Acting

Richard Deacon

Born May 14, 1922 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Died August 8, 1984 · aged 62

Richard Lewis Deacon (May 14, 1922 – August 8, 1984) was an American actor, best known for playing supporting roles in television shows on The Dick Van Dyke Show (as milksop producer Mel Cooley) and Leave It to Beaver (as Lumpy's self-aggrandizing father Fred Rutherford). He also had minor roles in films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).

Known For

The Birds

The Birds · 1963

MovieHorrorThriller

Thousands of birds flock into a seaside town and terrorize the residents in a series of deadly attacks.

Them!

MovieScience FictionHorror

As a result of nuclear testing, gigantic, ferocious mutant ants appear in the American desert southwest, and a father-daughter team of entomologists join forces with the state police officer who first discovers their existence, an FBI agent and, eventually, the US Army to eradicate the menace, before it spreads across the continent — and the world.

The Young Philadelphians

The Young Philadelphians · 1959

The Young Philadelphians

Up and coming young lawyer Anthony Lawrence faces several ethical and emotional dilemmas as he climbs the Philadelphia social ladder. His personal and professional skills are tested as he tries to balance the needs of his fiance Joan, the expectations of his colleagues and his own obligation to defend his friend Chester on a murder count.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers · 1956

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

MovieScience FictionHorror

A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.

Piranha

Piranha · 1978

MovieHorrorScience Fiction

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

That Darn Cat!

That Darn Cat! · 1965

MovieFamilyCrime

A young woman suspects foul play when her cat comes home wearing a wristwatch. Convincing the FBI, though, and catching the bad guys is tougher than she imagined.

The Spirit of St. Louis

The Spirit of St. Louis · 1957

The Spirit of St. Louis

MovieDramaHistory

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.

North to Alaska

North to Alaska · 1960

North to Alaska

MovieWesternComedy

After striking gold in Alaska, the romantic George sends his womanizing partner Sam to bring his fiancée up from Seattle. When Sam finds that she has already married, he returns instead with Angel, a dancer originally from France.

Filmography

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The Birds

The Birds · 1963

MovieHorrorThriller

Thousands of birds flock into a seaside town and terrorize the residents in a series of deadly attacks.

Mitch's City Neighbor

Them!

MovieScience FictionHorror

As a result of nuclear testing, gigantic, ferocious mutant ants appear in the American desert southwest, and a father-daughter team of entomologists join forces with the state police officer who first discovers their existence, an FBI agent and, eventually, the US Army to eradicate the menace, before it spreads across the continent — and the world.

Bald Reporter at L.A. News Conference

The Young Philadelphians

The Young Philadelphians · 1959

The Young Philadelphians

Up and coming young lawyer Anthony Lawrence faces several ethical and emotional dilemmas as he climbs the Philadelphia social ladder. His personal and professional skills are tested as he tries to balance the needs of his fiance Joan, the expectations of his colleagues and his own obligation to defend his friend Chester on a murder count.

George Archibald

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers · 1956

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

MovieScience FictionHorror

A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.

Emergency Room Doctor (uncredited)

Piranha

Piranha · 1978

MovieHorrorScience Fiction

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

Earl Lyon

That Darn Cat!

That Darn Cat! · 1965

MovieFamilyCrime

A young woman suspects foul play when her cat comes home wearing a wristwatch. Convincing the FBI, though, and catching the bad guys is tougher than she imagined.

Drive-in-Manager

The Spirit of St. Louis

The Spirit of St. Louis · 1957

The Spirit of St. Louis

MovieDramaHistory

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.

Charles Levine - President, Columbia Aircraft Co. (uncredited)

North to Alaska

North to Alaska · 1960

North to Alaska

MovieWesternComedy

After striking gold in Alaska, the romantic George sends his womanizing partner Sam to bring his fiancée up from Seattle. When Sam finds that she has already married, he returns instead with Angel, a dancer originally from France.

