Don Beddoe

Don Beddoe was a 20th century character actor with an extraordinary number of credits -- 184 films and nearly 100 television roles. After performing on Broadway for a decade, Beddoe began making films with Columbia Pictures in 1939, appearing in dozens of relatively anonymous roles into the early '40s, playing everything from a reporter to an inspector to a warden. Along the way, his most recognizable work may have been his appearances in The Three Stooges shorts "Three Sappy People" and "You Nazty Spy!," both also with Columbia. By the late '40s, Beddoe finally got the opportunity to get serious, at least film quality-wise. In 1947, he landed a supporting part in the Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple-starring romantic comedy, "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer." After dozens of mediocre projects, Beddoe landed a key part in Charles Laughton's only fully credited directorial effort, 1955's "The Night of the Hunter," a thriller with Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lillian Gish. By that point, Beddoe had become thoroughly active on TV, with recurring parts on numerous dramas and westerns through the '50s, among them "The Lone Ranger," "The Loretta Young Show," and "Lassie." Beddoe eventually transcended the confines of character actor-dom, if only briefly, by earning starring roles in the 1961 family adventure "Boy Who Caught a Crook" and the 1962 comedy "Saintly Sinners," playing Father Dan. He continued working into the early '80s, making his final appearance as Doc Cathey in the 1984 drama "Nickel Mountain."