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PARLEY BAER

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Actors, Entertainers B, Entertainers P

Parley Baer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Parley Edward Baer
August 5, 1914
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

Died November 22, 2002 (aged 88)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death Stroke
Resting place Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills Cemetery
Occupation Actor

Web site:

Parley Edward Baer (August 5, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American actor in radio and later in television and film.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Baer had a circus background, but began his radio career at Utah station KSL. He studied drama at the University of Utah.

Early in his career, Baer was a circus ringmaster and publicist. He left those roles for military service in World War II. In the 1950s, he had a job training wild animals at Jungleland USA in Thousand Oaks, California. Still later, he served as a docent at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Baer was director of special events at KSL in the 1930s. His first network show was The Whistler, which was soon followed by appearances on Escape (notably narrating “Wild Jack Rhett” and as the title patriot in an adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet’s “A Tooth for Paul Revere”), Suspense, Tales of the Texas Rangers (as various local sheriffs), Dragnet, The CBS Radio Workshop, Lux Radio Theater, The Six Shooter, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, to name a few.

Other recurring roles included Eb the farm hand on Granby’s Green Acres (the radio predecessor to television’s Green Acres), Gramps on The Truitts, and Rene the manservant on the radio version of The Count of Monte Cristo. His later radio work included playing Reginald Duffield and Uncle Joe Finneman on the Focus on the Family series Adventures in Odyssey in the 1980s and 1990s.

As an on-camera performer, Baer was recognizable by his distinctive voice, his paunchy appearance, and his balding head. Often he portrayed fussy, bossy, and/or obstinate officials or neighbors. Extended television roles included blustering, by-the-book Mayor Stoner on The Andy Griffith Show, the neighbor Darby on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, frequent guest appearances on The Addams Family as insurance man and city commissioner Arthur J. Henson, and in the late 1990s, Miles Dugan on The Young and the Restless. He also appeared as a telephone executive on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

Later guest appearances included Three for the Road, Three’s Company (as a cooking competition judge), The San Pedro Beach Bums, The A-Team, Star Trek: Voyager, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Dukes of Hazzard, Night Court, Newhart, Little House on the Prairie, The Golden Girls, Hazel, and Mad About You. He also played the role of the minister who married J. R. and Sue Ellen Ewing for their second marriage on Dallas. He also made guest appearances on “F Troop”.

Baer’s film roles included parts in several live action Disney features, including Follow Me, Boys! (again as a mayor), The Ugly Dachshund, and Those Calloways. He also appeared in Two on a Guillotine and Dave (as the Senate majority leader). Baer had a featured role in 1958’s war drama The Young Lions as a German officer and friend of Marlon Brando.

Personal life

In 1946, he met and married circus aerialist and bareback rider Ernestine Clarke. They were together for 54 years until her death on August 5, 2000, in Tarzana, California.

Baer was a long-term member of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Encino, California, where he served in many capacities, including head usher.

In 1969, Baer gave the eulogy at the funeral of The Andy Griffith Show cast mate Howard McNear. McNear had portrayed Mayberry’s Floyd the Barber and Baer had played Mayor Roy Stoner. McNear also portrayed Doc Adams in the radio version of Gunsmoke, often interacting with Baer’s character, Chester Proudfoot.

Death

On November 11, 2002, Baer was taken to the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital after a stroke. He died, age 88, 11 days later on November 22. Baer was survived by his daughters, Kim Baer and Dale Sloan, and three grandchildren.

