Television's Leon Friedman

Lee Philips (Leon Friedman, 1927- 1999) was a prolific American actor and film and television director. The New York City-born Philips' acting career started on Broadway, which led to a starring role in the film adaptation of Peyton Place. The handsome actor possessed versatility and intensity in his roles. His most visible presence was in television, guest-starring in numerous popular shows from the early Fifties through the Seventies. His credits include The Fugitive, The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, and I Spy, among many others. He guest-starred in a few series that he would also direct at some point. His twelve appearances as the title character in 1959's The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen were his longest. 

By the early to mid-Sixties, his career included directing, with a wide range of television credits including Peyton Place, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Room 222, and The Waltons, to name a few. As a director, Philips and Dick Van Dyke worked together numerous times, beginning with The Dick Van Dyke Show, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and Diagnosis Murder. By far his longest tenure as director was his sixty episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. In between, he directed several television movies throughout the Seventies and Eighties.

Consider This

Few would consider that there was facial confusion during the 1960s between Mike Nichols (left), a famous director, producer, actor, and comedian (1931-2014), and the lesser-known William Redfield, an actor in theater, film, radio, and television (1927-1976). The multi-talented actors were from the same era, and both died in NYC. The photo comparison may solve any confusion. 

Likewise, few would compare these two actors, and not brothers. From left to right, introvert Robert Young (1907-98) and extrovert Richard Denning (1914-98). They had a facial resemblance at certain ages; both were 6' tall and died the same year. Denning was in radio, television plus numerous low-budget films. Those of a certain age may remember him as the Governor from his recurring role on the original Hawaii Five-O televison series. Young was an A-list and second banana actor in both high and lower-budget films and had huge success with two successful television series.

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.

A Familiar Television Face

 

Paul Carr (1934-2006) was a busy American actor of stage, film, and television for over 50 years. He was also a writer and director and headed the Play Committee of the L.A. Repertory Company. The Louisiana-born actor had a short stint in the United States Marine Corps during his late teens before launching his acting career in a New Orleans production of Herman Melville's, Billy Budd. By the middle 1950s, he was working on live television. Though his career was spent on the small screen, he garnered his first (uncredited) role for Alfred Hitchcock's, The Wrong Man, in 1955. He had supporting roles in many western series with three appearances on Laramie, Trackdown, four appearances on Rawhide, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, The Tall Man, and The Virginian. He could always be found on popular drama series during the Sixties such as Dr. Kildare, Hawaii Five-O, The Fugitive, Twelve O'Clock High, Burke's Law, and Combat!. Carr could be seen in the science fiction series, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, a notable role on the second pilot episode of Star Trek, and The Invaders. For seven episodes, he was a cast member on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Carr joined the cast of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, in 1981. With the exception of the hit, Murphy Brown, Carr finished his career on lesser-known series through 2002.

Bud Meets Randy

 

Bud Boetticher (1916-2001) was an American film director who can be held in high esteem simply for six low-budget westerns, Seven Men from Now, The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station. He achieved his major breakthrough when he teamed up with actor Randolph Scott and screenwriter Burt Kennedy to make the first film listed above in 1956. Spanning a four-year partnership, all six films are crafted with care and precision, despite some factual inaccuracies. The cinematography offers tight places within the Alabama Hills, juxtaposed to wide grand vistas, and pastoral surprises. He would stop panning and hold the camera for a moment, taking in the natural beauty near Lone Pine, California.  

These bare-bones westerns made good use of Randolph Scott as a quiet, somewhat alienated hero on a journey through a hostile landscape, crossing paths with self-serving villains. His graceful, economic physicality or his calm use of his voice is consistently compelling. Always playing a character of few words, he out-Coopered Gary Cooper. Scott's screen presence glues these films together and one cannot help but like these charming and self-assured roles.