# Richard Erdman

John Richard Erdman (June 1, 1925 – March 16, 2019) was an American character actor and occasional film and television director. He appeared in more than 160 films and television productions between 1944 and 2017, mostly in supporting roles. He is most known for his roles in the classic films Stalag 17 (1953) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). In his final years, Erdman found renewed fame through his portrayal of Leonard Briggs in the comedy series Community (2009–2015).

## Early life

John Richard Erdman was born on June 1, 1925, in Enid, Oklahoma, and grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His father abandoned the family when he was a child. During his youth, he worked as a paper boy for the Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph. A stage director named Newton Winburne encouraged him to try his luck in Hollywood.

## Career

Two of Erdman's first roles were in the films Mr. Skeffington, starring Bette Davis and Claude Rains and Janie, starring Joyce Reynolds. After a few smaller roles he achieved success as a character actor in supporting roles. In a career that spanned seven decades, his best-known roles are that of the barracks chief Hoffy in Stalag 17, and the garrulous, tedious barfly McNulty in the Twilight Zone episode "A Kind of a Stopwatch". He also appeared in The Men (1950) with Marlon Brando and the film noir Cry Danger (1951) with Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming. In Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) he played Colonel Edward F. French, the officer who responded to the failure to transmit the warning to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In the CBS TV series Perry Mason he played as murder victim Arthur Binney in the 1958 episode "The Case of the Gilded Lily". He later played the role of murderer in "The Case of the Absent Artist" (1962), "The Case of the Antic Angel" (1964), and "The Case of the Vanishing Victim" (1966).
He guest-starred in a wide variety of shows such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents; The Dick Van Dyke Show; Mayberry R.F.D.; The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; I Dream of Jeannie; The Beverly Hillbillies; Here's Lucy; That Girl; The Six Million Dollar Man; The Bionic Woman; One Day at a Time; Lou Grant; Quincy, M.E.; Cheers; and Murder, She Wrote.
He was also known as a voice artist, contributing to the animated shows, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The Amazing Spider-Man, Jonny Quest, DuckTales, Snorks, Paddington Bear, and Batman: The Animated Series.
He directed the 1971 TV film Mooch Goes to Hollywood. From 2009 to 2015, Erdman had a recurring role as the antagonistic and elderly community college student Leonard on Community. His last role was in 2017 in the sitcom Dr. Ken.

## Personal life

Erdman married actress Leza Holland in 1948, but they divorced two years later. He was married to his second wife, Sharon Randall, from 1953 until her death in 2016. They had one daughter, Erica, who was born in 1954 and died on February 18, 2010, of an accidental overdose of prescription medicine.

