Edward Platt
Encyclopedia
Edward Cuthbert Platt was an American actor
best known for his portrayal of "The Chief" in the 1965-70 NBC
/CBS
television
series Get Smart
. With his deep voice and mature countenance, he played an eclectic mix of characters over the span of his career.
A powerful bass-baritone
, he debuted on Broadway
in the Rodgers and Hammerstein
musical Allegro
. He landed his first film owing to help from José Ferrer
, who performed with him in the Broadway play The Shrike. Ferrer and Platt played the same parts in the film version in 1955. Also in 1955, he appeared in Rebel Without a Cause
starring James Dean
, Natalie Wood
and Sal Mineo
. Platt returned to Broadway in 1958 with the musical Oh, Captain!
playing a romantic role. In 1959, he played Cary Grant
's attorney in North by Northwest
. In 1959, Platt starred in the movie The Rebel Set, which was "riffed" by the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000
.
Platt also appeared in episodes of the original Perry Mason
, Bonanza
, Rawhide
, The Outer Limits
, and The Twilight Zone
.
His most famous role was the regular role of "Chief" in the espionage
parody
television series Get Smart
(1965–1970).
After the series ended he played a recurring role in situation comedy
series The Governor & J.J.
in 1970. He had guest roles in several other television series of the era, mostly comedies. These included Temperatures Rising
, Bewitched
, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
, Love, American Style
, The Odd Couple
as Oscar Madison's boss in episode Oscar's New Life.
, starring Glenn Ford
. Platt saw the advantages of using videotape over film, and his crew shot the production with electronic TV cameras and portable VTRs, then had the images transferred to film for theatrical release. Unfortunately, the movie was not commercially successful, leaving Platt in difficult financial straits.
He left four children from two marriages and a brother living in Santa Barbara, California
. Platt was cremated
and his ashes were scattered at sea.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
best known for his portrayal of "The Chief" in the 1965-70 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...
/CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series 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...
. With his deep voice and mature countenance, he played an eclectic mix of characters over the span of his career.
Stage, film, and television career
Platt was born in Staten Island, New York and studied at the Juilliard School of Music.A powerful bass-baritone
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
, he debuted on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in the Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
musical Allegro
Allegro (musical)
Allegro is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II , their third collaboration for the stage. Opening on Broadway on October 10, 1947, the musical centers on the life of Joseph Taylor, Jr.—Joe follows in the footsteps of his father as a doctor, but is tempted by fortune and fame at...
. He landed his first film owing to help from José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
, who performed with him in the Broadway play The Shrike. Ferrer and Platt played the same parts in the film version in 1955. Also in 1955, he appeared in Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
starring James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
, Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...
and Sal Mineo
Sal Mineo
Salvatore "Sal" Mineo, Jr. , was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance as John "Plato" Crawford opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause...
. Platt returned to Broadway in 1958 with the musical Oh, Captain!
Oh, Captain!
Oh, Captain! is a musical comedy based on the film The Captain's Paradise, which had been written by Alec Coppel and Nicholas Phipps. The film starred Alec Guinness as a philandering ship's captain, with a wife in one port and a mistress in another. The musical starred Tony Randall, and updated the...
playing a romantic role. In 1959, he played Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
's attorney in North by Northwest
North by Northwest
North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...
. In 1959, Platt starred in the movie The Rebel Set, which was "riffed" by the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
.
Platt also appeared in episodes of the original Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
, 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...
, 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...
, The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
, and The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
.
His most famous role was the regular role of "Chief" in the espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
television series 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...
(1965–1970).
After the series ended he played a recurring role in situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
series The Governor & J.J.
The Governor & J.J.
The Governor & J.J. is a television series that ran from 1969 to 1970 on CBS in the United States and in Canada, where it ran on CBC. Selected episodes were rerun by CBS during the summer of 1972. It was produced by Talent Associates and CBS Productions...
in 1970. He had guest roles in several other television series of the era, mostly comedies. These included Temperatures Rising
Temperatures Rising
Temperatures Rising is an American television situation comedy that ran from September 12, 1972 to August 29, 1974 on the ABC network.The network had a good deal of faith in the low-rated series, which went through three cast changes, two different formats, and two time slots during its...
, Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law is an American legal drama, jointly created by David Victor and former law professor Jerry McNeely, that starred actor Arthur Hill. The series was broadcast on ABC from 1971 to 1974...
, Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...
, The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
as Oscar Madison's boss in episode Oscar's New Life.
Work as Producer
In 1973, Platt raised the money to produce one of the very first independent color motion pictures shot entirely on videotape: SanteeSantee (film)
----Santee 1973 is a Western movie, starring Glenn Ford and directed by Gary Nelson.- Plot :Jody Deakes joins up with his father after many years, just to discover that his dad is part of an outlaw gang on the run from a relentless bounty hunter named Santee...
, starring Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
. Platt saw the advantages of using videotape over film, and his crew shot the production with electronic TV cameras and portable VTRs, then had the images transferred to film for theatrical release. Unfortunately, the movie was not commercially successful, leaving Platt in difficult financial straits.
