Actor, Singer. During his brief career in motion pictures, he appeared in some of the most popular films of the late 1930s and early 1940s, working along side such luminaries as Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and Spencer Tracy. Jeanette MacDonald took an early interest in this talented baritone, when he performed in the chorus of "San Francisco" (1936). At the age of 19, he was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as the back-up singer for Nelson Eddy in, "The Girl of the Golden West" (1938), McPhail did not garner screen time. He continued in minor roles and bit parts at MGM, appearing, usually uncredited, in the films, "Born To Dance," "The Last Gangster," and "Test Pilot." In 1939, he received the break that would give his career notice. He was cast as 'Don Brice' in the highly successful musical, "Babes In Arms," along side his new wife Betty Jaynes and cinema's current teen stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. In "Babes in Arms," both Douglas and Betty sang the Rodgers and Hart tune, "Where or When," and sang and danced to the Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg rousing song "God's Country" with Garland and Rooney in the film's very patriotic finale. He would work with Garland once more as her love interest in "Little Nellie Kelly" (1940), and have one more sizable role in "Born To Sing" (1942). With WWII in progress, he enlisted in the United States Army within the Quartermaster Corps. His time in the service was short, he was given a medical discharge. He tried, unsuccessfully, to pick up his career at MGM, but the studio that groomed him to be the next Nelson Eddy, recognize the changing interests of moviegoers, who tired of his style of singing. In 1943 MGM did not renew his contract. His marriage was failing, and he turned to alcohol. When his wife divorced him in 1943, he became despondent, and attempted suicide. He made a second attempt in 1944, and the once talented performer poisoned himself at the young age of 30.