Filmography

The Dennis Day Show (TV Series) (1952)
Dragnet (1952)
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (TV Series) (1954)
The Loretta Young Show (1954)
Father Knows Best (1955)
The Bob Cummings Show (TV Series) (1955)
Our Miss Brooks (1952-1955)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1956)
December Bride (1956)
I Love Lucy (1955-1957)
Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre (1956-1957)
The Young Lions (1958)
Official Detective episode “Body In The Trunk” as Micah Goodwin (1958)
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (TV Series) (1959)
Zane Grey Theater (TV Series) (1956-1959)
Make Room for Daddy (TV Series) (1956-1960)
The Real McCoys (TV Series) (1958-1960)
The Rifleman (1959-1961)
Dennis the Menace (TV Series) (1959-1962)
The Dick Powell Theatre (TV Series) (1962)
General Electric Theater (TV Series) (1954-1962)
Bachelor Father (TV Series) (1962)
Have Gun – Will Travel (TV Series) (1959-1962)
Laramie (TV Series) (1962)
The Andy Griffith Show (TV Series) (1962-1963)
Rawhide (TV Series) (1963)
Dr. Kildare (TV Series) (1963)
Wagon Train (TV Series) (1962-1963)
77 Sunset Strip (TV Series) (1964)
The Jack Benny Program (TV Series) (1964)
The Outer Limits (TV Series) (1964)
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (TV Series) (1964)
The Joey Bishop Show (TV Series) (1964)
Hazel (TV Series) (1965)
My Favorite Martian (TV Series) (1965)
Death Valley Days (TV Series) (1963-1965)
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (TV Series) (1953-1965)
F Troop (TV Series) (1965)
Burke’s Law (TV Movie) (1965)
The Farmer’s Daughter (TV Series) (1965-1966)
The Ugly Dachshund (1966)
Bonanza (TV Series) (1961-1966)
The Addams Family (TV Series) (1965-1966)
Perry Mason (TV Series) (1961-1966)
Follow Me, Boys! (1966)
The Fugitive (TV Series) (1964-1967)
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967)
The Phyllis Diller Show (TV Series) (1966-1967)
Laredo (TV Series) (1967)
The Gnome-Mobile (1967)
I Dream of Jeannie (TV Series) (1967)
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (TV Series) (1966-1967)
The Lucy Show (TV Series) (1962-1967)
Lassie (TV Series) (1968)
Judd for the Defense (TV Series) (1968)
Ironside (TV Series) (1968)
The Name of the Game (TV Series) (1969)
Land of the Giants (TV Series) (1969)
The Doris Day Show (TV Series) (1969)
Hogan’s Heroes (TV Series) (1965-1969)
Mannix (TV Series) (1970)
Petticoat Junction (TV Series) (1965-1970)
The F.B.I. (TV Series) (1965-1970)
The Bill Cosby Show (TV Series) (1970)
The Virginian (TV Series) (1962-1970)
Green Acres (TV Series) (1965-1971)
Mod Squad (TV Series) (1971)
Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (TV Series) (1959-1971)
Here’s Lucy (TV Series) (1971)
Bewitched (TV Series) (1966-1972)
Medical Center (TV Series) (1971-1973)
Kung Fu (TV Series) (1973)
The Streets of San Francisco (TV Series) (1976)
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (TV Series) (1977)
Charlie’s Angels (TV Series) (1978-1979)
The Incredible Hulk (TV Series) (1979)
B.J. and the Bear (1980)
Little House on the Prairie (TV Series) (1976-1980)
WKRP in Cincinnati (1980)
Knots Landing (TV Series) (1981)
Hart to Hart (TV Series) (1982)
Lou Grant (TV Series) (1979-1982)
Father Murphy (TV Series) (1982)
Dallas (TV Series) (1982)
Archie Bunker’s Place (TV Series) (1983)
Three’s Company (TV Series) (1983)
The A-Team (TV Series) (1984)
The Dukes of Hazzard (TV Series) (1981-1984)
Simon & Simon (TV Series) (1986)
Newhart (TV Series) (1984-1987)
The Golden Girls (TV Series) (1987)
Night Court (TV Series) (1988)
Growing Pains (TV Series) (1989)
Beverly Hills, 90210 (TV Series) (1991)
Quantum Leap (TV Series) (1991-1992)
Mad About You (TV Series) (1993)
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (TV Series) (1993) as Woodrow
The Young and the Restless (TV Series) (1993) as Miles
King B: A Life in the Movies (1993) as Walter Dent
L.A. Law (TV Series) (1990-1994) as Supreme Court Judge Parker
Last of the Dogmen (1995) as Mr. Hollis
Coach (TV Series) (1995) as Frank
Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series

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