Television Transition

The new television medium offered a career shift for some movie character actors. Many were kept busy, becoming a household face if not a name.

Lawrence Dobkin (1919-2002) 

An American television director, character actor and screenwriter, Dobkin's career spanned seven decades on radio, film and television. He could be heard regularly on radio's Gunsmoke (1952–1961), Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (1956–1960), and the anthology series Lux Radio Theater. On television, he was the voice before the closing credits of each episode of the ABC television network series, Naked City (1958–1963), "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them." Among his many uncredited film roles in some significant films during the early Fifties, his voice was used to narrate the classic western Broken Arrow (1950) and as an actor in notable films such as Never Fear (1949), Sweet Smell of Success (1957 above) and North by Northwest (1959). He worked alongside many superstars in Hollywood.

Toupee or not Toupee

In addition to his eighty-three television director credits from the late Fifties through the Eighties, he appeared in countless—sometimes thankless—series as a doctor, villain, western gunslinger, clerk, judge, doctor or any number of professional or everyday employees. Though a familiar face to most small screen viewers, he was more likely known as “that bald guy” when not wearing a toupee. Among his most famous supporting roles were Wanted: Dead or Alive, Gunsmoke, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Rifleman, Have Gun – Will Travel, and The Untouchables. Though his appearances were less frequent, he popped up in the Seventies for The Streets of San Francisco, The Waltons, and The F.B.I. to name a few. Dobkin created the title character for the 1974 film and the 1977–1978 NBC series, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. Television continued to depend on him up until the turn of the Century.