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Richard Deacon (actor)
Encyclopedia
Richard Deacon born in Philadelphia
, was an American television and motion picture actor.
often portrayed pompous or imperious figures. He made appearances on The Jack Benny Show as a salesman and a barber, and on NBC
's Happy
as a hotel manager. He had a brief role in Alfred Hitchcock
's film The Birds
(1963), and a larger role in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), as a physician
in the "book-end" sequences added to the beginning and end of this film after its original previews. He portrayed the historically infamous Chairman of the Columbia Aircraft Corp
, Charles Levine
,who, in February 1927, refused to sell Charles Lindbergh
his company's recently acquired Bellanca
monoplane for Lindbergh’s famous trans-atlantic flight
unless his company could choose the crew.
Deacon later immortalized the scene in the 1957 release of the Billy Wilder
/Jimmy Stewart
adaptation of Lindbergh’s Pulitzer Prize
winning account of his famous flight, The Spirit of St. Louis
.
His best-known roles are Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show
(1961–1966) and Fred Rutherford
on Leave It to Beaver
(1957–1963), although Deacon played Mr. Baxter in the 1957 "Beaver" pilot episode "It's a Small World
". He co-starred as Tallulah Bankhead's butler on a classic episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour called, "The Celebrity Next Door". He played Roger Buell on the second season of TV's The Mothers-in-Law
(1967–1969), replacing actor Roger C. Carmel
in the role.
In Carousel
(1956), the film adaptation of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein stage musical
, Deacon had a bit role as the policeman who admonishes Shirley Jones
(Julie) and John Dehner
(Mr. Bascombe) about Gordon MacRae
(Billy Bigelow) in the famous "bench scene". It was one of the few films in which he did not wear glasses, as were his roles in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
(1955), and the 1954 costumer Désirée, where he played Jean Simmons
' elder brother, an 18th-century Marseilles silk merchant. Deacon played the role of Morton Stearnes' butler, George Archibald, in The Young Philadelphians (1959), which starred Paul Newman.
Deacon appeared in the sitcoms It's a Great Life
, How to Marry a Millionaire
, Get Smart
; The Addams Family
, in which he administers Cousin Itt
a battery of psychological tests in the May 1965 episode "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor"; and The Munsters
episode "Pike's Pique". In 1966, he appeared on Phyllis Diller
's short-lived TV sitcom
The Pruitts of Southampton
(1966).
In 1969, he co-starred on Broadway
as Horace Vandergelder in the long-running musical Hello, Dolly!
, reuniting him onstage with Diller, who played the musical's zany title character.
. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of cookbook
s and hosted a Canadian television series on microwave
cooking. He would stand behind a desk and say to customers, "I'm standing behind here because in a moment of spontaneity, I sold my pants."
In Boze Hadleigh
's Hollywood Gays, he reportedly met with Deacon and asked him, "Do you imagine any segment of the public guesses that Richard Deacon is gay?" Deacon shook his head. "Not even gays. Most would be surprised. Only because what you see on TV, a serious guy in a suit, unsmiling, isn’t how anyone thinks of gay males."
in 1984, aged 63, and his remains were cremated.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, was an American television and motion picture actor.
Career
The bald and usually bespectacled character actorCharacter actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
often portrayed pompous or imperious figures. He made appearances on The Jack Benny Show as a salesman and a barber, and 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...
's Happy
Happy (1960 TV series)
Happy is an NBC situation comedy about a talking baby, starring Ronnie Burns , the adopted son of George Burns and Gracie Allen, which aired from June 8 to September 28, 1960, and again from January 13 to September 8, 1961....
as a hotel manager. He had a brief role in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's film The Birds
The Birds (film)
The Birds is a 1963 horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on the 1952 short story "The Birds" by Daphne du Maurier. It depicts Bodega Bay, California which is, suddenly and for unexplained reasons, the subject of a series of widespread and violent bird attacks over the course of a few...
(1963), and a larger role in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), as a physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
in the "book-end" sequences added to the beginning and end of this film after its original previews. He portrayed the historically infamous Chairman of the Columbia Aircraft Corp
Columbia Aircraft Corp
The Columbia Aircraft Corp was a United States aircraft manufacturer, which was active between 1927 and 1947.-Formation and operations:Columbia Aircraft was founded in December 1927 by Charles A. Levine as chairman and the aircraft designer Giuseppe Mario Bellanca as president. The initial name...
, Charles Levine
Charles Albert Levine
Charles Albert Levine was the first passenger aboard a transatlantic flight.-Biography:Levine was born on March 17, 1897, in North Adams, Massachusetts. He joined his father in selling scrap metal, later forming his own company buying and recycling World War I surplus brass shell casings...
,who, in February 1927, refused to sell Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
his company's recently acquired Bellanca
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca was an Italian-American airplane designer and builder who created the first enclosed cabin monoplane in the United States in 1922. This aircraft is now on display at the National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.-Biography:He was born on March 19, 1886 in...
monoplane for Lindbergh’s famous trans-atlantic flight
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
unless his company could choose the crew.
