David Huddleston

**David William Huddleston** (September 17, 1930 – August 2, 2016) was an American actor. An Emmy Award nominee, Huddleston had a prolific television career, and appeared in many films including *Blazing Saddles*, *Crime Busters*, *Santa Claus: The Movie* and *The Big Lebowski*. Known mainly as a character actor, Huddleston starred in the title role of 1985's big-budget film *Santa Claus: The Movie*, which featured a top-billed Dudley Moore as an elf. One of Huddleston's first roles came in the 1968 drama *A Lovely Way to Die*. Shortly afterward the actor became a frequent guest star on several of the leading television series of the 1960s and 1970s, among them, *Adam-12*, *Then Came Bronson*, *Gunsmoke*, *Bewitched*, *Bonanza*, *Columbo*, *Cannon*, *McMillan & Wife*, *The Waltons*, *The Rookies*, *Medical Center*, *Kung Fu*, *Emergency!*, *Spencer's Pilots*, *The Mary Tyler Moore Show*, *Police Woman*, *Hawaii Five-O*, *Walker, Texas Ranger*, *Charlie's Angels*, *Sanford and Son*, *The Practice*, and *The Rockford Files*. He appeared in many episodes of the TV series *Petrocelli*, as Lieutenant John Ponce during the series run from 1974 to 1976. He appeared in an unaired episode of the short-lived 1974 series *The New Land* and in the episode "The Nomads" from the 1977 series *Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected* (known in the United Kingdom as *Twist in the Tale*).[3] He starred as J. T. Kallikak in the short-lived NBC situation comedy *The Kallikaks* later in 1977, and in 1979 he played the title role in the short-lived situation comedy *Hizzonner* as a small-town mayor. Among Huddleston's notable feature film credits prior to *Santa Claus: The Movie* are his co-starring roles in *Blazing Saddles*, *McQ*, *The Klansman*, *Breakheart Pass* and *Smokey and the Bandit II*.

Huddleston resumed his television career with roles in various television movies, among them *Heat Wave!* (1974); *The Oregon Trail* (1976); *Shark Kill* (1976); *Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid* (1978); *Family Reunion* (1981); *Computercide* (1982); and *M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers* (1983). For much of the 1980s, Huddleston also starred in a series of television commercials for the Citrus Hill brand of orange juice. Huddleston's post-*Santa Claus* career found him making occasional co-starring roles, in *Spot Marks the X*, *Finnegan Begin Again*, *Frantic*, *Life with Mikey*, *The Big Lebowski* in which he played the title role, and *G-Men from Hell*. Later, he also had a recurring role as Albert "Gramps" Arnold, the paternal grandfather of the protagonist in *The Wonder Years*. Huddleston appeared on *Star Trek: The Next Generation* as the train conductor in the episode "Emergence". He also appeared twice on *The West Wing* as Max Lobell, a Republican Senator who allies with Jed Bartlet on the issue of campaign finance reform. His performance as Benjamin Franklin in a Boston stage production of *1776* is referenced in the book *Assassination Vacation* by Sarah Vowell, referring to him as "the actor who played The Big Lebowski in *The Big Lebowski*." In 2009 he appeared in the thriller *Locker 13*. Huddleston was also featured in the 2010 special *It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: It's a Very Sunny Christmas* released directly to DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download.