# Richard Deacon (actor)

Richard Lewis Deacon (May 14, 1922 – August 8, 1984) was an American television and motion picture actor, best known for playing supporting roles in television shows such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, Leave It to Beaver, and The Jack Benny Program, along with minor roles in films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).

## Career

Deacon often portrayed pompous, prissy, and/or imperious figures in film and television. He made appearances on The Jack Benny Program as a salesman and a barber, and on NBC's Happy as a hotel manager. He made a brief appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds (1963). He played a larger role in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) as a physician in the "book-end" sequences added to the beginning and end of the film after its original previews.
In Billy Wilder's 1957 film adaptation of Charles Lindbergh’s The Spirit of St. Louis, Deacon portrayed the chairman of the Columbia Aircraft Corporation, Charles A. Levine.
His best-known roles are milksop Mel Cooley (producer of The Alan Brady Show) on CBS's The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966) and Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963), although Deacon played Mr. Baxter in the 1957 Beaver pilot episode "It's a Small World". He co-starred as Tallulah Bankhead's butler in an episode of The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour called "The Celebrity Next Door". Deacon played Roger Buell on the second season of TV's The Mothers-in-Law (1967–1969), replacing Roger C. Carmel in the role. He played Principal "Jazzbo" Conroy in The Danny Thomas Show (1958). He also appeared in the 1960 Perry Mason episode The Case of the Red Riding Boots as Wilmer Beaslee.
In Carousel (1956), the film adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein stage musical, Deacon had a bit role as the policeman who admonishes Julie and Mr. Bascombe about Billy Bigelow in the "bench scene". It was one of the few films in which he did not wear glasses, as were his roles in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955), and the 1954 costumer Désirée, where he played Jean Simmons' elder brother, an 18th-century Marseilles silk merchant. Philadelphia native Deacon played the role of Morton Stearnes' butler, George Archibald, whose courtroom testimony is a turning point in The Young Philadelphians (1959), starring Paul Newman. He played an imbibing justice of the peace, Reverend Zaron, in the 1957 Budd Boetticher western Decision at Sundown.
Deacon appeared in some Westerns and many sitcoms, including It's a Great Life, The People's Choice, How to Marry a Millionaire, Guestward, Ho!, Pete and Gladys, The Donna Reed Show, Gunsmoke (he was the original actor to portray town banker, Mr. Botkin), The Real McCoys (in the episode "The Tax Man Cometh", he clashes with series star Walter Brennan over property tax assessments in the San Fernando Valley), Get Smart, Bonanza (a deceitful character who cheats the Cartwrights during their visit to San Francisco in the episode "San Francisco"), and The Rifleman (episode "The Hangman", in an uncredited role). In episode 5 of the first season of The Munsters, "Pike's Pique", he plays water district commissioner Mr. Pike, buying the underground rights to lay pipe. In The Addams Family, he administers Cousin Itt a battery of psychological tests in the episode "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor". In 1966, he appeared on Phyllis Diller's short-lived television sitcom, The Pruitts of Southampton. He also guest starred in the NBC family drama National Velvet, and in the ABC/Warner Bros. crime drama Bourbon Street Beat, and played Mr. Whipple on The Twilight Zone in the 1964 episode "The Brain Center at Whipple's". In 1967, Deacon played Ralph Yarby, director of security for lumber baron D.J. Mulrooney, in Disney's The Gnome-Mobile. In 1968, he played Dean Wheaton in the Walt Disney film Blackbeard's Ghost. He was also an occasional panelist in the 1970s/early 1980s versions of Match Game. In 1970, he appeared in four episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies as a psychiatrist treating Granny.
In 1971, Deacon co-starred, along with Elaine Joyce, in the final episode of Green Acres, which was a backdoor pilot for a proposed sitcom titled "The Blonde" or "Carol". Joyce played Oliver's former "dizzy blonde" secretary, Carol Rush, who now lives in Los Angeles with her sister and brother-in-law. Deacon played her no-nonsense boss, Mr. Oglethorpe, whom Carol manages to save from a real estate scam. The pilot was not picked up.
In 1969, he co-starred on Broadway as Horace Vandergelder in the long-running musical Hello, Dolly!, reuniting him onstage with Diller, who played the title character.
Deacon appeared on the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983 as a game show participant / celebrity guest star.
In 1983, Deacon reprised his role of Fred Rutherford in the television movie Still the Beaver, a sequel to the original TV series. When the television movie spawned a series of the same name on The Disney Channel, he was to reprise the role but died weeks before the series began production.
