Richard Ross Eyer is a former American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 child actor

Child actor

The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...

 during the 1950s

1950s

The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

 and 1960s

1960s

The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

 who taught elementary school

Elementary school

An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...

 in the eastern Sierra city of Bishop

Bishop, California

Bishop is a city in Inyo County, California, United States. Though Bishop is the only city and the largest populated place in Inyo County, the county seat is Independence. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4147 feet . The population was 3,879 at the...

 in Inyo County

Inyo County, California

-National protected areas:* Death Valley National Park * Inyo National Forest * Manzanar National Historic Site-Major highways:* U.S. Route 6* U.S. Route 395* State Route 127* State Route 136* State Route 168* State Route 178...

 until he retired in 2006. He is the older brother of Robert Eyer

Robert Eyer

Robert Thomas Eyer is an American actor.Robert the younger brother of actor Richard EyerFilms in which he worked:*Back Street - 1961;*The Dark at the Top of the Stairs - 1960;*The Man from Blackhawk - 1959;...

 (b. May 6, 1948), another child actor of the period who is deceased.

In 1960–1961, Eyer was cast in the role of the teenaged David "Davey" Kane on the 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...

 television Western

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...

 series Stagecoach West

Stagecoach West (TV series)

Stagecoach West is a highly-acclaimed Western drama television series which ran for thirty-eight episodes on the ABC network from October 4, 1960, until June 27, 1961. Characters Luke Perry and Simon Kane operate the Timberland Stage Line from Missouri to San Francisco...

, having portrayed the fictional son of stagecoach

Stagecoach

A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

 co-owner Simon Kane, played by the late Robert Bray

Robert Bray

Robert E. Bray was an American film and television actor probably best remembered for his role as the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the long-running CBS series Lassie.-Life and career:...

. The series, a production of Dick Powell

Dick Powell

Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...

's Four Star Television

Four Star Television

Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Ida Lupino, and Charles Boyer, the company produced many well-known shows of the early days of...

, also starred Wayne Rogers

Wayne Rogers

William Wayne McMillan Rogers III is an American film and television actor, best known for playing the role of 'Trapper John' McIntyre in the U.S...

, later Trapper John on M*A*S*H.

Eyer was a boy with "'the clean-cut, all-American look" who won "personality contests" and other competitions before he made his film debut in the early 1950s. In 1956, he was the youngster who runs "afowl" of the goose in director William Wyler

William Wyler

William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...

's Friendly Persuasion

Friendly Persuasion (film)

Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 Civil War film starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton and Phyllis Love. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West, and was directed by William Wyler...

. Science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 viewers will remember him for the starring role in The Invisible Boy

The Invisible Boy

The Invisible Boy is a science fiction film, directed by Herman Hoffman, and starring Richard Eyer and Philip Abbott. It is the second film appearance of Robby the Robot, a famous science fiction character, who first appeared in Forbidden Planet , which is set in the 23rd century. Released by...

, which was producer Nicholas Nayfack

Nicholas Nayfack

Nicholas Nayfack was an American movie producer whose notable works include Forbidden Planet and The Invisible Boy. He was the nephew of MGM studio chief Nicholas Schenck and United Artists studio boss Joseph M. Schenck. He married actress Lynne Carver in 1937...

's independent sequel to MGM's Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...

. In The Desperate Hours

The Desperate Hours (film)

The Desperate Hours is a 1955 film from Paramount Pictures starring Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March. The movie was produced and directed by William Wyler and based on a novel and play of the same name written by Joseph Hayes which were loosely based on actual events.The original Broadway...

 (1955), Eyer played Frederic March's dangerously impulsive son. His last film was The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a 1958 fantasy film released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Nathan H. Juran and produced by Charles H. Schneer...

 in 1958. He portrayed the metallic-voiced Baronni the Genie. He also starred in the Warner Bros. late '50s western, "Fort Dobbs", with Clint Walker & Virginia Mayo.

In a 1995 interview, Eyer credited his mother for the promotion of his acting career. "It was all her work that did it. I had curly hair, freckles, and people would say what a cute kid he was and all that; so my mother entered me in some children’s personality contests, and I won one of these which had been held at the Hollywood Bowl

Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...

, and I guess that one was the springboard in getting me started. After that, I was hired for some television commercials and some modeling jobs, and this led into other things ... I was around fourteen when I did Stagecoach West ... My last role was at age 21, appearing in an episode of [ABC's] Combat!."

He appeared in more than one hundred episodes of various television programs, including Rod Cameron

Rod Cameron

Rod Cameron was a Canadian-born movie actor whose career extended from the 1930s to the 1970s. He appeared in horror, war, action and science fiction movies, but is best remembered for his many Westerns....

's 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...

 City Detective

City Detective (TV series)

City Detective is a half-hour syndicated crime drama starring Rod Cameron as 43-year-old Bart Grant, a tough 1950s New York City police lieutenant. The first of three consecutive Rod Cameron series, City Detective aired between January 1, 1953 and May 10, 1955...

, when he was eight years of age.

Other appearances include Arrest and Trial

Arrest and Trial

Arrest and Trial is a 90-minute American Police procedural/legal drama that ran during the 1963-64 season on ABC, airing Sundays from 8:30-10 p.m. Eastern.The majority of episodes consisted of two segments...

, Stoney Burke

Stoney Burke

Stoney Burke is a California street performer and actor.Burke performs political comedy on college campuses, most notably at the University of California, Berkeley near Sather Gate. Burke routinely engages crowds throughout the day using conservative Republican perspectives as his primary satire...

, Wagon Train

Wagon Train

Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...

, Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...

, Mr. Novak

Mr. Novak

Mr. Novak is an American dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role, which aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1963 to 1965.-Overview:...

, 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....

, Lassie, 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...

 and General Electric Theater

General Electric Theater

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...

.

Personal life

Eyer is divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

d. He is the father of a daughter, Samantha Rae Eyer, and twin sons, Benjamin Adam Eyer and Andrew Z. Eyer.

External links