Angus - Hotel Desk Clerk (uncredited)

That Touch of Mink

That Touch of Mink · 1962

That Touch of Mink

MovieComedyRomance

Cathy Timberlake is en route to a job interview when a car transporting businessman Philip Shayne covers her in mud. He sends his assistant, Roger, to apologize, but upon meeting Cathy, Roger knows that she would be a suitable match for his boss. Despite their mutual attraction, Cathy and Philip want different things. Philip wants a fling, while Cathy wants a marriage. As they travel to exotic locales, their differing motivations are put to the test.

Mr. Miller

Blackbeard's Ghost

Blackbeard's Ghost · 1968

Blackbeard's Ghost

MovieComedyFantasy

The eponymous wraith returns to Earth to aid his descendant, elderly Emily Stowecroft. The villains want to kick Emily and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Steve Walker gets caught in the middle of the squabble after evoking Blackbeard's ghost.

Dean Wheaton

The Solid Gold Cadillac

The Solid Gold Cadillac · 1956

The Solid Gold Cadillac

MovieComedyRomance

Laura Partridge is a very enthusiastic small stockholder of 10 shares in International Projects, a large corporation based in New York. She attends her first stockholder meeting ready to question the board of directors from their salaries to their operations.

Williams (uncredited)

The Patsy

The Patsy · 1964

Eccentric bellhop Stanley Belt is recruited unexpectedly by the comedy team of a recently deceased entertainer. Stanley struggles to become a song-and-dance man as the team grooms him to become a star. But as the date of a high-stakes appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show grows near, they begin to fear that the only astonishing thing about Stanley is his utter lack of talent.

Sy Devore

Who's Minding the Store?

Who's Minding the Store? · 1963

Who's Minding the Store?

Norman Phiffer, a proud man in a humble life, doesn't know that his girlfriend, Barbara, is heir to the Tuttle Department Store dynasty. Mrs. Tuttle, Barbara's mother, is determined to split the two lovers, and hires Norman in an attempt to humiliate him enough that Barbara leaves him. Will she ruin their love, or will he ruin her store?

Tie Salesman

Invaders from Mars

Invaders from Mars · 1953

Invaders from Mars

MovieScience FictionHorror

A boy tries to stop aliens that have taken over his town and are brainwashing its inhabitants.

MP

This Island Earth

This Island Earth · 1955

This Island Earth

MovieScience FictionAdventure

Aliens have landed and are hiding on Earth, but need Earth’s scientists to help them fight an inter-planetary war.

Pilot (uncredited)

Blackboard Jungle

Blackboard Jungle · 1955

Blackboard Jungle

MovieCrimeDrama

Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes.

Mr. Stanley (uncredited)

Decision at Sundown

Decision at Sundown · 1957

Decision at Sundown

A man and his partner arrive at a small Western town to kill its most powerful man because the former blames him for his wife's death.

Reverend Zaron

Désirée

Désirée · 1954

MovieDramaRomance

In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte, but winds up wedding General Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon who later joins the forces that bring about the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a worldly courtesan marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, but is then cast aside by her spouse when she proves unable to produce an heir to the throne.

Etienne Clary

Lady in Cement

Lady in Cement · 1968

MovieMysteryCrime

While diving for sunken treasure, street-smart gumshoe Tony Rome finds the body of a gorgeous blonde, her feet stuck in a block of cement. Soon after, tough guy Waldo Gronski hires him to find a missing woman named Sandra Lomax, and Rome wonders if there's a connection. He sets about trying to locate the woman, and in no time finds himself mixed up with a beautiful party girl and a slippery racketeer.

Arnie Sherwin

Designing Woman

Designing Woman · 1957

Designing Woman

MovieComedyRomance

A sportswriter who marries a fashion designer discovers that their mutual interests are few, although each has an intriguing past which makes the other jealous.

Larry Musso (uncredited)

Lover Come Back

Lover Come Back · 1961

Lover Come Back

MovieComedyRomance

Jerry Webster and Carol Templeton are rival Madison Avenue advertising executives who each dislike each other’s methods. After he steals a client out from under her cute little nose, revenge prompts her to infiltrate his secret "VIP" campaign in order to persuade the mystery product’s scientist to switch to her firm.

