Luke explained to People magazine (March 4, 1985) that he and his family were inexperienced when drawing up the contract and so there was never a provision for residuals.

Luke continued to get invitations to appear in acclaimed TV series, including Death Valley Days (Season 17 episode 6 - "A Mule, Just Like The Army's Mule," Oct 5, 1968), Judd For The Defense ("The Worst of Both Worlds," Mar 15 , 1968), and Bracken's World ("All the Beautiful Young Girls," Nov 14, 1969).

He currently resides in Florida, north of Orlando. He works as a freelance electrician, light rigger and marine coordinator for movies, commercials and TV series. He was the shark handler on the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again.

Luke Halpin was honored at the 2012 Film Florida Legends Awards hosted by the St. Pete / Clearwater Film Commission in May 2012. The tribute film featured Ricou Browning, co-creator of "Flipper," and Artie Malesci, stunt coordinator/2nd unit director.

Luke Halpin's career failed to flourish after the TV series ended, but his influence continues to endure today. His TV series is still in syndication, and both feature films are available on DVD/Blue Ray. "Flipper" has become a household word, and bottlenose dolphins are esteemed by animal lovers all around the world. Several fans credit the TV show in their decisions to pursue professional careers in animal care and oceanography. And in a TV age dominated by steamy evening soap operas, there are few live-action family adventure/dramas that can compare to the popular 1960s show.

Decades after Luke Halpin's heyday, there has yet to appear a teen star that can match his unique qualities. In the long line of TV history's most memorable teen legends, Luke Halpin continues to be a class of his own.

CVMC: Luke Halpin

[NOTE: The following biography comes from www.cvmc.net and is reproduced here without edits. CVMC is an online DVD rental/retail store that specializes in rare, hard-to-find films.]

The Sixties brought the world a lot of changes, but it also brought us a young actor who perfectly embodied the perennial concept of the All American Boy. Luke Halpin was born in Queens, New York in April of 1947. He came from a decidedly non-show biz family made up of the typical Mom, Dad, older brother and sister.

But in 1955, a music teacher who was not impressed with young Luke's musical abilities [sic], suggested he try acting. And to help him along, he introduced him to an agent. Luke took to acting with suprising ease, and he was soon cast opposite Natalie Wood in the Studio One television production of Miracle at Potter’s Farm.

In the next few years Luke would appear in nearly every drama series on television, and also find time for stage roles in Annie Get Your Gun (1957), Peter Pan (1960) and Waiting For Godot (1961). But his biggest break was to come in 1963.

Producer Ivan Tors was casting for an adventure film called Flipper, and Luke went in to read for the part. Tors quickly knew he was looking at a very capable young actor, but could the kid swim? So it was off to the hotel pool where Luke dressed down to trunks and proved he was as adept in the water as on a stage.

So the role of "Sandy Ricks" now belonged to Luke, and he was soon flown to the Bahamas to train with the three dolphins who would play Flipper. It was love a first sight for this animal loving young actor and a very succesfull [sic] feature film was the result.

Ivan Tors knew a good thing when he saw it, just as NBC did. So a TV movie in 1964 followed called Flipper’s New Adventure. It too was a success, and NBC immediately gave the green light for Flipper as a full-on series.

Nominally, it was the dolphin who was the star of the show, but it was blond Luke Halpin who got the dozens of bags of fan mail each week. And why wouldn’t he? He was certainly the most "exposed", teenager on television. In each episode viewers were sure to be guaranteed that Luke would be wearing little more than his trademark cutoff jeans and golden tanned swimmer’s muscles. In fact, more than one fan magazines dubbed him a modern Adonis.

Eighty-eight episodes of Flipper aired over three seasons, and then it was over. By then Luke was serving part-time in the National Guard, but still managed a couple of film roles including If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) and Island of the Lost (1967) and Shock Waves (1977).

And like the great All American Boy he portrayed on TV, Luke managed to buy his parents a motel in Florida with his earnings from Flipper. And for himself, a hot little GTO and a nifty speed boat. So that he will always have a way to hang out with his beloved dolphin pals. And Luke’s love of Florida has continued as well. He still lives there, now working behind the camera as a boat pilot and underwater photographer on film crews.