In 1984, Deacon had a cameo role in the teen comedy film Bad Manners.

## Personal life

Although he was born in Philadelphia, he and his family later moved to Binghamton, New York, living on the west side of that city. He attended West Junior High and Binghamton Central High School, where fellow Binghamton resident Rod Serling was a classmate. After high school, he worked as an orderly at Binghamton General Hospital.
During World War II, Deacon served in the United States Army medical corps. In 1946, upon completion of his service, he returned to Binghamton. He attended Ithaca College, first as a medical student, but later developed an interest in acting. In 1949, Deacon, along with several other male actors, was admitted to Bennington College as a student/assistant in the drama department.
Deacon was a gourmet chef in addition to working as an actor. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of cookbooks and hosted a Canadian television series on microwave oven cooking.
While not widely known during Deacon's lifetime, he was a charitable man. At his memorial service, a number of people previously unknown to Deacon's friends and colleagues spoke of how Deacon had provided for needy people and charitable organizations during his life.
According to academic writers David L. Smith and Sean Griffin, Deacon was gay, and was among "a number of actors and actresses who were closeted homosexuals" working in Hollywood and often employed in Disney films.

## Death

Deacon died of cardiovascular disease on August 8, 1984, at age 62. His remains were cremated and the ashes scattered at sea.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1953 | Invaders from Mars | MP | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Them! | Bald Reporter | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Shield for Murder | The Professor | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Private Hell 36 | Mr. Mace | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Rogue Cop | Stacey | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Désirée | Etienne Clary | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Cry Vengeance | Shiny Sam | Uncredited |
| 1955 | Prince of Players | Theater Manager | Uncredited |
| 1955 | Blackboard Jungle | Mr. Stanley | Uncredited |
| 1955 | This Island Earth | Pilot | Uncredited |
| 1955 | Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy | Semu | |
| 1955 | Lay That Rifle Down | Glover Speckleton | |
| 1955 | My Sister Eileen | Baker's Receptionist | Uncredited |
| 1955 | Good Morning, Miss Dove | Mr. Spivvy | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Invasion of the Body Snatchers | Dr. Harvey Bassett | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Carousel | First Policeman | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Hot Blood | Mr. Swift | Uncredited |
| 1956 | The Kettles in the Ozarks | Big Trout | Uncredited |
| 1956 | When Gangland Strikes | Dixon Brackett | Uncredited |
| 1956 | The Scarlet Hour | Mr. Elman | Uncredited |
| 1956 | The Proud Ones | Barber | Uncredited |
| 1956 | Francis in the Haunted House | Jason | |
| 1956 | The Solid Gold Cadillac | Williams | Uncredited |
| 1956 | The Power and the Prize | Howard Carruthers | |
| 1956 | Spring Reunion | Sidney | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Affair in Reno | H.L. Denham | |
| 1957 | The Spirit of St. Louis | Charles Levine | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Designing Woman | Larry Musso | Uncredited |
| 1957 | My Man Godfrey | Farnsworth | |
| 1957 | Decision at Sundown | Rev. Zaron | |
| 1957 | Kiss Them for Me | Bill Hotchkiss | Uncredited |
| 1958 | The High Cost of Loving | Obstetrician | Uncredited |
| 1958 | A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed | Milburn Schroeder | |
| 1958 | The Last Hurrah | Graves | Uncredited |
| 1959 | The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker | Sheriff | |
| 1959 | The Young Philadelphians | George Archibald | |
| 1959 | It Started with a Kiss | Capt. Porter | Uncredited |
