Today’s classic TV birthday list starts with actress Barbara Hershey, who guested on classics like Daniel Boone, Gidget and Kung Fu. She was a regular on the 1966 western The Monroes, and later appeared on Chicago Hope and Once Upon a Time. Hershey, who turns 66 today, has also had roles in such big screen films as The Natural and The Right Stuff.
Screenwriter Michael Mann (Police Story, Starsky & Hutch, Vega$) is 71, entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari, makers of the first TV video game Pong) turns 71 and David Selby (Dark Shadows, Falcon Crest, Flamingo Road) is 73.
Also celebrating a birthday: Stuart Damon. The now 77-year-old actor is best known for his longtime role on the daytime soap General Hospital. He’s appeared on other soaps too, including As The World Turns, Days of Our Lives and Port Charles. Damon guested on shows like Naked City and Space:1999, and had starring roles in The Champions (1968 UK espionage series) and Yanks Go Home (1967 Britcom).
Classic TV favorites born today but no longer with us include actor-comedian Red Buttons (The Red Buttons Show, frequent guest on Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts and The Tonight Show), producer Stephen J. Cannell (creator or co-creator of The A-Team, Baretta, The Rockford Files, Silk Stalkings) and Norman Grabowski (guested on The Beverly Hillbillies, Batman, Fantasy Island).
John Carradine was also born this day. The veteran actor appeared in such big screen classics as The Grapes of Wrath and Stagecoach, followed by roles in a number of B horror movies. Carradine guested on a number of classic TV shows, among them BJ and the Bear, Bonanza, Lights Out, McCloud, The Rifleman and Starsky & Hutch. He played Herman’s mortician boss on The Munsters and also appeared on his son David’s 1970s adventure-western Kung Fu.
We have also lost a number of classic TV friends on February 5. Franklin Cover (The Jeffersons), Dean Jagger (regular on 1960s drama Mr. Novak, guested on Bonanza, Harry O, Medical Center, The Twilight Zone), Doug McClure (Barbary Coast, Checkmate, Overland Trail, Search, The Virginian) and Peggy Rea (guested on I Love Lucy and The Odd Couple, regular on the final few seasons of The Waltons, later on The Dukes of Hazzard and Grace Under Fire).
Today was also the day Thelma Ritter died. Ritter received several Academy Award nominations for her film work, and later guested on classic TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Wagon Train. Her first film role, although uncredited, may well be her best remembered. She played the stressed-out shopper in the 1947 holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street.