Where To Watch
Jack Webb didn't consider himself an actor
"I’m just a guy who started out in the protective anonymity of radio without any formal training and kept going."
Though Jack Webb seemingly became synonymous with the Dragnet franchise as its creator and star, it wasn’t his lifelong dream to become a performer. “You’re talking to Jack Webb, ex-actor,” Webb said during an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “As a matter of honest fact, I never was an actor - not a real say-the-words and take-a-bow actor.”
How then could Webb justify playing a character like Joe Friday?
“Oh, I could play Jack Webb better than any man alive,” said the actor. “That’s who Joe Friday was - me, Jack Webb…I’m just a guy who started out in the protective anonymity of radio without any formal training and kept going. They used to talk about the ‘Jack Webb style.’ All I say to that is, if it flops, it’s nothing. If it works, it’s ‘style.’ It just so happened that Dragnet worked."
So while Webb didn’t harbor any big dreams of becoming a Hollywood actor, he was proud of the work he’d done for television. “In that one regard alone, I was proud of Dragnet,” said Webb. “We didn’t glorify the American police officer, but we did show a side that had been neglected. After five years of Dragnet on the radio and seven on TV, I’m sure people have a more honest image of the policeman and his job. Joe Friday actually was a composite of a number of policemen. But to people watching, Joe Friday became a living, breathing character.”
Related
