
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990                   TAG: 9003062291
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: EVENING  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FALMOUTH, MAINE                                LENGTH: Short

ACTOR GARY MERRILL DIES OF CANCER; WAS IN 42 FILMS

Gary Merrill spent his final years on the Maine coast doing very little - which suited the actor who died at his home of lung cancer. He was 74.

"I've spent my life doing as little as possible . . . And I intend to keep doing exactly the same thing," Merrill told an interviewer in 1981. He said he enjoyed being "a hermit."

Merrill was best known for his supporting roles in the movies "Twelve O'Clock High" and "All About Eve" and for his stormy marriage to actress Bette Davis.

He married Davis in 1950. They were divorced in 1960. He first appeared on stage in 1937 and went on to play the gruff but understanding Dr. Gillespie in the "Young Dr. Kildare" television series and he narrated "The Valiant Years" series about Winston Churchill.

Merrill's other movie roles included "Phone Call from a Stranger," 1953; "Blueprint for Murder," 1953; "Bermuda Affair," 1956, and "Around the World Under the Sea," 1966.

by CNB