Birth place or City of origin: | New Orleans |
State of origin: | LA |
Last known City: | |
Last known State: | |
Start/Birth date: | 1906 |
Death/End date: | 1979 |
The prominent actor and singer was born Julian La Faye on July 17, 1906 in New Orleans. At age 12 he ran away from home and supported himself as a newsboy, steelworker and seaman. Later in Europe he studied voice and raced cars for prize money. He broke into films in the early 1930s as a stuntman and worked his way up to leads by 1935. Combining a good singing voice and dashing looks, Carroll appeared in over 50 films during his 24-year career. He co-starred in action packed Westerns such as Wyoming, Decision at Sundown, and The Fabulous Texas as well as playing Zorro in the 12-part series entitled Zorro Rides Again. John co-starred with his close friend, John Wayne in Flying Tigers, but Westerns were his absolute passion as evidenced by his “buy-out” of the remaining 7 years on his MGM contract enabling him to make Westerns exclusively for Republic Pictures. John had many friends in the film colony including Will Rogers, Williams S Hart, John Wayne, Gary Cooper and Fernando Lames. Carroll died in 1979.