## Death

Erdman died on March 16, 2019, aged 93, in an assisted-living facility in Los Angeles, California. He had been suffering "from age-related dementia" and had recently had a fall.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1944 | Mr. Skeffington | Western Union Boy | uncredited |
| 1944 | Janie | Scooper Nolan | |
| 1944 | Musical Movieland | Sailor with Tour | uncredited |
| 1944 | The Very Thought of You | Soda Jerk | |
| 1944 | Hollywood Canteen | Soldier on Deck | uncredited |
| 1945 | Objective, Burma! | Private Nebraska Hooper | |
| 1945 | The Horn Blows at Midnight | Joe Smith | scenes deleted |
| 1945 | Star in the Night | Cowboy | |
| 1945 | Danger Signal | Bunkie Taylor | |
| 1945 | Too Young to Know | Tommy | |
| 1946 | Janie Gets Married | Lieutenant 'Scooper' Nolan | |
| 1946 | Night and Day | Music Store Customer | uncredited |
| 1946 | Shadow of a Woman | Joe | |
| 1946 | So You Want to Play the Horses | Eddie | uncredited |
| 1946 | Deception | Jerry Spencer | uncredited |
| 1946 | Nobody Lives Forever | Bellboy, The Marwood Arms | |
| 1947 | That Way with Women | Eddie | |
| 1947 | Wild Harvest | Mark Lewis | |
| 1948 | The Time of Your Life | Willie (the pinball machine maniac) | |
| 1949 | Easy Living | Buddy Morgan | |
| 1950 | Swiss Tour | Eddy | |
| 1950 | The Men | Leo | |
| 1950 | The Admiral Was a Lady | Oliver 'Ollie' Bonelli | |
| 1951 | Cry Danger | Delong | |
| 1951 | You're in the Navy Now | Ensign Chuck Dorrance | |
| 1951 | The Stooge | Ben Bailey | |
| 1951 | The Wild Blue Yonder | Corporal Frenchy | |
| 1952 | Aladdin and His Lamp | Mirza | |
| 1952 | The San Francisco Story | Shorty | |
| 1952 | Jumping Jacks | Private Dogface Dolan | |
| 1952 | The Happy Time | Alfred Grattin | |
| 1953 | The Blue Gardenia | Al | |
| 1953 | Stalag 17 | Sergeant 'Hoffy' Hoffman | |
| 1953 | Mission Over Korea | Private Swenson | |
| 1953 | The Steel Lady | Jim Evans | |
| 1955 | Francis in the Navy | Murph | |
| 1955 | Bengazi | Selby | |
| 1956 | Anything Goes | Ed Brent | |
| 1956 | The Power and the Prize | Lester Everett | |
| 1958 | The Rawhide Trail | Rupe Pardee | |
| 1958 | Saddle the Wind | Dallas Hanson | |
| 1959 | Face of Fire | Al Williams | |
| 1961 | Marines, Let's Go | Military Policeman | uncredited |
| 1964 | The Brass Bottle | Seymour Jenks | |
| 1966 | Namu, the Killer Whale | Deke | |
| 1969 | Rascal | Walt Dabbett | |
| 1970 | Tora! Tora! Tora! | Colonel Edward F. French | |
| 1973 | The Brothers O'Toole | Judge Quincey P. Trumbell | Also directed the film |
| 1974 | Mr. Majestyk | Dick Richard | uncredited |
| 1982 | Heidi's Song | Herr Sessman | voice |
| 1984 | Trancers | Drunken Wise Man | |
| 1985 | Tomboy | Chester | |
| 1986 | Stewardess School | Attorney | |
| 1987 | Beverly Hills Car Park | Waiter | |
| 1994 | The Pagemaster | Pirate | voice |
| 1999 | The Learning Curve | Ralph | |
| 2008 | Empire State Building Murders | Eddie Walker | |
| 2010 | The Bag | John Harper | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1952 | Rebound | Mason | Episode: The Girl |
| 1953 | The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show | Various Roles | 3 episodes |
| 1953–55 | Where's Raymond? | Pete Morrisey | 35 episodes |
| 1955 | Cavalcade of America | Harry Jordan | Episode: The Gift of Dr. Minot |
| 1955 | Medic | Dick Hopper | Episode: Glass of Fear |
| 1955 | Schlitz Playhouse | Eddie McGuire | Episode: The Last Out |
| 1955–57 | NBC Matinee Theater | Performer | 3 episodes |
| 1955 | Science Fiction Theatre | Seth Turner | Episode: Are We Invaded? |
| 1956 | The Ford Theatre | Pepper | Episode: Double Trouble |
| 1956 | Star Stage | Performer | Episode: Career |
| 1956 | Crossroads | Performer | Episode: Man on the Totem Pole |
| 1957 | West Point | Captain Don Prickette | Episode: Jet Flight |
| 1958–66 | Perry Mason | Various Roles | 6 episodes |
| 1958 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Charlie Brown | Season 4 Episode 4: "The Crooked Road" |
| 1959 | The Swamp Fox | Sergeant Jasper | 2 episodes |
| 1959 | The David Niven Show | Bobo | Episode: Life Line |
| 1960 | The Danny Thomas Show | Joe Forbes | Episode: Danny, The Handyman |
| 1960 | Alcoa Theatre | Matt Brent | Episode: Forced Landing |
| 1960–61 | The Tab Hunter Show | Richard Fairfield III | 32 episodes |
| 1962 | Mister Ed | Ralph | Episode: Unemployment Show |
| 1962–63 | Saints and Sinners | Klugie | 18 episodes |
