Classic TV Roll Call

We bid farewell to more classic TV friends that have passed in 2017…

  • Singer-actress Lola Albright, who played Edie Hart, the girlfriend of private eye Peter Gunn
  • Game show legend Chuck Barris, creator of The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. He also was the creator-host of The Gong Show
  • Actress-comedienne Chelsea Brown, a regular on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In
  • Actor Warren Frost, who guested on early classics Death Valley Days and Perry Mason. He later had recurring roles on Matlock, Seinfeld and Twin Peaks
  • Actor Dick Gautier, who played Hymie the Robot on Get Smart and Robin Hood on the 1974 cult classic sitcom When Things Were Rotten
  • Actor Peter Hansen, best known for his long-time role as lawyer Lee Baldwin on the daytime drama General Hospital
  • Actor Richard Hatch, who replaced Michael Douglas on The Streets of San Francisco and later starred in the original 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica
  • Producer-writer-creator Howard Leeds, who worked on such classic sitcoms as The Brady Bunch, Diff’rent Strokes, The Facts of Life and My Three Sons
  • Actor Lawrence Montaigne, who guested on classic series including Batman, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek
  • Actress Erin Moran, who played Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi
  • Film and television photographer Sol Negrin, who worked on such TV classics as Car 54 Where Are you?, Kojak, McCloud, Naked City and The Patty Duke Show
  • Legendary actor-comedian Don Rickles, star of the 1970s sitcom CPO Sharkey and a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Rickles also guested on many classic series, including The Andy Griffith Show, Gilligan’s Island, The Munsters, Sanford and Son, The Twilight Zone and Wagon Train
  • English scriptwriter Alan Simpson, who worked on the Britcom Steptoe and Son, later adapted in the U.S. as Sanford and Son
  • Judge Joseph Wapner, the original presiding judge on The People’s Court (1981-93)
  • Writer-producer Bud Wiser, whose credits include work on All in the Family, One Day At A Time, That’s My Mama and Who’s The Boss?