Robert Ridgely

Robert Ridgely (December 24, 1931—February 8, 1997) was an American actor and vocal artist, known for both on-camera roles and extensive voice-over work. Ridgely started his television career with guest roles in such 1960s series as "Maverick", "Sea Hunt" and "Surfside 6". He landed a regular role as Lt. Kimbro in the short-lived World War II series "The Gallant Men". After the series was cancelled he continued with guest appearances in shows like "Bonanza", "WKRP in Cincinnati", "Night Court" and "Designing Women". He also appeared in many movies, especially Mel Brooks productions such as "Blazing Saddles" (1974), "High Anxiety" (1977), "Life Stinks" (1991) and "" (1993). He also played Wally "Mr. Love" Williams, host of the fictional game show "Easy Street" in the 1980 movie "Melvin and Howard".

Ridgely put his strong voice to use in voice-over roles in movies like "Down and Dirty Duck" (1974) and "Oz" (1980) and the video game "Blazing Dragons" (1996). He did a great deal of voice work on television as well. Among Ridgely's most easily-recognizable voice roles were:

*Tarzan in Filmation's "";
*Flash Gordon in "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon";
*The title character in Ruby-Spears' "Thundarr the Barbarian";
*The Peculiar Purple Pie-man of Porcupine Peak from several "Strawberry Shortcake" animated specials.

Ridgely played his final movie roles in "Boogie Nights" and "Fire Down Below" (both 1997). He died of cancer at age 65.

External links

*imdb name|id=0725894|name=Robert Ridgely
* [http://www.tv.com/robert-ridgely/person/3297/summary.html TV.com page for Robert Ridgely]
* [http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=221384 "New York Times" movie page for Robert Ridgely]
* [http://www.movieactors.com/actors/robertridgely.htm Movie stills of Robert Ridgely]
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