You Be The Judge, Mr. Quinn

Bill Quinn (1912-1994) was an American film and prolific television actor. He appeared in more than 150 roles over seven decades, starting in the 1920s in silent films. He was the father-in-law of comedy legend, Bob Newhart.

The versatile Quinn acquitted himself in every role, whether uncredited or supporting in dramas or comedies. Viewers could often find him in court as a judge, in a police uniform, or in other service-related occupations. It is his television appearances that brought him the most attention. By far it was his thirty-eight appearances as a cast member on The Rifleman as Frank Feeney and eighty-eight appearances on Archie Bunker's Place as a blind patron. Though his single appearances are too numerous to chronicle here, his other multiple guest star roles in a series include, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Perry Mason, Hawaiian Eye, McHale's Navy, Bonanza, Ironside, as the father of Mary Richards for The Mary Tyle Moore sitcom and four various roles on The Rockford Files. True to form, Quinn played Judge Tomlinson on Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, and as Judge Tesman on Arrest and Trial. 

Big Small Screen Presence

 

Tim O'Connor (1927-2018) was an American character actor known for his steady work in television until the 1990s. By far, O'Connor's 416 appearances as Elliot Carson on Peyton Place were his most appearances on a single show. Another well-known role was playing Dr. Elias Huer in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Other recurring roles were on Barnaby Jones, Dynasty, The Streets of San Francisco, Cannon and six episodes of The F.B.I. O'Connor's voice and physical presence allowed him to specialize in playing various officials, physicians, military men, and police officers. Like one of his peers, David Janssen, O'Connor made a bigger impact on the small screen than in films. O'Connor's film appearances were sparse. A few include The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972), Across 110th Street (1972), Sssssss (1973), and The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991). His last performance was in the film, Dreams Awake (2011) where he reunited with Erin Gray from their Buck Rogers series.

An Actor With a Busy Agent

 

Robert Hogan (1933-2021) was an American actor best known for his prolific career in American television. Viewers were never quite sure where handsome Hogan would show up next, whether in a sitcom or police drama. He was one of the most in-demand and versatile actors in Hollywood.

Hogan portrayed numerous recurring characters on many daytime soaps with over sixty appearances on the primetime soap, Peyton Place. More primetime shows were in store for Hogan throughout the 1960s on Cheyenne, Bonanza, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Hawaiian Eye, I Dream of Jeannie, Hogan's Heroes, and Twelve O'Clock High, among others. There were no lulls in the 1970s with appearances on everything from The F.B.I, Hawaii Five-O, and played Sgt. Coopersmith on The Rockford Files, a role he would revive for Richie Brockelman, P.I. Hogan fit right in for numerous sitcoms like M.A.S.H., Mork & Mindy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and many more. His agent was constantly busy as Hogan made appearances on similar shows in the 1980s. By the 1990s, his career became more centered on theater with his Broadway debut in 1989. Hogan continued his television work until 2018.

A Noted Television Composer

 

Jerry Goldsmith (Jerrald King Goldsmith 1929-2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his vast work in the film industry but also for television scoring and concert works. He composed scores for five films in the Star Trek franchise and three in the Rambo franchise, as well as for Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes, Patton, Chinatown, Alien, Poltergeist, Gremlins, Hoosiers, Air Force One, and many others. His 1997 opening fanfare for Universal Pictures debuted with the release of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. His silver screen compositions continued into the Twenty-first Century. "Among his many other works" is synonymous with Goldsmith. His film scores were not always identified with him, ranging from light and melodic to very dissonant scores in a style where the melody is nearly non-existent, like many of his influences of early 20th-century composers.

Goldsmith found early work at CBS in 1950 as a clerk typist in the network's music department under director Lud Gluskin. There he began writing scores for radio shows, later progressing into scoring live CBS television anthology series. As the decade progressed, he scored multiple episodes of the television series The Twilight Zone and Dr. Kildare. Goldsmith composed the theme for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in 1964 and later added his touch to the James Bond parody, Our Man Flint, 1966, and its sequel In Like Flint, 1967. His military/action flare with snare drums was sometimes a giveaway during this period. His most notable television theme in the Nineties was the theme for the UPN series Star Trek: Voyager in 1995. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. It is the most beautifully constructed theme of any Star Trek television series. His score and theme for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1979, was later used on the popular television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 with an arrangement by Dennis McCarthy.

Note: Goldsmith was good friends with fellow composer, Morton Stevens, of Hawaii Five-O theme fame. Stevens also wrote the theme to television's Police Woman. Goldsmith confessed he used that theme for his Derek Flint character film series. He turned Steven's theme "inside-out" but the melody is lifted intact. Both composers were amused by the reuse.

Low Profile. High Output.

George Duning (1908-2000) was an American musician and highly respected film composer, working on over 300 film and television scores. Nominated five times for an Academy Award, Duning never won. Born in Richmond, Indiana, Duning played trumpet and piano for the Kay Kyser band in the 1940s, later arranging most of the music for Kyser's radio program, Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge. His name may not come to mind as readily as a few other film composers, due to his early uncredited stock music supplied for countless low-budget films of the Forties and Fifties. 

Duning signed on with Columbia Pictures in 1946, where he worked almost exclusively through the early Sixties, collaborating often with director Richard Quine and actor, Glenn Ford. His scores for the original 3:10 to Yuma, and Cowboy are two of the best examples of the western genre. His diversity is displayed in such notable films as Picnic, From Here To Eternity, The World of Suzie Wong, The Devil at Four O'Clock, and Bell, Book, and Candle. Though too numerous to mention, other notable films include his first film score for Johnny O'Clock, followed by Lust for Gold, The Mob, The Brothers Rico, That Touch of Mink, and The Man with Bogart's Face. His work for television, notably The Big Valley, is nearly as prolific, spanning the Fifties through the Eighties. 

Ordinary Appearance. Extraordinary Talent.

 

Though a few notable supporting roles in major films made their way into Edward Binns (1916-1990) resume, 12 Angry Men (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), the B-52 aircraft commander in Fail Safe (1964), Patton (1970) and The Verdict (1982), it was the mass audience of television of which he was most associated. The American stage and television actor often portraying competent, dedicated, and purposeful characters in various roles.

The Philadelphia native's theatrical career began shortly after his 1937 college graduation when he participated in a repertory theatre in Cleveland. He followed that with a year as actor and director of the Pan-American Theatre in Mexico City. He was involved in television productions early in its infancy, appearing in over 500 television programs, either live, taped or on film. Binns had his own series, Brenner (1959-62), playing the title character as a police lieutenant. His casting calls were endless as a sought-after actor in most of the popular series of their day such as, Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, The Fugitive, M*A*S*H, a recurring role on It Takes a Thief, The Rockford Files, and many others.

Some sources say he was somewhat peeved that he was often mistaken for the actor Frank Lovejoy who shared a similar career path and sandpaper voice. Binns also was employed as a narrator, voicing commercials for Amtrak and United Way. He served in the Army Air Forces in 1942.