Richard Devon

A supporting player whose roles trod both sides of the law, actor Richard Devon appeared as cops and criminals in a wealth of series (and the occasional film) of the '50s and '60s, particularly Westerns. He learned to love acting early on, in a first-grade school production, and went on to study drama after graduating from high school, earning his lessons by building sets. He later trained with Western star Richard Boone, who groomed him for his early TV appearances on such shows as "Frontier" and the science fiction series "Space Patrol." Devon's mean, thin-lipped smile would be put to good use playing Satan in Roger Corman's B-movie "The Undead" and earn the actor work in other projects by the renowned director, including "War of the Satellites." Devon was most visible in Westerns, including such classic shows as "Wanted: Dead or Alive," "The Rifleman," and "Bonanza." Not wholly limited to ranch-hand parts, he played in a diverse selection of other major series such as "Peter Gunn," "Twilight Zone," and "Lassie." In other big-screen parts, he worked beside such stars as Clint Eastwood, in "Magnum Force," and John Wayne, in "The Comancheros." In Devon's final film role, he played a Cardinal in the apocalyptic thriller "The Seventh Sign."