| 1959 | The Man Who Understood Women | Rossi | Uncredited |
| 1959 | A Summer Place | Pawnbroker | Uncredited |
| 1959 | -30- | Chapman | |
| 1960 | North to Alaska | Angus | Uncredited |
| 1961 | All in a Night's Work | Fur Salesman | Uncredited |
| 1961 | Everything's Ducky | Dr. Deckham | |
| 1961 | Lover Come Back | Dr. Melnick | Uncredited |
| 1962 | That Touch of Mink | Mr. Miller | Uncredited |
| 1963 | Critic's Choice | Harvey Rittenhouse | |
| 1963 | The Birds | Mitch's Neighbor | |
| 1963 | Who's Minding the Store? | Tie Salesman | |
| 1963 | The Raiders | Commissioner Mailer | |
| 1964 | The Patsy | Sy Devore | |
| 1965 | John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! | Sec. of Defense Charles Maginot | |
| 1965 | Billie | Principal Wilson | |
| 1965 | That Darn Cat! | Drive-in Manager | |
| 1966 | Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title | Mr. Travis | |
| 1966 | Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. | Narrator | Uncredited; voice only |
| 1967 | Enter Laughing | Pike | |
| 1967 | The Gnome-Mobile | Ralph Yarby | |
| 1967 | The King's Pirate | Swaine | |
| 1968 | Blackbeard's Ghost | Dean Roland Wheaton | |
| 1968 | The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band | Charlie Wrenn | |
| 1968 | Lady in Cement | Arnie Sherwin | |
| 1974 | The Man from Clover Grove | Charlie Strange | |
| 1978 | Rabbit Test | Newscaster | |
| 1978 | Piranha | Earl Lyon | |
| 1980 | The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood | Joseph Rottman | |
| 1984 | Bad Manners | Ticket Salesman | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1954 | Four Star Playhouse | Dr. Constanti | Episode: "The Long Count" |
| 1954 | The Public Defender | Truant Officer | Episode: "Step Child" |
| 1954 | It's a Great Life | Clerk #1 | Episode: "The Boys Redecorate the Attic" |
| 1954 | Topper | Judge | Episode: "Preparations for Europe" |
| 1954 | The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show | The First Man | Episode: "Gracie Gives a Baby Shower for Virginia Beasley" |
| 1955 | The Man Behind the Badge | Rev. Edgefield | Episode: "The Case of the Tattooed Man" |
| 1955 | It's a Great Life (TV series) | Dr. Randall | Episode: "The Hospital" |
| 1955 | Stage 7 | | Episode: "The Legacy" |
| 1955 | Damon Runyon Theater | | Episode: "Lonely Heart" |
| 1955 | Screen Directors Playhouse | Hotel Clerk | Uncredited Episode: "Life of Vernon Hathaway" |
| 1955 | The Ford Television Theatre | Peter O'Toole | Episode: "Hanrahan" |
| 1955 | The Ford Television Theatre | Slim Bailey | Episode: "A Smattering of Bliss" |
| 1955 | The Millionaire | Jeweler | Episode: "The Luke Fortune Story" |
| 1955 | The Great Gildersleeve | Matthew Walker | Episode: "Gildy Goes Diving" |
| 1955 | Schlitz Playhouse | Dr. Thomas Gregory | Episode: "On the Nose" |
| 1955–56 | The People's Choice | Dr. Sidney Baxter | Episode: "How Sock Met Mandy" Episode: "Sock, the Marriage Broker" |
| 1956 | Telephone Time | | Episode: "Captain from Kopenick" |
| 1956 | Schlitz Playhouse | | Episode: "Web of Circumstance" |
| 1956 | It's a Great Life | Dr. Irwin | Episode: "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" |
| 1956 | It's a Great Life | Dr. Brannigan | Episode: "Operation for Earl" |
| 1956 | Private Secretary | Waiter | Uncredited Episode: "Old Dogs, New Tricks" |
| 1956 | December Bride | James | Episode: "Sunken Den" |
| 1956 | December Bride | Bud Hodges | Episode: "Lily the Matchmaker" |
| 1956 | Crossroads | | Episode: "The Rabbi Davis Story" |
| 1956 | Private Secretary | Doorman | Episode: "Elusive" |
| 1956 | The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show | Mr. Dayton | Episode: "The Triple Surprise Party" |
| 1956 | The Charles Farrell Show | Sherman Hall | Main cast; 12 episodes |
| 1956 | The Danny Thomas Show | John Savich | Episode: "Liz's Boyfriend" |
| 1957 | Gunsmoke | Botkin | Episode: "Pucket's New Year" |
| 1957 | The Bob Cummings Show | District Attorney | Episode: "Eleven Angry Women" |
