- Richard Deacon (actor)
infobox actor
name=Richard Deacon
birthdate=birth date|1921|5|14
birthplace=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
deathdate=death date and age|1984|8|8|1921|5|14|63
deathplace=Los Angeles, California
restingplace=Cremated, location unknown
occupation=Film , stage,television actor Richard Deacon (
May 14 ,1921 –August 8 ,1984 ), born inPhiladelphia , was an American television and motion picture actor.Career
The bald and usually bespectacled
character actor often portrayed imperious authority figures. He made appearances on "The Jack Benny Show " as a salesperson. He had a brief role inAlfred Hitchcock 's film "The Birds" and a larger role in the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers ", having portrayed aphysician in the "book-end" sequences added to the beginning and end of this film after its original previews. 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 ". In the 1956 motion picture "Carousel", adapted from the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical, he had a bit role as the policeman who admonishesShirley Jones ("Julie") andJohn Dehner ("Mr. Bascombe") aboutGordon MacRae ("Billy Bigelow") in the famous "bench scene". It was one of the few films in which he did not wear glasses.Deacon also appeared on "
The Addams Family " in April 1965, and putsCousin Itt through a battery of psychological tests in "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor." He also appeared as a guest on the 1970s game show "Match Game ", and played "Horace Vandergelder" oppositePhyllis Diller 's "Dolly Gallagher Levi" in a touring production of the musical "Hello, Dolly!". He also guest starred in many sitcoms in the 1960s, including "Mr. Ed " and "The Donna Reed Show ", among others.Personal life
In real life, he was a gourmet
chef . In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series ofcookbook s 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".Deacon died from
cardiovascular disease in 1984.Posthumously, he was revealed to have been
gay , and his interview withBoze Hadleigh was published in Hadleigh's "Hollywood Gays" [(ISBN# 1-56980-083-9/PN1995.9.H55H33), pp.67-76] , although during his lifetime he made no particular secret of hissexual orientation . "Most would be surprised. Only because what you see on TV — a serious guy in a suit, unsmiling — isn't how anyone thinks of gay males." [ [http://wcbstv.com/slideshows/local_slideshow_338150921/view?slide=19/ wcbstv.com] ]References
External links
*imdb name|id=0212586|name=Richard Deacon
*findagrave|6230738|Richard Deacon
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