Dennis Cross
Encyclopedia
Dennis Cross was an American
actor
who was the lead star of the syndicated
television series The Blue Angels
, fictional stories of daredevil United States Navy
pilot
s which aired from 1960-1961. In addition, he appeared in many television westerns
.
, in Flathead County
in northwestern Montana
located northwest of the state capital of Helena
in Lewis and Clark County
. At the age of seventeen, Cross joined the United States Marine Corps
and fought against Japan
ese at the Battle of Guadalcanal. He studied acting through the assistance of the G.I. Bill of Rights
at the Actors Lab in Hollywood, located next to Schwab's Drug Store
, where several film stars were discovered.
In the early 1950s, Cross moved to New York City
and appeared in several live television programs and taped advertising
spots. Cross's first acting role was at the age of twenty-seven as Cadet Rob in the 1952 episode "Constitution Island" of the Hallmark Hall of Fame
, then on NBC
.
He performed with silent film
star Lillian Gish
in the 1953 episode "A Trip to the Bountiful" of NBC's Philco Television Playhouse. Having worked the night shift in a factory
the day before the shooting of the program, Cross broke his finger, placed it in a splint, but still arrived for the filming. In the episode Cross is shown behind the cage of a bus ticket counter with his finger in the splint selling a ticket to Gish. This particular episode was placed in the archives of the Museum of Modern Art
in New York.
When Cross returned to California, he starred in 1957 as the Indian
Coacoochee in the film Naked in the Sun, sometimes called The Osceola Story, about Chief Osceola of the Florida
Seminoles tribe. Three years later, he was cast to portray Commander Arthur Richards in thirty-three episodes of The Blue Angels, including "Not for the Moment", "The Sticking Season", "Pacific Monteray Story", "Second Best", and "The Blue Leaders", with guest star Ernest Borgnine
. The series co-stars included Don Gordon and Ross Elliott
.
's The Rifleman
on ABC
series. His Rifleman roles were as Witcherly in "The Safe Guard", Ned Dunnell in "The Gaucho", Lafe Oberly as "The Patsy", Dorn in "The Hero", Fance Degnan in "The Vision", and Martin in "The Quiet Fear".
Cross guest starred thirteen times between 1956 and 1969 on CBS's Gunsmoke
with James Arness
, including the role of the Native American
Three Hand in the 1965 episode "Chief Joseph". Cross appeared five times on CBS's Rawhide
between 1959–1963 and five times as well on ABC's The Big Valley
between 1965 and 1967. He made three appearances in 1968 and 1969 on Walter Brennan
's ABC series, The Guns of Will Sonnett
in episodes "Pariah", "Join the Army", and "Robber's Roose". He also appeared three times on the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days
in episodes "Treasure of Elk Canyon" (1961), and "Captain Dick Mine" and "The Rider" (both 1965).
He appeared twice on Fess Parker
's NBC series, Daniel Boone
, including the role of Chief Red Hand in the 1966 episode "Gun-Barrel Highway". Cross appeared twice too in the 1959-1960 ABC series Black Saddle
starring Peter Breck
. In 1958, he appeared twice on Richard Boone
's CBS series, Have Gun - Will Travel, in the episodes "Hey Boy's Revenge" and "Twenty-Four Hours at North Fork". Cross guest starred twice on both Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
and Henry Fonda
's The Deputy
. He appeared once on each of the Dale Robertson
western, Tales of Wells Fargo
("Man for the Job" as Lambert) and The Iron Horse ("Town Full of Fear" as Jim Vail).
He made single appearances on Jefferson Drum
, Sheriff of Cochise
, The Gray Ghost
, The Texan
, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Man Without a Gun
, Hotel de Paree
, Two Faces West
, The Virginian
, Branded, The Legend of Jesse James
(in episode "The Pursuers" as Meager), Bonanza
, Cimarron Strip
, The High Chaparral
, Wichita Town
, Robert Culp
's Trackdown
, and Don Murray
's The Outcasts
.
. He guest starred on the anthology program, The Dick Powell Show
, the World War II
series The Gallant Men
, Keenan Wynn
's The Troubleshooters
, David Janssen
's The Fugitive
, Mike Connors
's Tightrope
, Playhouse 90
, Robert Wagner's It Take a Thief, and The F.B.I.. He also appeared in comedy, including Walter Brennan The Real McCoys
, The Munsters
, Family Affair
, Ensign O'Toole
, Get Smart
, and The Bill Cosby Show
.
Cross's later roles included two appearances as a sheriff
on ABC's The Mod Squad
(1969–1970) and twice on CBS's Mission: Impossible
in episodes "Mindbend" (1971) and "Underground" as Arnold Lutz (1972). His last acting role was as a man in the congregation on CBS's The Waltons
in the 1976 episode "The Cloudburst".