Death
On March 19, 1974, Platt's body was found in his apartment; the actor was reported to have died of an apparent heart attack. As of 2011, various websites state his family reported that he committed suicide after suffering from undiagnosed depression and financial difficulties.He left four children from two marriages and a brother living in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
. Platt was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
and his ashes were scattered at sea.
Partial filmography
- I Was a Male War BrideI Was a Male War BrideI Was a Male War Bride is a 1949 comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan.This film was based on I was an Alien Spouse of Female Military Personnel Enroute to the United States Under Public Law 271 of the Congress, a biography of Henri Rochard, a Belgian who...
(1949) (uncredited) - The ShrikeThe Shrike (film)The Shrike is a 1955 film based on the Joseph Kramm's play, The Shrike. José Ferrer directed and starred in Ketti Frings' screenplay adaptation.-Characters and story:...
(1955) - Rebel Without a CauseRebel Without a CauseRebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
(1955) - Illegal (1955)
- The Lieutenant Wore SkirtsThe Lieutenant Wore SkirtsThe Lieutenant Wore Skirts is a 1956 film directed by Frank Tashlin. The feature starred Tom Ewell, Sheree North, and Rita Moreno. It is a comedy about a man whose marriage begins to fail when his wife gets drafted.-Cast:*Tom Ewell as Gregory Whitcomb...
(1956) - BacklashBacklash (1956 film)Backlash is a 1956 Technicolor film released by Universal-International Pictures. It was directed by John Sturges , and unfolds in the vein of the psychological Western Backlash is a 1956 Technicolor film released by Universal-International Pictures. It was directed by John Sturges (with whom...
(1956) - The Proud OnesThe Proud OnesThe Proud Ones is a 1956 western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo.-Plot synopsis:Cass Silver , marshal of a small Kansas town, is expecting trouble with the arrival of the first Texas trail herds on the newly completed railroad...
(1956) - Storm CenterStorm CenterStorm Center is an American drama film directed by Daniel Taradash. The screenplay by Taradash and Elick Moll focuses on what were at the time two very controversial subjects, Communism and book banning, and took a strong stance against censorship....
(1956) - Written on the WindWritten on the WindWritten on the Wind is a 1956 American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk. It stars Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone....
(1956) - The Great ManThe Great ManThe Great Man is a 1956 drama film directed by José Ferrer and based on a novel by Al Morgan. It was loosely based on the controversial career of Arthur Godfrey, the beloved TV and radio host whose image had been tarnished by a number of cast firings and Godfrey's contentious battles with the...
(1956) - Omar KhayyamOmar Khayyam (film)Omar Khayyam is an American movie directed by William Dieterle, filmed in 1956 and released in 1957...
(1957) - Designing WomanDesigning WomanDesigning Woman is a 1957 romantic comedy about fashion. Vincente Minnelli directed stars Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck. George Wells won an Academy Award for the screenplay.-Plot:...
(1957) - The Rebel SetThe Rebel SetThe Rebel Set is a 1959 American film directed by Gene Fowler Jr.. It was later featured and riffed on Mystery Science Theater 3000.- Plot summary :Mr...
(1959) - They Came to CorduraThey Came To CorduraThey Came To Cordura is a 1959 Western film co-written and directed by Robert Rossen, starring Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth, and featuring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Richard Conte, Michael Callan, and Dick York. It was based on a 1958 novel by Glendon Swarthout.-Plot:Tom Thorn is a U.S...
(1959) - North by NorthwestNorth by NorthwestNorth by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...
(1959) - Cash McCallCash McCallCash McCall is a 1960 movie starring James Garner and Natalie Wood, based upon the novel of the same name by Cameron Hawley about a man who buys businesses in order to sell them at a profit...
(1960) - PollyannaPollyanna (1960 film)Pollyanna is a Walt Disney Productions feature film starring child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden and Richard Egan in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town. Based upon the novel Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter, the film was written and directed by David...
(1960) - Atlantis, the Lost ContinentAtlantis, the Lost ContinentAtlantis, the Lost Continent is a 1961 science fiction film, directed by George Pal and starring Anthony Hall aka: Sal Ponti, about the destruction of Atlantis during the time of Ancient Greece.-Plot:...
(1961) - Cape FearCape Fear (1962 film)Cape Fear is a 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Polly Bergen. It was adapted by James R. Webb from the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and released on April 12, 1962...
(1962) - A Ticklish AffairA Ticklish AffairA Ticklish Affair is a 1963 film directed by George Sidney. It stars Shirley Jones and Gig Young. It was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1964.-Cast:*Shirley Jones as Amy Martin*Gig Young as Key Weedon*Red Buttons as Uncle Cy...
(1963) - Black ZooBlack ZooBlack Zoo is a 1963 American horror film produced and co-written by Herman Cohen. It is a violent, gore-filled tale directed by Robert Gordon.- Plot :Michael Conrad is a private zookeeper who owns Conrad's Animal Kingdom...
(1963) - The Man from Button WillowThe Man from Button WillowThe Man from Button Willow is a 1965 American animated Western film about the adventures of Justin Eagle, the first U.S. Government Agent. It was released on 3 April 1965 in the United States.-Voice cast:*Dale Robertson - Justin Eagle...
(1965)