| 1957 | The Millionaire | Gibson | Episode: "The Professor Amberson Adams Story" |
| 1957 | Studio 57 | Mr. Baxter | Episode: "It's a Small World" |
| 1957 | The Gale Storm Show | Artist | Uncredited Episode: "The Partisan Touch" |
| 1957 | Navy Log | Al Carder | Episode: "Goal... Match Two" |
| 1957 | The 20th Century Fox Hour | Paul Erickson | Episode: "The Great American Hoax" |
| 1957 | The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour | Winslow | Episode: "The Celebrity Next Door" |
| 1957 | Navy Log | Capt. Twohig | Episode: "The Big White Albatross" |
| 1957–58 | Date with the Angels | Roger Finley | Recurring role; 6 episodes |
| 1957–63 | Leave It to Beaver | Fred Rutherford | Recurring role; 23 episodes |
| 1958 | The Danny Thomas Show | Principal Conroy | Episode: "Good Old Days" |
| 1958 | The People's Choice | Homer | Episode: "Missing Moolah" |
| 1958 | Annette | Dr. Archie McCloud | Main role; 13 episodes |
| 1958 | Tales of Wells Fargo | Sam Potter | Episode: "The Gambler" |
| 1958 | The Silent Service | Wheeler B. Lipes | Episode: "Operation Seadragon" |
| 1958 | The Ed Wynn Show | Conway | Episode: "Lover's Lone" |
| 1958 | How to Marry a Millionaire | Kranz | Episode: "Loco Goes to Night School" |
| 1959 | Bachelor Father | Mr. Haris | Episode: "Bentley's Economy Wave" |
| 1959 | The Donna Reed Show | Mr. Johnson | Episode: "It's the Principle of the Thing" |
| 1959 | The Thin Man | Mr. Peabody | Episode: "Black Wind and Lightning" |
| 1959 | Colonel Flack | Professor Brookhouse | Episode: "The Treasure Hunt" |
| 1959 | Colonel Flack | Evans | Episode: "West of the Weirdos" |
| 1959 | The Real McCoys | Mr. Wells | Episode: "The Tax Man Cometh" |
| 1959 | Zorro | Father Ignacio | Uncredited Episode: "Senor China Boy" |
| 1959 | Maverick (TV series) | Floyd Gimbel | Episode: "The Cats of Paradise" |
| 1959 | The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet | Mr. Crawford | Episode: "Happy Anniversary" |
| 1959 | The Gale Storm Show | Zonko | Episode: "Come Back Little Beatnik" |
| 1959 | Shotgun Slade | | Episode: "The Safe Crackers" |
| 1960 | Alcoa Theatre | Michael Gilmore | Episode: "The Silent Kill" |
| 1960 | The Untouchables | Bill Skidmore | Episode: "The Unhired Assassin: Part 1" |
| 1960 | Bourbon Street Beat | Philipe Duvere | Episode: "Neon Nightmare" |
| 1960 | Bonanza | Captain Shark | Episode: "San Francisco" |
| 1960 | The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis | Cecil Ellingboe | Episode: "That's Show Biz" |
| 1960 | The Rifleman | Col. Jebediah Sims | Uncredited Episode: "The Hangman" |
| 1960 | M Squad | Raleigh King | Episode: "Fire in the Sky" |
| 1960 | Happy | Hotel Manager | Episode: "Help Wanted" |
| 1960 | My Three Sons | Elderly Man | Episode: "Adjust or Bust" |
| 1960 | The Donna Reed Show | Mr. Conroy | Episode: "Higher Learning" |
| 1960 | The Danny Thomas Show | Dr. Stanley Patman | Episode: "Danny and the Dentist" |
| 1960 | 77 Sunset Strip | Wallace Friend | Episode: "The Duncan Shrine" |
| 1960 | Perry Mason | Wilmer Beaslee | Episode: "The Case of the Red Riding Boots" |
| 1961 | The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet | Desk Clerk | Episode: "The Chaperones" |
| 1961 | Guestward, Ho! | Mr. Andrews | Episode: "Too Many Cooks" |
| 1961 | The Danny Thomas Show | Assistant Manager | Episode: "Everything Happens to Me" |
| 1961 | National Velvet | Forsythe | Episode: "The Riding Mistress" |
| 1961 | The Real McCoys | Mr. Laidlaw | Episode: "Money in the Bank" |
| 1961 | Pete and Gladys | Foster | Episode: "Ring-a-Ding-Ding" |
| 1961 | Mister Ed | Dr. Gordon | Episode: "Psychoanalyst Show" |
| 1961 | Hawaiian Eye | Funeral Director | Episode: "Two for the Money" |
| 1961 | The Donna Reed Show | Mr. Heflin | Episode: "The Electrical Storm" |
| 1961–66 | The Dick Van Dyke Show | Mel Cooley | Regular role; 82 episodes |
| 1962 | 87th Precinct | Martin | Episode: "The Pigeon" |
| 1962 | Pete and Gladys | Busby | Episode: "The Prize" |
| 1962 | Follow the Sun | Lester Markel | Episode: "The Inhuman Equation" |
