Cast of radio's One Man's Family, clockwise from lower left: Jack (Billy Page), Clifford (Barton Yarborough), Mrs. Barbour (Minetta Ellen), Claudia (Kathleen Wilson), Paul (Michael Rafetto), Hazel (Bernice Berwin), Mr. Barbour (J. Anthony Smythe).
(
October 2,
1900–
December 19,
1951) was an
American actor who worked extensively in
radio drama.
As a youth, Yarborough ran away from home, attracted by the
vaudeville stages, and he first worked in radio during the 1920s. In 1932 he began a long run as Clifford Barbour
One Man's Family, continuing in the role throughout his life. While on this series in the late 1930s, he met and married the actress
Barbara Jo Allen, famed during the 1940s as Vera Vague on
The Bob Hope Show.
Yarborough was probably best known for his roles as Doc Long on
Carlton E. Morse's
I Love a Mystery and Sergeant Ben Romero on
Dragnet.
Yarborough's other radio work includes the role of Skip Turner in
Adventures by Morse, also by Carlton E. Morse.
[ ]Yarborough appeared as Doc Long in three movies based on the radio series
I Love a Mystery: the feature films
I Love a Mystery,
The Devil's Mask, and
The Unknown. He started work on the
Dragnet television series in 1951. However, the day after he filmed the second episode, he suffered a
heart attack and died four days later at age 51.
On
Dragnet, the character of Ben Romero was replaced by Officer Ed Jacobs (Barney Phillips), and on
One Man's Family the character of Cliff Barbour, heard for 19 years, was dropped from the storyline.