Dr. Melnick

The Proud Ones

The Proud Ones · 1956

Robert Ryan plays an aging sheriff responsible for law and order in a frontier cattle town. Virginia Mayo plays his fiancee. As if handling wild cattle drovers isn't enough, a crooked casino operator from Ryan's past comes to town. An early scuffle in the casino leaves Ryan with vision problems that interfere with his duties. Jeffrey Hunter who came to town with a cattle drive encounters Ryan, who killed Hunter's father when Hunter was young. Feelings of animosity soon change as Hunter begins to sense Ryan is telling the truth about his father. What follows is a plot that continues to thicken to the inevitable showdown.

Barber (uncredited)

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy · 1955

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy

MovieAdventureHorror

Bud and Lou, two stranded American archaeologists, run afoul of an Egyptian cult with big plans to resurrect the mummified corpse of Klaris, guardian of his Princess Ara's treasure-filled tomb. When Lou accidentally eats the cursed medallion needed to find the ancient treasure, the two become targets of the cult's leader, his goons, a mysterious femme fatale, and the mummy of Klaris himself!

Semu

Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.

Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N. · 1966

Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.

MovieAdventureComedy

Lt. Robin Crusoe is a navy pilot who bails out of his plane after engine trouble. He reaches a deserted island paradise where he builds a house and begins to adjust to life. He is in for trouble however when a local girl is banished to the island by her father, who then comes after Crusoe.

Survival Manual Narrator

Perry Mason

Perry Mason · 1957

SeriesMysteryDrama

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.

Wilmer Beaslee

The Love Boat

The Love Boat · 1977

SeriesDramaComedy

Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.

Dr. Yates

Bonanza

Bonanza · 1959

SeriesWesternAction & Adventure

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.

Captain Shark

Love, American Style

Love, American Style · 1969

Love, American Style

An anthology comedy series featuring a line up of different celebrity guest stars appearing in anywhere from one, two, three, and four short stories or vignettes within an hour about versions of love and romance.

Charlie

Maverick

Maverick · 1957

SeriesComedyWestern

The Maverick boys - Bret, Bart, Beau and Brent - are a clan of well-dressed dandies, gamblers who'd much rather make their money playing cards than messing up their fine clothing with actual work. Sly and clever, none of the Mavericks are much for acts of derring do, but they can be courageous when the situation calls for it. Most often, however, they live by their wits and considerable charm.

Floyd Gimbel

Get Smart

Get Smart · 1965

SeriesComedySci-Fi & Fantasy

Maxwell Smart, a hilariously inept and maladroit secret agent for CONTROL, battles the nefarious—though equally incompetent—KAOS.

Internship Doctor (uncredited)

The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone · 1959

The Twilight Zone

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyMystery

An anthology series containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.

Wallace V. Whipple

The Rifleman

The Rifleman · 1958

SeriesAction & AdventureWestern

The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child.

I Dream of Jeannie

I Dream of Jeannie · 1965

I Dream of Jeannie

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyComedy

While on a mission, American astronaut Captain Tony Nelson is forced to make an emergency landing that will forever change his life. On a deserted South Pacific island, Captain Nelson happens upon a bottle containing a beautiful two-thousand-year-old female genie named Jeannie. Rescuing her from the bottle nets Tony the requisite three wishes, and then some, when Jeannie pledges total devotion to her new "master".

Harley Z. Poof

Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver · 1957

Leave It to Beaver

SeriesComedyFamily

An inquisitive and often naïve boy, Theodore 'The Beaver' Cleaver, has adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood. The show also starred Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont as Beaver's parents, June and Ward Cleaver, and Tony Dow as Beaver's brother Wally. The show has attained an iconic status in the US, with the Cleavers exemplifying the idealized suburban family of the mid-20th century.