Cross appeared in a few films: The Brass Legend (1956) with Hugh O'Brian
and Raymond Burr
, Crime of Passion (1957), The Over-the-Hill Gang
(1969) with Walter Brennan, 80 Steps to Jonah (1969), and The Bounty Man (1972), a television movie
.
Cross's son, Randy Cross
, born in New York City in 1954, is a former professional football
player and sports broadcaster
. The Crosses were living in Encino, California, in the 1970s, when he retired from acting and became a vice president of the Doctors Insurance
Company in Santa Monica
. He died in Los Angeles at the age of sixty-six.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who was the lead star of the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
television series The Blue Angels
The Blue Angels (TV series)
The Blue Angels is a 1960-1961 syndicated television series about the Blue Angels of the United States Navy. The program starred Dennis Cross as Commander Arthur Richards, the head of a four-man squadron which tours the country to give flight exhibitions...
, fictional stories of daredevil United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
s which aired from 1960-1961. In addition, he appeared in many television westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
.
Early years, military, acting
Cross was a native of WhitefishWhitefish, Montana
Whitefish is a city in Flathead County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,032 at the 2000 census. It is home to a ski resort on Big Mountain called Whitefish Mountain Resort. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer hails from Whitefish....
, in Flathead County
Flathead County, Montana
-National protected areas:* Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail * Flathead National Forest * Glacier National Park * Kootenai National Forest * Lolo National Forest * Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:...
in northwestern Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
located northwest of the state capital of Helena
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
in Lewis and Clark County
Lewis and Clark County, Montana
-National protected areas:* Flathead National Forest * Helena National Forest * Lewis and Clark National Forest * Lolo National Forest * Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Area -Demographics:...
. At the age of seventeen, Cross joined the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
and fought against Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese at the Battle of Guadalcanal. He studied acting through the assistance of the G.I. Bill of Rights
G.I. Bill of Rights
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 , known informally as the G.I. Bill, was an omnibus law that provided college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans as well as one year of unemployment compensation...
at the Actors Lab in Hollywood, located next to Schwab's Drug Store
Schwab's Drug Store
Schwab's Pharmacy was a drug store located at 8024 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, and was a popular hangout for movie actors and movie industry dealmakers from the 1930s through the 1950s...
, where several film stars were discovered.
In the early 1950s, Cross moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and appeared in several live television programs and taped advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
spots. Cross's first acting role was at the age of twenty-seven as Cadet Rob in the 1952 episode "Constitution Island" of the Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
, then on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
He performed with silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
star Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
in the 1953 episode "A Trip to the Bountiful" of NBC's Philco Television Playhouse. Having worked the night shift in a factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
the day before the shooting of the program, Cross broke his finger, placed it in a splint, but still arrived for the filming. In the episode Cross is shown behind the cage of a bus ticket counter with his finger in the splint selling a ticket to Gish. This particular episode was placed in the archives of the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York.
When Cross returned to California, he starred in 1957 as the Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
Coacoochee in the film Naked in the Sun, sometimes called The Osceola Story, about Chief Osceola of the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
Seminoles tribe. Three years later, he was cast to portray Commander Arthur Richards in thirty-three episodes of The Blue Angels, including "Not for the Moment", "The Sticking Season", "Pacific Monteray Story", "Second Best", and "The Blue Leaders", with guest star Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
. The series co-stars included Don Gordon and Ross Elliott
Ross Elliott
Ross Elliott was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career with Orson Welles in Mercury Theatre, where he performed in Welles' famed radio program The War of the Worlds....
.
Western roles
From 1958-1962, Cross appeared in different roles in six episodes of Chuck ConnorsChuck Connors
Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
's The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
series. His Rifleman roles were as Witcherly in "The Safe Guard", Ned Dunnell in "The Gaucho", Lafe Oberly as "The Patsy", Dorn in "The Hero", Fance Degnan in "The Vision", and Martin in "The Quiet Fear".
Cross guest starred thirteen times between 1956 and 1969 on CBS's Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
with James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
, including the role of the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
Three Hand in the 1965 episode "Chief Joseph". Cross appeared five times on CBS's Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
between 1959–1963 and five times as well on ABC's The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
between 1965 and 1967. He made three appearances in 1968 and 1969 on Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan was an American actor. Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.-Early life:...
