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Booth Colman

American actor

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ2910553
Source-derived summary

Booth Colman (March 8, 1923 – December 15, 2014) was an American film, television and stage actor. In his later years he played older authority figures, such as doctors and lawyers. Colman appeared in films since 1952, when he debuted (uncredited) in The Big Sky directed by Howard Hawks.

Life and career

Colman was born to a Jewish parents Sol and Sona Cohn in Portland, Oregon. As a child actor in local productions, he became active in local radio. He studied Oriental language at the University of Washington and University of Michigan. During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army on May 12, 1943, and attended language training at the University of Michigan from 1943 to 1944. After language training, he worked in New York City and was discharged from the army in 1944 at Fort Dix, New Jersey. While in New York, he began a long career in Broadway theater, first appearing in a production of Irwin Shaw's war drama The Assassin. He was soon invited to join Maurice Evans' acting company, where he continued to act on stage, and later in films.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Booth Colman” as american actor. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1923, 2014, 1952, 1943—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1923-03-08, 1923—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. The account is most persuasive where Booth, Colman and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actor. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2910553. VIAF identifies the subject as 168957399. The Library of Congress control number is no2014110563. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 2014, 1952 and 1943.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Booth Colman”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Booth Colman primary sources, Booth Colman archive and Booth research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Booth Colman”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Booth Colman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.