Richard Deacon
From Alfred Hitchcock Wiki
- born: 14/May/1921 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
- died: 08/Aug/1984 (Los Angeles, California, USA) - hypertensive heart disease
Biography
Richard Deacon was an American television and motion picture actor.
He was a bald-pated and usually bespectacled character actor who often portrayed imperious authority figures. He made appearances on "The Jack Benny Show" as a salesperson. His best-known roles are Mel Cooley on "The Dick Van Dyke Show", Fred Rutherford on "Leave It to Beaver" (Mr. Baxter in the pilot episode, "It's a Small World") and as Roger "Cutes" Buell on "The Mothers-in-Law". He also appeared as a guest on the 1970s game show "Match Game", and played Horace Vandergelder opposite Phyllis Diller's Dolly Gallagher Levi in a touring production of the musical "Hello, Dolly!".
In real life, he was a gourmet chef. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of cookbooks and hosted a 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".
On August 8, 1984, Deacon died from cardiovascular disease at the age of 63.
Filmography
With Hitchcock...
- The Birds (1963) - cast: Mitch's city neighbor
Other works of note...
- Them! (1954) - cast: Bald reporter, Los Angeles news conference (uncredited)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - cast: Dr. Harvey Bassett (uncredited)
- Inherit the Wind (1960) - cast: Juror (uncredited)
- Hud (1963) - cast: Pharmacist in restaurant scene (uncredited)
Links
Film Frames
Selection of film frames of Richard Deacon (click image to view larger version or refresh thumbnails)...