Steve Franken

Stephen Robert Franken (May 27, 1932 – August 24, 2012)^[1] was an American actor who worked in film and television for over fifty years.

Steve Franken
Franken in an unsold 1970 television pilot Three for Tahiti
Born	Stephen Robert Franken (1932-05-27)May 27, 1932 Queens, New York, U.S.
Died	August 24, 2012(2012-08-24) (aged 80) Canoga Park, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1958–2012
Spouses	Julia E. Carter ​ ​ (m. 1965; div. 1986)​ Jean Garrett ​ (m. 1987)​
Children	3

Early life and career

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.^[1]

Franken's first screen role was in 1958 as Willie in the episode "The Time of Your Life" on the anthology series Playhouse 90.

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.

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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.

Franken with Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched

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.^[4] 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.^[3]

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:

Rivaling Sellers with one of The Party's stand-out performances: Steve Franken as the increasingly inebriated butler, slathering on a layer of slapstick to the proceedings with his incontinent antics. Franken's interaction with his vexed supervisor, his drunken stroll through the shallow indoor pool, his struggle to rescue the roast chicken perched precariously atop a bewigged socialite's bouffant hairdo: all comedy gold.^[5]

From 1970 to 1973, he appeared five times on Love, American Style. He appeared as Officer Albert Porter in three episodes of Adam-12 from 1971 to 1972 as well as Ralph Salisbury in the 1971 episode "The Ferret."^[6] In 1972, he appeared as Jonas Lasser on the season three episode "The Courtship of Mary's Father's Daughter" on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

He appeared on Barney Miller in 1975 (episode: "The Arsonist") and again in 1981 (episode: "Resignation"). In 1979, he starred as Tom Voorhies alongside Michael Constantine in Disney's The North Avenue Irregulars. He appeared with Peter Sellers in 1980's The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu.

He acted and directed in various episodes of Insight.^[2] He appeared in small roles in such contemporary television series as Murphy Brown, The King of Queens and Seinfeld. From 2002 to 2003, he provided voices for Law & Order computer games. He voiced Professor Eugene Atwater in the animated series Road Rovers.

He voice-acted as Rundle in the 1993 Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Mechanic" and was Mr. Beal in Detention episodes "Little Miss Popular" and "Comedy of Terrors" (both 1999). The following year, he voiced the role of Mr. Janus in the episode "Grounded" of Static Shock and provided voices in Smurfs (1981), The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda (1990), and Spawn (1997).^[7]

Death

Franken died on August 24, 2012, at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Canoga Park, California, of complications from cancer, aged 80. He had three daughters, two from his first marriage to Julia Carter, and one from his second marriage to Jean Garrett.^[8][9] He was the second cousin of actor and politician Al Franken.^[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1958	Stage Struck	Dressing Room Well-Wisher	uncredited
	Cop Hater	Boy in Lineup
1964	The Americanization of Emily	Young Sailor
	The Time Travelers	Danny McKee
1966	Wild Wild Winter	John
	Follow Me, Boys!	P.O.W. Lieutenant
1968	Panic in the City	Hal Johnson
	The Party	Levinson
1969	Angel in My Pocket	Zimmerman
	Number One	Robin
1970	Which Way to the Front?	Peter Bland
1972	Every Man Needs One	Bob Rasmussen	Television film
1973	Voyage of the Yes	Doctor	Television film
	The Stranger	Henry Maitland	Television film
	Westworld	Technician
1974	Houston, We've Got a Problem	Shimon Levin	Television film
1975	The Last Survivors	Don West	Television film
	The Reincarnation of Peter Proud	Dr. Charles Crennis
	Sky Heist	Traffic Controller	Television film
	Murder on Flight 502	Donald Goldman	Television film
	I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now?	Harold Booker Esquire
1976	Kiss Me, Kill Me	Murry Tesko	Television film
	The Missouri Breaks	The Lonesome Kid
1977	It Happened at Lakewood Manor	Lionel White	Television film
1978	Avalanche	Henry McDade
	Zuma Beach	Rick	Television film
	Terror Out of the Sky	Paul Gladstone	Television film
1979	The North Avenue Irregulars	Tom Voories
1980	Hardly Working	Steve Torres
	There Goes the Bride	Church Organist
	The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu	Pete Williams
	The Ghosts of Buxley Hall	Virgil Quinby	Television film
1982	Not Just Another Affair	Dr. Morton Schiller	Television film
1983	Curse of the Pink Panther	Harvey Hamilcard III
	High School U.S.A.	Dr. Fritz Hauptmann	Television film
1984	The Sheriff and the Astronaut	FBI Agent Henley	Television film
1985	The Fourth Wise Man	Pharisee #1	Television film
	There Were Times, Dear	Harry	Television film
1987	Can't Buy Me Love	Moda Clerk
1988	Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis	Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.	Television film
	Freeway	Lawyer
1989	Transylvania Twist	Hans Hupp
1991	Never Forget	Dan Greenspan	Television film
1993	Breakfast of Aliens	Fred
1994	Munchie Strikes Back	Professor Graves
1998	The Pandora Project	Sam Davis
1999	Restraining Order	Jerry
	The Omega Code	Jeffries
2000	Nurse Betty	Administrator
	Agent Red	General Socka
2001	The Trumpet of the Swan	Bud	Voice[11]
	Crash Point Zero [fr]	Stuart Elliott
2005	The Works	Gordon
2007	The Metrosexual	Professor
2009	Angels & Demons	Cardinal Colbert
2010	Watch Out for Slick	Emory

