# John Pleshette

John Pleshette is an American actor and screenwriter, best known for his role as Richard Avery on the television drama Knots Landing, and for portraying Lee Harvey Oswald in the TV movie The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald. Pleshette also wrote several scripts for Knots Landing in the 1980s.

## Career

In a television acting career spanning decades, Pleshette has appeared in such shows as The Rockford Files; Highway to Heaven; Kojak; Magnum P.I.; Simon & Simon; Murder, She Wrote; MacGyver; Beauty and the Beast; L.A. Law; The Larry Sanders Show; Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; ER; NYPD Blue; The Sopranos; Law & Order: LA; and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Pleshette played Lee Harvey Oswald in the television film The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1977), and appeared in the TV miniseries Seventh Avenue the same year. In 1979, he was cast in the role of Richard Avery on Knots Landing. Series creator David Jacobs was acquainted with Pleshette's work, and Pleshette was married to literary agent Lynn Pleshette, Jacobs' ex-wife. Pleshette appeared on Knots Landing for four seasons (1979–83), and returned briefly in 1987. During the 1980s, he wrote several scripts for the series.
Pleshette also appeared in the Blake Edwards comedy S.O.B. (1981), and Micki & Maude (1984). He appeared in the episode 'The Judas Bug" of the ABC crime drama The Feather and Father Gang in 1977, and in MacGyver in the Season Two episode "D.O.A.: MacGyver".