's ABC series, The Guns of Will Sonnett
The Guns of Will Sonnett
The Guns of Will Sonnett is a Western television series set in the 1870s which ran on the ABC television network from 1967 to 1969. The series was the first production collaboration between Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas, who would later go on to produce one of ABC's most-memorable hits, The Mod...
in episodes "Pariah", "Join the Army", and "Robber's Roose". He also appeared three times on the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
in episodes "Treasure of Elk Canyon" (1961), and "Captain Dick Mine" and "The Rider" (both 1965).
He appeared twice on Fess Parker
Fess Parker
Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett in the Walt Disney 1955-56 TV mini-series and as TV's Daniel Boone from 1964-70...
's NBC series, Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (TV series)
Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
, including the role of Chief Red Hand in the 1966 episode "Gun-Barrel Highway". Cross appeared twice too in the 1959-1960 ABC series Black Saddle
Black Saddle
Black Saddle is an American Western series that ran for forty-four episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The series was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide playing Culhane.For...
starring Peter Breck
Peter Breck
Joseph Peter Breck is an American prolific character actor of stage, who has played roles on television and in film...
. In 1958, he appeared twice on Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
's CBS series, Have Gun - Will Travel, in the episodes "Hey Boy's Revenge" and "Twenty-Four Hours at North Fork". Cross guest starred twice on both Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
and Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
's The Deputy
The Deputy (TV series)
The Deputy is a 1959-1961 half-hour NBC western series featuring Henry Fonda as Chief Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona Territory and Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord, a storekeeper who tried to avoid using a gun.-Production:...
. He appeared once on each of the Dale Robertson
Dale Robertson
Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but...
western, Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
("Man for the Job" as Lambert) and The Iron Horse ("Town Full of Fear" as Jim Vail).
He made single appearances on Jefferson Drum
Jefferson Drum
Jefferson Drum is an American Western television series starring Jeff Richards and Eugene Martin on the NBC network that aired from April 25 to December 11, 1958.-Overview:...
, Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise , renamed U.S. Marshal , is a 58-episode syndicated western-themed crime drama set in Arizona and starring John Bromfield as law enforcement officer Frank Morgan. In the first two seasons, Morgan was sheriff of Cochise County...
, The Gray Ghost
Gray Ghost (TV series)
The Gray Ghost is an American historical series which aired in syndication from October 10, 1957, to July 3, 1958. It depicts the true story of Major John Singleton Mosby, a Virginia officer in the Confederate Army, whose cunning and stealth earned him the nickname "Gray Ghost".-Synopsis:The Gray...
, The Texan
The Texan (TV series)
The Texan is a Western television series starring popular B movie star Rory Calhoun. It aired on the CBS television network from 1958-1960.-Production notes:...
, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Man Without a Gun
Man Without a Gun
Man Without a Gun is a western television series produced by 20th Century Fox television and presented in first-run syndication in the United States from 1957 to 1959...
, Hotel de Paree
Hotel de Paree
Hotel de Paree is a Western television series that aired on the CBS Friday schedule from October 2, 1959, until June 3, 1960, under the alternate sponsorship of Liggett & Myers and Kellogg's....
, Two Faces West
Two Faces West
Two Faces West is a 39-episode half-hour syndicated television western series set in Gunnison in southwestern Colorado, which aired from October 17, 1960, to July 31, 1961. It stars Scottish native Charles Bateman in the dual roles of twin brothers, Rick January, M.D., and Marshal Ben January...
, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
, Branded, The Legend of Jesse James
The Legend of Jesse James (TV series)
The Legend of Jesse James is a 34-episode western television series starring Christopher Jones in the tile role of notorious outlaw Jesse James which aired on ABC from September 13, 1965, to May 9, 1966...
(in episode "The Pursuers" as Meager), Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, Cimarron Strip
Cimarron Strip
Cimarron Strip is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from September 1967 to March 1968. Starring Stuart Whitman as Marshal Jim Crown, the series was produced by the creators of Gunsmoke...
, The High Chaparral
The High Chaparral
The High Chaparral is a Western-themed television series starring Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell which aired on NBC from 1967 to 1971. The show was created by David Dortort, who had previously created the hit Bonanza for the network...
, Wichita Town
Wichita Town
Wichita Town is a half-hour western television series starring Joel McCrea, Jody McCrea, Carlos Romero, and George Neise that aired on NBC from September 30, 1959, until April 6, 1960....
, Robert Culp
Robert Culp
Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...
's Trackdown
Trackdown
Trackdown is an American Western television series starring Robert Culp that aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959. The series offered more than seventy episodes and was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television and filmed at the Desilu-Culver Studio...
, and Don Murray
Don Murray (actor)
Donald Patrick "Don" Murray is an American actor.-Early life and career:Murray was born in Hollywood, California on July 31, 1929, the only child of Dennis Aloisius, a Broadway dance director and stage manager and Ethel Murray, a former Ziegfeld performer...