| 1963 | The Twilight Zone | McNulty | Episode: A Kind of a Stopwatch |
| 1965 | The Dick Van Dyke Show | Buck Brown | Episode: Baby Fat |
| 1966 | Green Acres | Dillwell Pinkley | Episode: A Home Isn't Build for a Day |
| 1967 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | P.T. Barkley | Episode: The Suburbia Affair |
| 1967 | Gomer Pyle USMC | Sergeant Gilroy | Episode: Go Blow Your Horn |
| 1968 | Premiere | Murphy | Episode: Out of the Blue |
| 1968 | Hogan's Heroes | Walter Hobson | Episode: No Names Please |
| 1969 | I Dream of Jeannie | Store Manager | Episode: Ride 'Em Astronaut |
| 1969 | The Wild Wild West | Mordecai Krone | Episode: The Night of the Bleak Island |
| 1970 | The Beverly Hillbillies | Whitehouse Guard | Episode: The Clampetts in Washington |
| 1970 | Nancy | Pruitt | Episode: Going, Going, Going |
| 1970 | Here's Lucy | Supermarket Clerk | Episode: Lucy Loses Here Cool |
| 1971 | That Girl | Milton | Episode: The Russians Are Staying |
| 1975 | Police Story | Detective Eddie Samuels | Episode: The Witness |
| 1975 | Kate McShane | Frederick De Fernando | Episode: Kate McShane |
| 1975–76 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Vernon/Slayton | 2 episodes |
| 1977 | The Bionic Woman | Terrence Quinn | Episode: Over the Hill Spy |
| 1978 | Alice | Gene Crowley | Episode: The Reporter |
| 1978–82 | Lou Grant | Various Roles | 4 episodes |
| 1979 | Time Express | Horace Hilling | Episode: Rodep/Cop |
| 1979 | Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo | Additional Voices | Television Series |
| 1979 | The Amazing Spider-Man | Mr. Zeider | 2 episodes |
| 1980 | One Day at a Time | Charlie | Episode: The Amarillo Connection |
| 1981 | Space Stars | Additional Voices | 11 episodes |
| 1982 | Quincy, M.E. | Miles' Attorney | Episode: Expert in Murder |
| 1983 | The Dukes | Additional voices | 20 episodes |
| 1986 | Jonny Quest | Additional Voices | Television Series |
| 1986 | Cheers | Duncan Fitzgerald | Episode: Money Dearest |
| 1986 | Pound Puppies | Angry Neighbor | Episode: The Fairy Dogmother |
| 1987 | She's the Sheriff | Performer | Episode: A Little Romance |
| 1987 | DuckTales | Mayor Rufus B. Pinfeathers King Arty (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 1987 | Popeye and Son | Additional Voices | 13 episodes |
| 1987 | It's a Living | Ernie | Episode: A Pen Pal for Your Thoughts |
| 1988 | Jessie | Dr. Adams | Television Movie |
| 1988 | The New Yogi Bear Show | Additional Voices | 4 episodes |
| 1988 | Snorks | Additional Voices | 3 episodes |
| 1984–89 | Murder, She Wrote | Jonathan / Eggman | 2 episodes |
| 1988–89 | Fantastic Max | Additional Voices | 3 episodes |
| 1989 | The Further Adventures of SuperTed | Additional Voices | 13 episodes |
| 1989–90 | Paddington Bear | Additional Voices | 2 episodes |
| 1990 | Wings | Howard Banks | Episode: Around the World in 80 Days |
| 1990 | Timeless Tales from Hallmark | voice | Episode: The Emperor's New Clothes |
| 1990 | Out of This World | Judge | Episode: Forget Your Troubles |
| 1991 | The New Adam-12 | Man with Dementia | Episode: Dementia |
| 1991–93 | The Pirates of Dark Water | Additional Voices | 9 episodes |
| 1993 | Batman: The Animated Series | Elliot | Episode: See No Evil |
| 1994 | Picket Fences | Justice Stevens | Episode: May it Please the Court |
| 1995 | Hudson Street | Judge Broadnax | Episode: Contempt |
| 1995 | Capitol Critters | Voice | Episode: The Bug House |
| 1997 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Mr. Perl | Episode: Pride and Prejudice |
| 2000 | Felicity | Howie | Episode: A Good Egg |
| 2002 | Boomtown | Kevin's Dad | Episode: Reelin' in the Years |
| 2002 | Judging Amy | Mr. Callahan | Episode: Cause for Alarm |
| 2002 | The Bernie Mac Show | Frank | Episode: The Sweet Life |
| 2004 | Joan of Arcadia | Mr. Hanson | Episode: No Bad Guy |
| 2006 | Viagra Falls | Pete | Television Movie |
| 2008 | Empire State Building Murders | Eddie Walker | Television Movie |
| 2009 | Operating Instructions | Henry | Television Movie |
| 2009–15 | Community | Leonard Rodriguez/Briggs | 53 episodes |
| 2015 | Weird Loners | Carl's Grandfather | Episode: Weird Knight |
| 2017 | Dr. Ken | Richard Erdman | Episode: Ken's Big Audition |

### As a director

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1966 | The Dick Van Dyke Show | 2 episodes |
| 1971 | Teenage Tease | Feature Film |
| 1971 | Mooch Goes to Hollywood | Television Film |
| 1973 | The Brothers O'Toole | Feature Film |