Fred Rutherford

The Beverly Hillbillies

The Beverly Hillbillies · 1962

The Beverly Hillbillies

SeriesComedyFamily

Jed Clampett's swamp is loaded with oil. When a wildcatter discovers the huge pool, Jed sells his land to the O.K. Oil Company and at the urging of cousin Pearl, moves his family to a 35-room mansion in Beverly Hills, California.

My Three Sons

My Three Sons · 1960

SeriesComedyFamily

A widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law, and later the boys' great-uncle. An adopted son, a stepdaughter, wives, and another generation of sons join the loving family in later seasons.

Alice

SeriesComedyDrama

Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to March 19, 1985 on CBS. The series is based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job working at a roadside diner on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the episodes revolve around events at Mel's Diner.

The Untouchables

The Untouchables · 1959

The Untouchables

SeriesDramaCrime

Special Agent Eliot Ness and his elite team of incorruptible agents battle organized crime in 1930s Chicago.

Bill Skidmore

The Donna Reed Show

The Donna Reed Show · 1958

The Donna Reed Show

SeriesComedyFamily

Revolves around typical family problems, such as firing a clumsy housekeeper, throwing a retirement bash for a colleague, and finding quality time away from the children.

Mr. Heflin

The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show · 1961

The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show centers around the work and home life of television comedy writer Rob Petrie. The plots generally revolve around problems at work, where Rob got into various comedic jams with fellow writers Buddy Sorrell, Sally Rogers and producer Mel Cooley.

Mel Cooley

Green Acres

Green Acres · 1965

Green Acres is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a rural country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was first broadcast on CBS, from September 15, 1965 to April 27, 1971. Receiving solid ratings during its six-year run, Green Acres was cancelled in 1971 as part of the "rural purge" by CBS. The sitcom has been in syndication and is available in DVD and VHS releases. In 1997, the two-part episode "A Star Named Arnold is Born" was ranked #59 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

Mr. Oglethorpe

Trapper John, M.D.

Trapper John, M.D. · 1979

Trapper John, M.D.

Trapper John, M.D. is an American television medical drama and spin-off of the film MASH, concerning a lovable doctor who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, California. The show ran on CBS from September 23, 1979, to September 4, 1986.

The Addams Family

The Addams Family · 1964

The Addams Family

SeriesComedyFamily

A satirical inversion of the ideal of the perfect American nuclear family, they are an eccentric wealthy family who delight in everything grotesque and macabre, and are never really aware that people find them bizarre or frightening. In fact, they themselves are often terrified by "normal" people.

Mortimer Phelps

77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip · 1958

77 Sunset Strip

SeriesCrimeDrama

Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer are the wisecracking, womanizing private-detective heroes of this Warner Brothers drama. They work out of an office located at 77 Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California, right next door to a snazzy restaurant where Kookie works as a valet. The finger-snapping, slang-talking Kookie occasionally helps Stu and Jeff with their cases, and eventually becomes a full-fledged member of the detective agency. Rex Randolph and J.R. Hale also join the firm, and Suzanne is their leggy secretary.

Wallace Friend

Hawaiian Eye

Hawaiian Eye · 1959

SeriesCrimeDrama

Private Eyes Tom Lopaka and Tracy Steele are based out of Hawaiian Village Resort where they work both hotel security and are hired by others to look into various matters. They're helped by their trusty right-hand man Kazuo Kim who runs a taxi company and is always eager to help them.

Funeral Director

Night Gallery

Night Gallery · 1970

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyMystery

Rod Serling narrates an anthology of fantasy, horror and sci-fi stories from a set resembling a macabre museum. A chilling work of art serves as the connective link between the stories.

Man with Mallet (segment "How to Cure the Common Vampire")

Here's Lucy

Here's Lucy · 1968

Lucille Ball's third network sitcom, following I Love Lucy (1951–57) and The Lucy Show (1962–68).

Harvey Hoople

The Munsters

The Munsters · 1964

SeriesComedySci-Fi & Fantasy

A family of friendly monsters that have misadventures all while never quite understanding why people react to them so strangely.

Borden T. Pike