95 articles
Murray Hamilton
Murray Hamilton (1923–1986), American character actor from Washington, North Carolina; Tony-nominated for Absence of a Cello, played Mr. Robinson in The Graduate and Mayor Larry Vaughn in Jaws and Jaws 2; died of lung cancer.
Neville Brand
Neville Brand (1920-1992), American character actor and decorated WWII soldier, played tough guys in D.O.A., Stalag 17, Riot in Cell Block 11, and starred as Texas Ranger Reese Bennett in NBC's Laredo.
Noah Beery Jr.
Noah Beery Jr., born Noah Lindsey Beery, was an American character actor in a 60-year career, best known as Rocky, Jim Rockford's father, on The Rockford Files.
Parley Baer
Parley Baer, fully Parley Edward Baer, was an American character actor whose six-decade career spanned radio, film, and television. He was the original voice of Chester on radio's Gunsmoke from 1952 to 1961.
Pat Buttram
Pat Buttram (Maxwell Emmett Buttram, 1915-1994), American comic actor: Gene Autry's radio and film sidekick, Mr. Haney on Green Acres (1965-71), and Disney voice actor including the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood.
Paul Brinegar
Paul Brinegar (Paul Alden Brinegar Jr., 1917-1995) was an American Western character actor, best known as chuck wagon cook Wishbone on Rawhide (1959-1965), also Jim 'Dog' Kelley on Wyatt Earp and Jelly Hoskins on Lancer.
Paul Fix
Paul Fix, born Peter Paul Fix, was an American film and television character actor known for Westerns and for playing Marshal Micah Torrance on The Rifleman from 1958 to 1963.
Peggie Castle
Peggie Castle (Peggy Thomas Blair, 1927–1973), American actress of 1950s B-movies such as I, the Jury, and star as Lily Merrill, the Birdcage Saloon hostess, in the TV western Lawman; died of cirrhosis of the liver at 45.
Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing (23 May 1913, Kenley, Surrey; died 1994) was an English actor, OBE, who played Baron Frankenstein and Van Helsing for Hammer Studios 1957-1974 opposite Christopher Lee, and Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars.
Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott (George Randolph Scott, 1898-1987) was an American film actor, star of more than 60 Westerns including the Ranown cycle with Budd Boetticher and Ride the High Country.
Ray Collins (actor)
Ray Collins (1889–1965), American character actor of stage, radio, film, and television; Mercury Theatre regular, Jim Gettys in Citizen Kane, Lt. Tragg on Perry Mason (271 episodes).
Ray Teal
Ray Teal (Ray Elgin Teal, 1902–1976), American character actor and former UCLA bandleader, best known as Sheriff Roy Coffee on Bonanza (1960–1972) and for Judgment at Nuremberg, Ace in the Hole, and Inherit the Wind.
Raymond Bailey
Raymond Thomas Bailey (1904–1980), American character actor; played banker Milburn Drysdale in 248 episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971); earlier Broadway and film bit parts.
Richard Denning
Richard Denning, born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., was an American actor who played Hawaii's governor on "Hawaii Five-0" and starred with Lucille Ball on radio.
Richard Erdman
Richard Erdman (born John Richard Erdmann, 1925-2019), American character actor of more than 175 productions; barracks chief Hoffy in Stalag 17, Patrick McNulty in The Twilight Zone's "A Kind of a Stopwatch," and Leonard on Community. Not the sculptor or other namesakes.
Robert J. Wilke
Robert J. Wilke (1914-1989), also credited as Bob Wilke, was an American character actor typecast as Western villains in High Noon, The Magnificent Seven, and 121 feature Westerns, finishing with Stripes (1981).
Robert Keith (actor)
Robert Keith (Rolland Keith Richey, 1896 or 1898-1966), American character actor and Broadway playwright, father of Brian Keith; known for The Wild One, Guys and Dolls, Written on the Wind, and originating Doc in Mister Roberts.
Robert Webber
Robert Laman Webber (1924-1989), American character actor born in Santa Ana, California, distinct from the British actor of the same name: Juror 12 in 12 Angry Men, General Denton in The Dirty Dozen, Moonlighting, died of ALS in Malibu.
Rondo Hatton
Rondo Hatton (1894-1946), American actor and former Tampa Tribune reporter whose acromegaly, attributed to World War I poison gas exposure, led Universal to cast him as the Creeper in The Pearl of Death, House of Horrors, and The Brute Man.
Royal Dano
Royal Dano (Royal Edward Dano Sr., 1922–1994), American character actor of some 300 film and TV roles, known for westerns, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Right Stuff, and voicing Disney's animatronic Abraham Lincoln.
Sandra Knight
Sandra Knight, also known as Sandra D. Knight, is a retired American actress known for Thunder Road (1958) and Roger Corman's The Terror (1963), and the first wife of Jack Nicholson.
Schlitzie
Schlitzie (Simon Metz, legally Schlitze Surtees), 1901-1971, American microcephalic sideshow performer with Barnum & Bailey and Dreamland, best known for two scenes in Tod Browning's Freaks (1932).
Scott Brady
Scott Brady, born Gerard Kenneth Tierney, was an American film and television actor known for Westerns and crime films, including the title role in Shotgun Slade.
Slim Pickens
Slim Pickens (Louis Bert Lindley Jr., 1919–1983) was an American rodeo clown turned western character actor, famous as Major Kong riding the bomb in Dr. Strangelove (1964) and as Taggart in Blazing Saddles (1974).
Strother Martin
Strother Martin (Strother Douglas Martin Jr.; 1919 to 1980) was an American character actor whose many Western roles included the chain-gang Captain in Cool Hand Luke (1967).
Susan Cabot
Susan Cabot (Harriet Pearl Shapiro) was an American film, stage, and television actress, best remembered for the low-budget Roger Corman pictures she made between 1957 and 1959.
Terry Wilson (actor)
Terry Wilson (September 3, 1923 – March 30, 1999), born George William Newman Jr., was an American actor and stuntman who played assistant wagonmaster Bill Hawks in all 267 episodes of Wagon Train (1957–1965) after doubling for John Wayne, Ward Bond, and Robert Mitchum.
Tim Holt
Tim Holt (Charles John Holt III) was an American actor, son of western star Jack Holt, who played heroes in RKO B-westerns and appeared in Stagecoach and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Vincent Price
Vincent Price (1911-1993), American stage and film actor known as a horror icon through House of Wax, the Corman Poe cycle, and Edward Scissorhands; also a major art collector, Sears fine-art partner, and gourmet cookbook author.
Vito Scotti
Vito Scotti (born Vito Giusto Scozzari) was an American character actor known as "a man of a thousand faces" who made more than 200 screen appearances.