Harry Fleer

Harry Fleer (March 26, 1916 – October 14, 1994) was an American actor. He appeared in more than sixty films and television shows between 1955 and 1994. Fleer left his hometown of Quincy, Illinois, to attend Northwestern University in 1934 with no plans to be a professional entertainer. He said, "I looked upon music as a serious avocation, and if I hadn't been going to the university during the depression, I would never have gone into this business." His plans began to change after he performed during a College Night event at a night club in Chicago. A radio producer who saw him set up an audition, and the result was a three-day-a-week program of his own. He entered the competition on the Gateway to Hollywood radio program. Although he won twice -- once for music and once for drama -- he did not win the overall contest. He had offers from five film companies, but he said that he accepted "the wrong offer". Fleer then studied at the Max Reinhardt school and acted in summer stock in the eastern United States. He sang on Broadway as a member of the chorus in The Trojan Women (1941). Fleer joined the Army soon after his summer stock experience. After initially serving as an actor he went to officer candidate school and infantry school. He gained a commission in anti-aircraft artillery, and he served three months in Japan after V-J Day. He returned to Broadway to portray Lionel in Toplitzky of Notre Dame (1947). Fleer was cast six times from 1957 to 1960 on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In "The Camel Train" (1957), he played Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who commissions an experiment of using camels in the southwestern desert country headed by Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale, played by Stanley Lachman. Later, he was Wyatt Earp in "Birth of a Boom" (1958).