LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Brian Donlevy
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The son of an Irish whiskey distiller, Brian Donlevy was 10 months old when his family moved to Wisconsin. At 15, Donlevy ran away from home, hoping to join General Pershing's purge against Mexico's Pancho Villa. His tenure below the border was brief, and within a few months he was enrolled in military school. While training to be a pilot at the U.S. Naval Academy, Donlevy developed an interest in amateur theatricals. He spent much of the early 1920s living by his wits in New York, scouting about for acting jobs and attempting to sell his poetry and other writings. He posed for at least one Arrow Collar ad and did bit and extra work in several New York-based films, then received his first break with a good supporting role in the 1924 Broadway hit "What Price Glory?". Several more Broadway plays followed, then in 1935 Donlevy decided to try his luck in Hollywood.
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Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 5, 1972) was an American actor, known for many film roles from the 1930s to the 1960s. Particularly known for playing "tough guy" roles, he mainly appeared in supporting roles on screen. Amongst the films for which he was best known were Beau Geste (1939) and The Great McGinty (1940). For his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
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Brian Donlevy stars in this hard boiled noir as Walter Williams, a wealthy industrialist who is unfortunately ... a cuckold. Desperate to get rid of him, his two-timing young wife, Irene, and her lover plan Walter's death, only to have their scheme go horribly awry. Walter survives, and ends up in Larkspur, Idaho with a nasty case of amnesia that begins to clear when he sees stories about his own death in the newspaper. Having fallen in love with a girl in Idaho, Walter goes back to his wife to confront her, only to be charged with murder himself. Filled with smart, arch dialogue, back stabbing women, and numerous plot twists, IMPACT is a hugely entertaining noir.
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Movie star Brian Donlevy called Beaver Dam home in the early 1910's. His father ran the local Woolen Mill. Brian showed an interest in all things military. Brian was the mascot for the Company K Unit here. His zeal for the military got the better of him, when as a teen, he ran off to enlist in the Mexican War. However, he was caught just prior to 'shipping-out' and was returned to his father, who then enrolled him in St. John's Military Academy in Delafield.
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Brian Donlevy was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar® in 1939 - not for this film but for Beau Geste. The Oscar® went to Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach. George Sanders' role in Allegheny Uprising was originally to be played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Sanders stepped in when Hardwicke did The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) instead.
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Brian Donlevy was well enough established as a film personality in 1939 that he didn't have to accept the leading role in the Columbia "B" Behind Prison Gates. But like many other actors, Donlevy realized that Columbia treated character actors like stars-and boy, did he ever want to be a star. In this no-frills prison drama, Donlevy plays an undercover agent who goes "in stir" to locate the money stolen by a pair of cop-killing bandits. He almost pulls it off, but then someone recognizes him. Jacqueline Wells assumes the "gal on the outside" role generally played by Anne Sheridan over at Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Brian Donlevy