## Personal life

Pleshette is Jewish; his grandfather changed his surname from Kravitz to Pleshet when he immigrated to pre-state Palestine, adding the "te" later. He is a cousin of the late actress Suzanne Pleshette. He graduated from Brown University in 1964.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1970 | End of the Road | Finkle | |
| 1972 | Parades | Murray | |
| 1972 | The Irish Whiskey Rebellion | Kinch | |
| 1978 | House Calls | Theatrical agent | |
| 1979 | Rocky II | Director | |
| 1981 | S.O.B. | Capitol Studios Vice-president | |
| 1984 | Micki & Maude | Hap Ludlow | |
| 1988 | Paramedics | Doctor Lido | |
| 1990 | Vietnam, Texas | Harold | |
| 1993 | Eye of the Stranger | Joe | |
| 1995 | Born to Be Wild | Donald Carr | |
| 1997 | The Curse of Inferno | Mr. Wizzard | |
| 1998 | The Truman Show | Network Executive | |
| 2003 | Detonator | Stuart Newman | |
| 2003 | The Failures | Principal Holbrook | |
| 2007 | Sex and Breakfast | Older Man in Elevator | |
| 2009 | Gentlemen Broncos | Merve | |
| 2016 | The Wandering Day | C S Longacre | Direct-to-video |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1964 | The Patty Duke Show | Pete | Episode: "Simon Says" |
| 1967 | Coronet Blue | Dan | Episode: "Faces" |
| 1973 | The Doctors | Joe Hilligan | Episode #1.2607 |
| 1974 | Kojak | Resident | Episode: "You Can't Tell a Hurt Man How to Holler" |
| 1975–1976 | Doctors' Hospital | Dr. Danvers | 6 episodes |
| 1976 | Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman | Hugh Boswell | 9 episodes |
| 1976 | Bell, Book and Candle | Nicky | Television film |
| 1977 | Seventh Avenue | Marty Cass | 3 episodes |
| 1977 | The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries | Carl Fry | Episode: "The Flickering Torch Mystery" |
| 1977 | The Feather and Father Gang | Schecter | Episode: "The Judas Bug" |
| 1977 | The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald | Lee Harvey Oswald | Television film |
| 1978 | The Users | Kip Nathan | Television film |
| 1978 | The Rockford Files | Danny Green / Julius 'Jay' Rockfelt | 2 episodes |
| 1979–1987 | Knots Landing | Richard Avery | 77 episodes |
| 1980 | Once Upon a Family | Willie Hedges | Television film |
| 1980 | Tenspeed and Brown Shoe | Bill Kingman | Episode: "The Robin Tucker's Roseland Roof and Ballroom Murder" |
| 1982 | The Kid with the Broken Halo | Jeff McNulty | Television film |
| 1983 | Whiz Kids | Richard Chapman | Episode: "Red Star Rising" |
| 1984 | Burning Rage | Frank Vandenberg | Television film |
| 1984, 1986 | Simon & Simon | Dr. John Ashfield / Attorney Dorsey Pender | 2 episodes |
| 1985 | MacGruder and Loud | Malcolm Skeat | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1985 | Magnum, P.I. | Steve Elliot | Episode: "Compulsion" |
| 1985 | Stormin' Home | Al Singer | Television film |
| 1985 | Malice in Wonderland | Tommy Gallep | Television film |
| 1986 | Welcome Home, Bobby | John Hammill | Television film |
| 1986 | Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry | David Elias | Television film |
| 1986 | Murder, She Wrote | Nicky Saperstein | Episode: "Stage Struck" |
| 1987 | MacGyver | Lancer / Benson | Episode: "D. O. A.: MacGyver" |
| 1987, 1988 | Highway to Heaven | Stanley / Charley Trapola | 2 episodes |
| 1988 | Windmills of the Gods | Eddie | 2 episodes |
| 1988 | Shattered Innocence | Mel Erman | Television film |
| 1990 | Murder in Paradise | Wagner Thorne | Television film |
| 1990 | Hunter | Ron Nieman | Episode: "Final Confession" |
| 1990 | Beauty and the Beast | Jimmy Faber | 2 episodes |
| 1990, 1991 | L.A. Law | Mark Kumpel | 2 episodes |
| 1991 | Deadly Game | Television film | Television film |
| 1991–1993 | Civil Wars | Al Noonan | 4 episodes |
| 1992 | The Wonder Years | Charlie Barrett | 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Bloodlines: Murder in the Family | Neil Woodman | Television film |
| 1993 | The Larry Sanders Show | Leo | Episode: "Larry's Agent" |
| 1993 | Percy & Thunder | Bill Slocum | Television film |
| 1994 | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | Detective Simpson | 2 episodes |
| 1994, 1995 | Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Dr. Emil Hamilton | 2 episodes |
| 1995–1997 | Murder One | Gary Blondo | 15 episodes |
| 1996 | Diagnosis: Murder | Dr. John Foster | Episode: "Murder in the Dark" |
| 1996 | The Sentinel | Brother Christopher | Episode: "Vow of Silence" |
| 1997 | Party of Five | Professor Conklin | Episode: "I Declare" |
| 1997 | ER | Stuart | Episode: "Ambush" |
| 1997 | Murder One: Diary of a Serial Killer | Gary Blondo | 6 episodes |
| 1998 | The Pretender | Sean Flanagan | Episode: "A Stand-Up Guy" |
| 1998 | The Practice | Attorney Nick Jamison | Episode: "Trees in the Forest" |
| 1998 | The Day Lincoln Was Shot | William H. Seward | Television film |
| 1998 | Mike Hammer, Private Eye | Augustus Hancock "Auggie" Sterling II | 2 episodes |
| 1998 | Arliss | Orson | Episode: "My Job Is to Get Jobs" |
| 1999 | G vs E | Wallace Augur | Episode: "Cliffhanger" |
| 2001 | NYPD Blue | Gerald Holzman, Esq. | Episode: "Thumb Enchanted Evening" |
| 2001 | James Dean | Billy Rose | Television film |
| 2001 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Therapist | Episode: "The Thong" |
| 2002 | For the People | Dr. Goodwin | Episode: "Come Blow Your Whistle" |
| 2004 | The Sopranos | Dr. Ira Fried | Episode: "All Happy Families" |
| 2004 | Helter Skelter | Mr. Krenwikle | Television film |
| 2004 | JAG | Prosecutor Joe Wilson | Episode: "Camp Delta" |
| 2005 | NCIS | Tom Crawley | Episode: "Model Behavior" |
| 2006, 2007 | The Nine | Mr. Kates | 2 episodes |
| 2008 | Eli Stone | Judge Nettles | Episode: "Two Ministers" |
| 2010 | Kosher Pig | Paul Cohen | Television film |
| 2011 | Law & Order: LA | Judge | Episode: "Reseda" |
| 2012 | American Horror Story: Asylum | Committee Chairman | Episode: "The Coat Hanger" |
| 2013 | Happily Divorced | Rabbi | Episode: "I Object!" |
| 2013 | Mistresses | Judge Kavanaugh | Episode: "When One Door Closes..." |