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Steve Franken
Stephen Robert Franken (May 27, 1932 – August 24, 2012) was an American actor who worked in film and television for over fifty years.
Franken was born in Queens, New York. He earned his B.A. from Cornell University, and returned to New York to pursue acting rather than realize his parents' dreams for a medical career.
Franken's first screen role was in 1958 as Willie in the episode "The Time of Your Life" on the anthology series Playhouse 90.
Producer Rod Amateau saw him in a Los Angeles stage production of Say, Darling and cast him as playboy dilettante Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on the sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, starring Dwayne Hickman. Franken appeared as a recurring guest in numerous episodes from 1960 to 1963. He attributed the character's look of pained condescension to an ulcer he had suffered since the age of 14 when his mother had died.
Another early role was as Bully in the 1961 episode "The Pit" of the series The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. He played the lead guest-starring role in the 1961 episode "The Case of Willie Betterley" in Lock Up. In 1962, he was cast as Dunc Tomilson in "The Yacht-Club Gang" on Checkmate. He appeared as Jerry Allen in two episodes of Mr. Novak. In 1964, he appeared in The Time Travelers. In 1965, he appeared in "Birth of a Salesman" on McHale's Navy, and in "Tim and Tim Again" on My Favorite Martian.
He appeared in 1964 on Petticoat Junction as the son of the villain, Homer Bedloe in "Bedloe and Son". He played another rich wastrel on the short-lived sitcom Tom, Dick and Mary. Franken appeared in the famous 1963 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Deadly Verdict" (in which Mason actually loses a case, at least initially) as Christopher Barton.
Immediately after Dobie Gillis was cancelled, Franken was cast as Lieutenant Samwell "Sanpan" Panosian in the Gary Lockwood series The Lieutenant episode "To Take Up Serpents", the first television series created by Gene Roddenberry. He played other military roles, such as a decorated U.S. flier turned arms-dealer and traitor in "The Gun Runner Raid" episode of The Rat Patrol and as a P.O.W. lieutenant in Follow Me, Boys!. From 1966 to 1971, he appeared in various roles in at least six episodes of Bewitched.
Franken appeared as the drunken waiter Levinson in the 1968 Blake Edwards film The Party, alongside Peter Sellers. One journalist, writing on the fortieth anniversary of the film, stated:
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Steve Franken
Stephen Robert Franken (May 27, 1932 – August 24, 2012) was an American actor who worked in film and television for over fifty years.
Franken was born in Queens, New York. He earned his B.A. from Cornell University, and returned to New York to pursue acting rather than realize his parents' dreams for a medical career.
Franken's first screen role was in 1958 as Willie in the episode "The Time of Your Life" on the anthology series Playhouse 90.
Producer Rod Amateau saw him in a Los Angeles stage production of Say, Darling and cast him as playboy dilettante Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on the sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, starring Dwayne Hickman. Franken appeared as a recurring guest in numerous episodes from 1960 to 1963. He attributed the character's look of pained condescension to an ulcer he had suffered since the age of 14 when his mother had died.
Another early role was as Bully in the 1961 episode "The Pit" of the series The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. He played the lead guest-starring role in the 1961 episode "The Case of Willie Betterley" in Lock Up. In 1962, he was cast as Dunc Tomilson in "The Yacht-Club Gang" on Checkmate. He appeared as Jerry Allen in two episodes of Mr. Novak. In 1964, he appeared in The Time Travelers. In 1965, he appeared in "Birth of a Salesman" on McHale's Navy, and in "Tim and Tim Again" on My Favorite Martian.
He appeared in 1964 on Petticoat Junction as the son of the villain, Homer Bedloe in "Bedloe and Son". He played another rich wastrel on the short-lived sitcom Tom, Dick and Mary. Franken appeared in the famous 1963 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Deadly Verdict" (in which Mason actually loses a case, at least initially) as Christopher Barton.
Immediately after Dobie Gillis was cancelled, Franken was cast as Lieutenant Samwell "Sanpan" Panosian in the Gary Lockwood series The Lieutenant episode "To Take Up Serpents", the first television series created by Gene Roddenberry. He played other military roles, such as a decorated U.S. flier turned arms-dealer and traitor in "The Gun Runner Raid" episode of The Rat Patrol and as a P.O.W. lieutenant in Follow Me, Boys!. From 1966 to 1971, he appeared in various roles in at least six episodes of Bewitched.
Franken appeared as the drunken waiter Levinson in the 1968 Blake Edwards film The Party, alongside Peter Sellers. One journalist, writing on the fortieth anniversary of the film, stated: