Stafford Repp
Encyclopedia
Stafford Alois Repp was an American
actor
best known for his role as Chief O'Hara on the Batman
television series.
, in San Francisco, California
. Soon after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
, Repp served a stint in the United States Army Air Corps
. After this service he began his acting career in mid-life. He was first hired to create sound effects during the "Golden Age of Television
".
with Susan Hayward
, and The Brothers Karamazov
, both made in 1958. Also at this same time he began to appear in a string of early television programs from the middle 1950s to the early 1960s, including NBC
's western
anthology series Frontier
. He appeared on Rod Cameron
's State Trooper
, Barbara Eden
's How to Marry a Millionaire
, Peter Lawford
's The Thin Man
(1957), Tom Tryon
's Texas John Slaughter
(1958), Howard Duff
's Dante
, and as Brink, the factory supervisor on Phil Silvers
' The New Phil Silvers Show
(1963–1964). His New Phil Silvers Show co-stars included Buddy Lester
, Herbie Faye
, Elena Verdugo
, Ronnie Dapo
, and Sandy Descher
. He also had a brief appearance in the The Twilight Zone
episode "Nick of Time
" which starred William Shatner
.
brogue that he had developed for the part. According to Adam West
, Neil Hamilton, who played Commissioner Gordon
on the show, did not like Repp's fake Irish accent, and their on-screen partnership was decidedly friendlier than in real life. While on Batman he appeared as a guest in numerous other TV shows of the time including I Dream of Jeannie
and The Mothers-in-Law
(in the latter, once again playing a policeman).
His last film was Cycle Psycho
in 1972
and his last television appearance was on the popular TV show M*A*S*H (as a Military Police Officer) which was broadcast after his death.
at age 56 on November 5, 1974 while at the Hollywood Park Racetrack. He is buried at the Westminster Memorial Park in Westminster, California
. After his death, his sister, a TV writer, established the Stafford Repp Memorial Scholarship for alumni of his alma mater
, Lowell High School.
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...
best known for his role as Chief O'Hara on the Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
television series.
Early life
Born and raised in California, he was educated at Lowell High SchoolLowell High School (San Francisco)
Lowell High School is a public magnet school in San Francisco, California. The school opened in 1856 as the Union Grammar School and attained its current name in 1896. Lowell moved to its current location in the Merced Manor neighborhood in 1962....
, in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Soon after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Repp served a stint in the United States Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
. After this service he began his acting career in mid-life. He was first hired to create sound effects during the "Golden Age of Television
Golden Age of Television
The Golden Age of Television in the United States began sometime in the late 1940s and extended to the late 1950s or early 1960s.-Evolutions of drama on television:...
".
Acting career
At the beginning of his acting career, Repp appeared in numerous film and TV productions including the films I Want to Live!I Want to Live!
I Want to Live! is a 1958 film noir produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Robert Wise which tells the heavily fictionalized story of a woman, Barbara Graham, convicted of murder and facing execution. It stars Susan Hayward as Graham, and also features Simon Oakland, Stafford Repp, and Theodore...
with Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
, and The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger and completed in November 1880...
, both made in 1958. Also at this same time he began to appear in a string of early television programs from the middle 1950s to the early 1960s, including 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 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...
anthology series Frontier
Frontier (1955 TV series)
This program should not be confused with Frontiers , the British program Frontier , Frontier Justice , Frontier Circus, or Frontier Doctor....
. He appeared on 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 State Trooper
State Trooper (TV series)
State Trooper is a half-hour television crime drama set in the 1950s American West, starring Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, an officer of the Nevada State Troopers. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from September 25, 1956, to June 25, 1959...
, Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
's 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:...
, Peter Lawford
Peter Lawford
Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
's The Thin Man
The Thin Man
The Thin Man is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in Redbook. Although he never wrote a sequel, the book became the basis for a successful six-part film series which also began in 1934 with The Thin Man and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy...
(1957), Tom Tryon
Tom Tryon
Tom Tryon was an American film and television actor, best known for playing the title role in the film The Cardinal and the Walt Disney television character Texas John Slaughter...
's Texas John Slaughter
Texas John Slaughter
Texas John Slaughter may refer to:*John Horton Slaughter, the Texas Ranger and Arizona pioneer*Texas John Slaughter , the television series produced by Walt Disney for ABC...
(1958), Howard Duff
Howard Duff
Howard Green Duff was an American actor of film, television, stage, and radio.Duff was born in Charleston, Washington, now a part of Bremerton. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in Seattle in 1932 where he began acting in school plays only after he was cut from the basketball team...
's Dante
Dante (TV series)
Dante is a short-lived NBC adventure/drama television series starring Howard Duff as Willie Dante, a former gambler who operates Dante's Inferno, a San Francisco, California, nightclub. Alan Mowbray co-starred as Stewart Styles, the Maitre d'; Tom D'Andrea as Biff, Dante's "man Friday", and Mort...
, and as Brink, the factory supervisor on Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah." He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S...
' The New Phil Silvers Show
The New Phil Silvers Show
The New Phil Silvers Show is an American situation comedy starring comedian Phil Silvers which aired thirty episodes on CBS from September 28, 1963, to April 25, 1964, under the sponsorship of General Foods.-Synopsis:...
(1963–1964). His New Phil Silvers Show co-stars included Buddy Lester
Buddy Lester
Buddy Lester was a veteran actor of dozens of character roles of film and television, who regularly appeared in Jerry Lewis features, including The Patsy, The Ladies Man, The Nutty Professor, Three on a Couch, Smorgasbord, Hardly Working" and The Big Mouth.Lester also portrayed Vince Massler, one...
, Herbie Faye
Herbie Faye
Herbie Faye was an American actor who appeared in both of Phil Silvers's CBS television series, The Phil Silvers Show and The New Phil Silvers Show ....
, Elena Verdugo
Elena Verdugo
Elena Verdugo is an American actress who began in films at the age of six in Cavalier of the West . Her career in radio, television, and film spanned six decades....
, Ronnie Dapo
Ronnie Dapo
Ronnie Dapo is an American former child actor who appeared in supporting roles in such television series as ABC's Room for One More and CBS's The New Phil Silvers Show .-Acting career:...
, and Sandy Descher
Sandy Descher
Sandra "Sandy" Descher is an American former child actress of the 1950s.-Biography:Although born in Burbank, California, she was discovered by accident while on vacation. When Descher was about five years old, her family had travelled across country to New York City where the girl fell in love...
. He also had a brief appearance in the The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode "Nick of Time
Nick of Time (The Twilight Zone)
"Nick of Time" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:When Don and Pat Carter's automobile breaks down in Ridgeview, Ohio, they decide to have lunch at the Busy Bee Cafe. The booth they sit in has a fortune telling machine on the table. Don asks the...
" which starred William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
.
Batman
However, it was his role as Chief O'Hara that he will be mainly recognised for with the thick IrishIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
brogue that he had developed for the part. According to Adam West
Adam West
William West Anderson , better known by the stage name Adam West, is an American actor best known for his lead role in the Batman TV series and the film of the same name...
, Neil Hamilton, who played Commissioner Gordon
James Gordon (comics)
James Worthington Gordon, Sr. is a fictional character, an ally of Batman that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane...
on the show, did not like Repp's fake Irish accent, and their on-screen partnership was decidedly friendlier than in real life. While on Batman he appeared as a guest in numerous other TV shows of the time including I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
and 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...
(in the latter, once again playing a policeman).
Later career
After Batman was cancelled in 1968, he wisely invested his money with a partnership in a chain of car washes, which brought him considerable financial success.His last film was Cycle Psycho
Cycle Psycho
Cycle Psychos is a 1973 thriller written and directed by John Lawrence and distributed by Troma Entertainment.-Plot:...
in 1972
1972 in film
The year 1972 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Avanti!, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet MillsB...
and his last television appearance was on the popular TV show M*A*S*H (as a Military Police Officer) which was broadcast after his death.
Death and legacy
Repp suffered a fatal heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at age 56 on November 5, 1974 while at the Hollywood Park Racetrack. He is buried at the Westminster Memorial Park in Westminster, California
Westminster, California
-Government:In the state legislature Westminster is located in the 34th, Senate District, represented by Democrat Lou Correa and Republican Tom Harman respectively, and in the 67th and 68th Assembly District, represented by Republicans Jim Silva and Van Tran respectively...
. After his death, his sister, a TV writer, established the Stafford Repp Memorial Scholarship for alumni of his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
, Lowell High School.
Selected filmography
- The Price of FearThe Price of FearThe Price of Fear is a horror/mystery radio serial produced by BBC Radio during the 1970s. The host and star of the show was Vincent Price....
(19561956 in filmThe year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
) - I Want to Live!I Want to Live!I Want to Live! is a 1958 film noir produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Robert Wise which tells the heavily fictionalized story of a woman, Barbara Graham, convicted of murder and facing execution. It stars Susan Hayward as Graham, and also features Simon Oakland, Stafford Repp, and Theodore...
(19581958 in filmThe year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
) - The Brothers KaramazovThe Brothers KaramazovThe Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger and completed in November 1880...
(1958) - The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight ZoneThe 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...
(1960) - The DuPont Show with June AllysonThe DuPont Show with June AllysonThe DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...
- (1960) - Jesse in "The Way Home" - The New Phil Silvers ShowThe Phil Silvers ShowThe Phil Silvers Show is a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G...
(1963) - Brink - BatmanBatman (TV series)Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
(1966–1968) - Chief O'Hara - BatmanBatman (1966 film)Batman, often promoted as Batman: The Movie, is a 1966 film based on the Batman television series, and the first full-length theatrical adaptation of the DC Comics character of the same name. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film starred Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. The film was...
(19661966 in filmThe year 1966 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Animation legend Walter Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died in 15 December 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer...
) - Chief O'Hara - Cycle PsychoCycle PsychoCycle Psychos is a 1973 thriller written and directed by John Lawrence and distributed by Troma Entertainment.-Plot:...
(19721972 in filmThe year 1972 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Avanti!, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet MillsB...
)