caption death_date death_place birth_name birth_place notable_role birth_date yearsactive image article_title name
walter ivers '' -lrb- 1946 -rrb- baldwin in '' the strange love of martha 27 january 1977 santa monica , california , u.s. walter s. baldwin jr. . lima , ohio , u.s. mr. lives '' parrish in '' the best years of our 2 january 1889 1936-1971 walter baldwin in the strange love of martha ivers.jpg walter baldwin
 walter baldwin
walter baldwin

walter baldwin -lrb- january 2 , 1889 − january 27 , 1977 -rrb- was a prolific character actor whose career spanned five decades and 150 film and television roles , and numerous stage performances .
baldwin , who was born walter s. baldwin jr. in lima , ohio from a theatrical family , served in the first world war .
he was probably best known for playing the father of the handicapped sailor in `` the best years of our lives '' .
he was the first actor to portray `` floyd the barber '' on `` the andy griffith show .
prior to his first film roles in 1939 , baldwin had appeared in more than a dozen broadway plays .
he played whit in the first broadway production of `` of mice and men '' , and also appeared in the original `` grand hotel '' in a small role , as well as serving as the production 's stage manager .
he originated the role of bensinger , the prissy chicago tribune reporter , in the broadway production of `` the front page '' .
in the 1960s he had small acting roles in television shows such as `` petticoat junction '' and `` green acres '' .
he continued to act in motion pictures , and one of his last roles was in `` rosemary 's baby '' .
baldwin was known for playing solid middle class burghers , although sometimes he gave portrayals of eccentric characters .
he played a customer seeking a prostitute in `` the lost weekend '' and the rebellious prison trusty orvy in `` cry of the city '' .
walter baldwin was featured in a lot of john deere day movies from 1949-59 where he played the farmer tom gordon .
in this series of deere day movies over a decade he helped to introduce many new pieces of john deere farm equipment year-by-year .
in each yearly movie he would be shown on his in a tom gordon family film where he would be buying new john deere farm equipment or a new green and yellow tractor.a picture of walter baldwin playing tom gordon can be found on page 108 of bob pripp 's book john deere yesterday & today hal erickson writes in allmovie : `` with a pinched midwestern countenance that enabled him to portray taciturn farmers , obsequious grocery store clerks and the occasional sniveling coward , baldwin was a familiar -lrb- if often unbilled -rrb- presence in hollywood films for three decades . ''