Deacon later immortalized the scene in the 1957 release of the Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
/Jimmy Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
adaptation of Lindbergh’s Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning account of his famous flight, The Spirit of St. Louis
The Spirit of St. Louis (film)
The Spirit of St. Louis is a 1957 biographical film directed by Billy Wilder and starring James Stewart as Charles Lindbergh. The screenplay was adapted by Charles Lederer, Wendell Mayes, and Billy Wilder from Lindbergh's 1953 autobiographical account of his historic flight, which won the Pulitzer...
.
His best-known roles are Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
(1961–1966) and Fred Rutherford
Fred Rutherford
Frederick "Fred" Rutherford is a fictional character in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver. The show aired October 4, 1957 to June 20, 1963. Fred is portrayed by Richard Deacon...
on Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
(1957–1963), although Deacon played Mr. Baxter in the 1957 "Beaver" pilot episode "It's a Small World
It's a Small World (Leave It to Beaver episode)
"It's a Small World" is the pilot episode from the iconic American television series Leave It to Beaver . The pilot was first televised April 23, 1957 on a syndicated anthology series, Studio 57, without a laugh track nor the series' well known theme song, "The Toy Parade"...
". He co-starred as Tallulah Bankhead's butler on a classic episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour called, "The Celebrity Next Door". He played Roger Buell on the second season of TV's The Mothers-in-Law
The Mothers-in-Law
The Mothers-in-Law is an American sitcom starring Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as two matriarchs who were friends and next-door neighbors whose children's elopement rendered them in-laws. The show aired on NBC from September 1967 to April 1969; it was produced by Desi Arnaz after the dissolutions...
(1967–1969), replacing actor Roger C. Carmel
Roger C. Carmel
Roger Charles Carmel was an American actor.Of his hundreds of roles, he is best remembered for playing the flamboyant and hapless criminal Harry Mudd on the original Star Trek. Other memorable roles include the accountant Doug Wesley on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Colonel Gumm on Batman...
in the role.
In Carousel
Carousel (film)
Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which, in turn, was based on Ferenc Molnár's non-musical play Liliom. The 1956 Carousel film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King...
(1956), the film adaptation of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein stage musical
Carousel (musical)
Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
, Deacon had a bit role as the policeman who admonishes Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...
(Julie) and John Dehner
John Dehner
John Dehner was an American actor in radio, television, and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. Between 1941 and 1988, he appeared in over 260 films and television programs. Prior to acting, Dehner had worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, and later became a radio...
(Mr. Bascombe) about Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
(Billy Bigelow) in the famous "bench scene". It was one of the few films in which he did not wear glasses, as were his roles in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy is a 1955 film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is also the 28th and final Abbott and Costello film produced by Universal Pictures.-Plot:...
(1955), and the 1954 costumer Désirée, where he played Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
' elder brother, an 18th-century Marseilles silk merchant. Deacon played the role of Morton Stearnes' butler, George Archibald, in The Young Philadelphians (1959), which starred Paul Newman.
Deacon appeared in the sitcoms It's a Great Life
It's a Great Life
It's a Great Life is an American situation comedy which aired on NBC from 1954 to 1956...
, How to Marry a Millionaire
How to Marry a Millionaire (TV series)
How to Marry a Millionaire is an American sitcom that aired in syndication from 1957 to 1959. The series was based on the 1953 film of the same name which starred Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall.-Synopsis:...
, 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...
; The Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. As named by Charles Addams, the Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing....
, in which he administers Cousin Itt
Cousin Itt
Cousin Itt is a member of the fictional Addams Family. Unlike the other characters, Cousin Itt was not originally created by cartoonist Charles Addams, but by producer David Levy, though he did appear as an unnamed character in Addams's cartoons.- Character :...
a battery of psychological tests in the May 1965 episode "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor"; and 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,...
episode "Pike's Pique". In 1966, he appeared on Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...
's short-lived TV sitcom
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...
The Pruitts of Southampton
The Pruitts of Southampton
The Pruitts of Southampton was a situation comedy that aired during the 1966-67 season on the ABC network. The show was based on the novel House Party by Patrick Dennis....
(1966).
In 1969, he co-starred 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...
as Horace Vandergelder in the long-running musical Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! (musical)
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
, reuniting him onstage with Diller, who played the musical's zany title character.
Personal life
In real life, he was a gourmet chefChef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of cookbook
Cookbook
A cookbook is a kitchen reference that typically contains a collection of recipes. Modern versions may also include colorful illustrations and advice on purchasing quality ingredients or making substitutions...
s and hosted a Canadian television series on microwave
Microwave oven
A microwave oven is a kitchen appliance that heats food by dielectric heating, using microwave radiation to heat polarized molecules within the food...
cooking. He would stand behind a desk and say to customers, "I'm standing behind here because in a moment of spontaneity, I sold my pants."
In Boze Hadleigh
Boze Hadleigh
Boze Hadleigh aka George Hadley-Garcia is an American journalist writer of celebrity gossip and entertainment.-Biography:...
's Hollywood Gays, he reportedly met with Deacon and asked him, "Do you imagine any segment of the public guesses that Richard Deacon is gay?" Deacon shook his head. "Not even gays. Most would be surprised. Only because what you see on TV, a serious guy in a suit, unsmiling, isn’t how anyone thinks of gay males."
Death
Deacon died from cardiovascular diseaseCardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
in 1984, aged 63, and his remains were cremated.