Dick Gautier

**Richard Gautier** (October 30, 1931 – January 13, 2017) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and caricaturist. He was known for his television roles as Hymie the Robot in the television series *Get Smart*, and Robin Hood in the TV comedy series *When Things Were Rotten*.

Gautier also played Hal, the partner of Stanley Beamish, in the short-lived sitcom series *Mister Terrific* (1967); and had various voice roles in the 1984 animated *Transformers* series (including the voice of Rodimus Prime).

## Career

Gautier started his career as a nightclub comic and a singer; he joined ASCAP in 1959 after serving in the United States Navy. In 1960, he portrayed fictional rock 'n roll star Conrad Birdie in the original Broadway theatre production of *Bye Bye Birdie*, receiving a Tony Award nomination for his performance. He would later appear with two of his "Birdie" stars in two films - with Kay Medford in *Ensign Pulver* in 1964, and with Dick Van Dyke in *Divorce American Style* in 1967.

He appeared in an episode of *The Patty Duke Show*, "Anywhere I Hang My Horn Is Home". He portrayed the clumsy robot "Hymie" on TV's *Get Smart*. He portrayed a dance instructor in the original TV series *Gidget* and a French dress designer in the episode "Samantha, the Dressmaker" from the second season of the TV situation comedy *Bewitched*. He portrayed Jerry Standish in the ‘divorce comedy’ *Here We Go Again*, a short-lived (13 episodes; January 1973 to April 1973) sitcom on ABC. In 1974, he played sportscaster Ed Cavanaugh on *The Mary Tyler Moore Show* in the season four episode, "Hi There, Sports Fans", and a murdered blackmailer in the season one *The Rockford Files* episode "The Countess". In 1978, he appeared as Harriman in the episode "The Intimate Friends of Janet Wilde" in the NBC crime drama series *The Eddie Capra Mysteries*. He also portrayed a magician, Cagliostro, in the *Wonder Woman* TV series episode "Diana's Disappearing Act" starring Lynda Carter. He also appeared on *Charlie's Angels* in season 4 in the episode "Million Dollar Homes".

During the 1970s and 1980s, Gautier was a frequent game show panelist, appearing on *Match Game*, *Family Feud*, *Tattletales*, *Showoffs*, *You Don't Say!*, *Liar's Club*, *Password Plus*, *Body Language*, *Super Password*, *Win, Lose or Draw*, and the TV version of *Can You Top This?*

In 1973, when Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig reprised their Batman roles (as Robin and Batgirl respectively) for a TV public service announcement about equal pay for women, Adam West, who was trying to distance himself from the Batman role at the time, declined to participate. Gautier filled in for West as Batman on this occasion.

Gautier performed several voice-over roles in animation, including Rodimus Prime in the third season of *The Transformers* animated series from 1986–1987, as well as Serpentor in the *G.I. Joe* series, Louis from the 1986 cartoon *Foofur*, Spike the Dog in *Tom & Jerry Kids*, some additional voices in Hanna-Barbera's *The New Yogi Bear Show*, Wooly Smurf in *The Smurfs*, several voices for *Inhumanoids*, including Crygen and Pyre and their combined form Magnakor.

Dick Gautier was also the voice actor for the cartoon Spike and Tyke, the only spin-off for Tom and Jerry.