I read, a little while ago, that the actor Dick Gautier died on Friday, at age 85.
He was so darn funny on Get Smart, as Hymie the Robot.
Here's a story about his death, and life, from the Daily News in New York. The story includes a brief, and very funny, excerpt from a Get Smart episode.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/dick-gautier-hymie-robot-smart-dead-85-article-1.2946482
In 1960, on Broadway, Mr. Gautier originated the role of Conrad Birdie, in Bye Bye Birdie, for which he received a Tony nomination.
He made a great many television appearances during his career, which included lending his voice to a number of animated programs; he was also seen, periodically, in films. I was surprised to learn, however, from looking at his IMDB page, after reading about his death (this is also mentioned in the Daily News story, above), that he made only six appearances on Get Smart, the show with which he is certainly most associated. Yet his appearances on the program were so memorable, and so entertaining--I can still laugh, decades later, just thinking about his affectless/deadpan portrayal of Hymie--that (for me, at least) it feels as if he had been on the program a lot more.
Here is the IMDB page about Mr. Gautier's television and film career:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0310370/
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Andrew Fielding, while host of a radio talk show in Charlottesville, Virginia, 1996
A Book About Network Television in the late 1940s and early 1950s, by Andrew Lee Fielding. Originally published in 2007 by BearManor Media. Revised Edition published in 2019. See also: www.andrewleefielding.com
A Blog About Early Television...Later Television...The Big Band period...and other matters of history, family, and popular culture...
REVISED EDITION NOW AVAILABLE
"The Lucky Strike Papers"--subtitled "Journeys Through My Mother's Television Past"--profiles such early network television shows as "Your Hit Parade" (also known as "The Lucky Strike Hit Parade"), "Kay Kyser's College of Musical Knowledge," and "The Freddy Martin Show." Author Andrew Fielding's late mother, Sue Bennett, sang on these programs, and others, in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
To purchase a copy of the 2019 Revised Edition of the book, please visit:
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Andrew Fielding, while host of a radio talk show in Charlottesville, Virginia, 1996
About Me
- Andrew Lee Fielding
- Andrew Fielding has written for The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Providence Journal, The Philadelphia Daily News, Horizon Magazine, and other publications. He has also worked as a radio talk show host--in Philadelphia, in suburban Philadelphia, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and in northern New Jersey. He was also, for three years, the host of a weekly talk show on a nostalgia-oriented Internet radio station. His book about early television, "The Lucky Strike Papers," was published in December, 2007 by BearManor Media. A revised edition of the book was brought out in January of 2019.