He’s got one of those faces that any TV addict would instantly recognize. I knew him best as playing Leander Pomfritt, the teacher in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis…but his credits just keep going on. With over 300 different film and TV roles – and still working today, most recently appearing on How I Met Your Mother – William Schallert is the quintessential character actor. His credits include (but are most certainly not limited to) The Twilight Zone, Burns and Allen, Leave It To Beaver, The Untouchables, The Rifleman, The Andy Griffith Show, The Lucy Show, Gunsmoke, Little House on the Prairie, Coach, Lois and Clark, ER…I could go on and on. Not to mention all of his movie appearances. Go check out the IMDB if you don’t believe me.
But anyway, I had gotten Mr. Schallert’s autograph via Bob from a Hollywood Collectors Show in the late 1990’s. I didn’t even realize that he would be a guest at the show in February 2007 when I attended. Regardless, I took the opportunity to get my photo taken with this 85-year-old unsung living TV legend. Hooray for William Schallert!
Celebrity encounters from the February 2007 HCS will continue…
Great picture of both of you! I remember William Schallert primarily from “The Patty Duke Show,” and I’m old enough to have seen that first-run. I also remember when he was the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, around 1980, and used to come into the library (when it was on the 4th floor of the Wilshire Blvd. building, before it moved into its own building). He is the quintessential character actor of the ’60s and beyond, to use a John McCabe-ish word. The other character actor who used to breeze into the library was Fritz Feld, and when he made an entrance you knew it! He didn’t do his “pop” mouth sound-effect, but all heads turned nevertheless when he came into the room.
Randy Skretvedt
August 23rd, 2007