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Carleton Carpenter (born July 10, 1926 in Bennington, Vermont) is a movie, TV and stage actor, a magician, author and songwriter. Before signing to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Carpenter was a magician and an actor on Broadway, beginning with David Merrick's first production Bright Boy in 1944, followed by co-starring appearances in Three to Make Ready with Ray Bolger, John Murray Anderson's Almanac and Hotel Paradiso with Bert Lahr and Angela Lansbury. He was featured in the racial film Lost Boundaries and then signed with MGM, where he had roles in Summer Stock with Judy Garland, Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy, Vengeance Valley with Burt Lancaster, The Whistle at Eaton Falls with Lloyd Bridges, and the war dramas Take The High Ground and Up Periscope. He was teamed with Debbie Reynolds in the musicals Three Little Words and Two Weeks With Love, which featured their million-selling recordings of "Aba Daba Honeymoon" and "Row, Row, Row." His starring roles included Fearless Fagan with Janet Leigh and Sky Full of Moon with Jan Sterling. He composed such songs as "Christmas Eve," which was recorded by Billy Eckstine, "Cabin in the Woods" and "Ev'ry Other Day," which he recorded for MGM Records. He also guest-starred on numerous radio and TV shows.

In addition to his many successful movies during this time, Carpenter is remembered in the 1970s and 1980s as a best-selling mystery novelist. One of his books, Deadhead, was turned into a Broadway musical production. Other books included Games Murderers Play, Cat Got Your Tongue? Only Her Hairdresser Knew, Sleight of Deadly Hand, The Peabody Experience and Stumped. He has also had short stories published in the Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen mystery magazines.

Other stage appearances include Hello, Dolly! with Mary Martin (which toured Vietnam during the war), Dylan with Rue McClanahan, The Boys in the Band, Crazy for You and most recently the revival of Kander and Ebb's 70 Girls 70.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Carleton Carpenter", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0