| 1962 | The Real McCoys | Mr. Milton | Episode: "In Grampa We Trust" |
| 1962 | The Dick Powell Theatre | John Fiske | Episode: "The Boston Terrier" |
| 1962 | Wagon Train | Mayor Hadden | Episode: "The Madame Sagittarius Story" |
| 1962 | McKeever and the Colonel | Capt. Stadish | Episode: "The Bugle Sounds" |
| 1962 | The Donna Reed Show | Mr. Moorhead | Episode: "The Baby Buggy" |
| 1963 | Mister Ed | Dr. Griffith | Episode: "The Price of Apples" Episode: "The Blessed Event" |
| 1963 | My Favorite Martian | James J. Jackson | Episode: "Russians R in Season" |
| 1964 | My Favorite Martian | Mr. Bentley | Episode: "My Nephew the Artist" |
| 1964 | The Twilight Zone | Wallace V. Whipple | Episode: "The Brain Center at Whipple's" |
| 1964 | Mister Ed | Dr. Stekel | Episode: "Ed the Musician" |
| 1964 | The Munsters | Borden T. Pike | Episode: "Pike's Pique" |
| 1965 | The Addams Family | Mortimer Phelps | Episode: "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor" |
| 1966 | The Farmer's Daughter | John Pilgrim | Episode: "Have You Ever Thought of Building" |
| 1966 | The Carol Channing Show | Leon Thatcher | Unsold pilot |
| 1966–67 | The Pruitts of Southampton | Mr. Baldwin | Recurring role; 6 episodes |
| 1967 | Rango | Pennypacker | Episode: "What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing Holding Up a Place Like This?" |
| 1967 | The Danny Thomas Hour | Witherspoon | Episode: "Instant Money" |
| 1967 | The Beverly Hillbillies | Mr. Brubaker | Episode: "A Plot for Granny" |
| 1967 | I Dream of Jeannie | Harley Z. Pool | Episode: "Who Are You Calling a Genie?" |
| 1968 | The Jackie Gleason Show | Dr. Henry Rankin | Episode: "The Honeymooners: Sleepy Time Gal" |
| 1968–69 | The Mothers-In-Law | Roger Buell | Main role; 26 episodes |
| 1969 | The Good Guys | Fogarty | Episode: "The Eyes Have It" |
| 1969 | Get Smart | Doctor | Uncredited Episode: "And Baby Makes Four: Part 2" |
| 1969 | Arsenic and Old Lace | Mr. Benner | Television film |
| 1969 | Love, American Style | Boyd Daniels | Episode: "Love and the Phonies" |
| 1970 | The Beverly Hillbillies | Dr. George Klinger | Recurring role; 4 episodes |
| 1971 | Green Acres | Mr. Oglethorpe | Episode: "The Ex-Secretary" |
| 1971 | Here's Lucy | Harvey Hoople | Episode: "Lucy and Carol Burnett" |
| 1971 | Love, American Style | Charlie | Episode: "Love and the Fountain of Youth" |
| 1972 | Love, American Style | Charles Furman | Episode: "Love and the Oldly Weds" |
| 1972 | Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law | Resort Manager | Episode: "The Color of Respect" |
| 1972 | McMillan & Wife | Peter Childs | Episode: "The Face of Murder" |
| 1972 | Here's Lucy | Elmer Zellerbach | Episode: "Lucy Sublets the Office" |
| 1973 | Night Gallery | Man with Mallet | Episode: "How to Cure the Common Vampire" |
| 1975 | McMillan & Wife | Luther Dorfman | Episode: "Love, Honor, and Swindle" |
| 1975 | The Lost Saucer | Mr. Kroog | Episode: "My Fair Robot" |
| 1976 | Maude | Col. Reikert | Episode: "Tuckahoe Bicentennial" |
| 1977 | CHiPs | Singleton | Episode: "Career Day" |
| 1978 | Getting Married | Wedding Director | Television film |
| 1979 | What's Happening!! | Mr. Bradford | Episode: "A Present for Dee" |
| 1979 | The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo | Sheriff Masters | Episode: "Run for the Money: Part 3" |
| 1979 | B.J. and the Bear | Sheriff Masters | Recurring role; 4 episodes |
| 1980 | Murder Can Hurt You | Mr. Burnice | Television film |
| 1981 | Trapper John, M.D. | Rev. Perkins | Episode: "A Family Affair" |
| No Man's Valley | Panda | Television film |
| 1982 | The Love Boat | Dr. Yates | Episode: "The Groupies/The Audition/Doc's Nephew" |
| 1983 | Alice | R.J. Meyerson | Episode: "The Grass Is Always Greener" |
| 1983 | Trapper John, M.D. | Fred Zisk | Episode: "I Only Have Ice for You" |
| 1983 | Still the Beaver | Fred Rutherford | Television film |
| 1984 | The Hoboken Chicken Emergency | City Council Member | Television film |