's The Outcasts
The Outcasts (TV series)
The Outcasts is a short-lived Western genre television series, appearing on ABC in the 1968-69 season. The series co-starred Don Murray and Otis Young, and is probably most notable for being the first television Western with a Black co-star and the first bi-racial Western action...
.
Other roles
Cross appeared also in drama programs, including twice as Reicher in episodes "The Golden Carpet" and "The Middle Man" of ABC's 1961-1962 crime drama Target: The Corruptors!Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors! is a 35-episode crime drama starring Stephen McNally as newspaper reporter Paul Marino, which aired on ABC from September 29, 1961 to June 8, 1962. The character Jack Flood, Marino's undercover agent, was portrayed by Robert Harland...
. He guest starred on the anthology program, The Dick Powell Show
The Dick Powell Show
The Dick Powell Show is an American anthology series that ran on NBC from 1961- 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company. It was hosted by longtime film star Dick Powell until his death from lymphatic cancer on January 2, 1963, then by a series of guest hosts until the series ended...
, the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
series The Gallant Men
The Gallant Men
The Gallant Men is a 1962-1963 ABC television series which depicted an infantry company of American soldiers fighting their way through Italy in World War II.-Description:...
, Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
's The Troubleshooters
The Troubleshooters (1959 TV series)
The Troubleshooters is a 26-segment half-hour adventure series starring Keenan Wynn as Kodiak and Bob Mathias as Frank Dugan, which aired new episodes on NBC Television from September 11, 1959, to April 10, 1960. Based on unusual events at international construction sites, the program was...
, David Janssen
David Janssen
David Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive , the starring role in the 1950s hit detective series Richard Diamond, Private Detective , and as Harry Orwell on Harry O.In 1996 TV Guide...
's The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
, Mike Connors
Mike Connors
Mike Connors is an American actor best known for playing detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series, Mannix. Before that, he had played a crime-fighting investigator, wielding a .38 handgun hidden in his back, in another CBS series, Tightrope.-Early life:Connors was born Krekor Ohanian in...
's Tightrope
Tightrope (TV series)
Tightrope is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 1959 to September 1960. Produced by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene in association with Screen Gems, the series stars Mike Connors as an undercover agent named "Nick" who was assigned to infiltrate criminal gangs...
, Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
, Robert Wagner's It Take a Thief, and The F.B.I.. He also appeared in comedy, including Walter Brennan The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's "Westgate" company...
, The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
, Family Affair
Family Affair
Family Affair is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966 to September 9, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do civil engineer and bachelor Bill Davis as he attempted to raise his brother's orphaned children in his luxury New York City apartment. Davis' traditional...
, Ensign O'Toole
Ensign O'Toole
Ensign O'Toole is a military comedy that aired on NBC from September 23, 1962, to May 5, 1963, with 31-year-old Dean Jones in the title role of a nonchalant Navy ensign during the early 1960s. Jones, born in 1931 in Alabama and a Navy veteran of the Korean War, played an officer aboard the...
, Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
, and The Bill Cosby Show
The Bill Cosby Show
The Bill Cosby Show is an American situation comedy that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Cosby's first solo foray in television, after his co-starring role with...
.
Cross's later roles included two appearances as a sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
on ABC's The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad is a television series that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. This series starred Michael Cole, Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III, and Tige Andrews...
(1969–1970) and twice on CBS's Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
in episodes "Mindbend" (1971) and "Underground" as Arnold Lutz (1972). His last acting role was as a man in the congregation on CBS's The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
in the 1976 episode "The Cloudburst".
Cross appeared in a few films: The Brass Legend (1956) with Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian is an American actor, known for his starring role in the ABC television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp .-Early years and career:...
and Raymond Burr
Raymond Burr
Raymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain...
, Crime of Passion (1957), The Over-the-Hill Gang
The Over-the-Hill Gang
The Over-the-Hill Gang is a 1969 TV-movie Western comedy about aging Texas Rangers starring Walter Brennan and Pat O'Brien. Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Andy Devine, and Jack Elam play supporting roles...
(1969) with Walter Brennan, 80 Steps to Jonah (1969), and The Bounty Man (1972), a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
.
Cross's son, Randy Cross
Randy Cross
Randall "Randy" Laureat Cross , is a football analyst and former NFL offensive lineman. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in July 2011.-High school years:...
, born in New York City in 1954, is a former professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player and sports broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
. The Crosses were living in Encino, California, in the 1970s, when he retired from acting and became a vice president of the Doctors Insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
Company in Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
. He died in Los Angeles at the age of sixty-six.