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	Decoy	Bar Patron	Episode: "Saturday Lost"
	Playhouse 90	Willie	Episode: "The Time of Your Life"
1960	Deadline	Copy Boy	Episode: "To Move a Mountain"
1960–1963	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.	Recurring role
1961	Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond	Crazed Soldier	Episode: "Night of Decision"
	The Rebel	Ruck	Episode: "The Pit"
	Assignment: Underwater	Carstairs	Episode: "Witness from the Dead"
	Lock-Up	Willie Betterley	Episode: "The Case of Willie Betterley"
1962	Checkmate	Dunc Tomilson	Episode: "The Yacht-Club Gang"
	Dr. Kildare	Freddie Binns	Episode: "Operation: Lazarus"
	Ensign O'Toole	Ensign Clifford Bender	Episode: "Operation: Gaslight"
1963	Perry Mason	Christopher Barton	Episode: "The Case of the Deadly Verdict"
	The Lieutenant	Lieutenant Sam Panosian	Episode: "To Take Up Serpents"
	Beetle Bailey	Lieutenant Forbes	Episode: "Psychological Testing"
1963-1964	Mr. Novak	Jerry Allen	Recurring role
1964	Petticoat Junction	Homer Bedloe Jr.	Episode: "Bedloe and Son"
1964-1965	Tom, Dick and Mary	Dr. Dick Moran	Recurring role
1965	The Patty Duke Show	Bob	Episode: "Sick in Bed"
	McHale's Navy	Lieutenant Jason Whitworth	Episode: "Birth of a Saleman"
	Please Don't Eat the Daisies	Crawford	Episode: "Two Seats on the Moon Shot"
	The Farmer's Daughter	Bellboy	Episode: "Crisis at Crystal Springs"
	My Favorite Martian	George	Episode: "Tim and Tim Again"
1966	Tammy	Crazy Wolf	Episode: "Two for Tee Pee"
	The Patty Duke Show	Ronald Dawson	Episode: "Do You Trust Your Daughter?"
	The Wild Wild West	Le Fou	Episode: "The Night of the Bottomless Pit"
	That Girl	Actor Playing Dr. Bruce Alden	Episode: "Soap Gets in Your Eyes"
	The Long, Hot Summer		Episode: "Carlotta, Come Home"
	The Rat Patrol	Ned Cunningham	Episode: "The Gun Runner Raid"
	Bewitched	George Barkley	Episode: "Follow That Witch"
		Hawkins	Episode: "A Gazebo Never Forgets"
1967	Batman	Rudy, the Valet	Episode: "That Darn Catwoman"
	T.H.E. Cat	Carl Leandro	Episode: "Matter Over Mind"
	My Three Sons	Al Morgan	Episode: "The Sky Is Falling"
	Mission: Impossible	Akim Hadramut	Episode: "The Slave"
1968	The Second Hundred Years	Corporal	Episode: "Luke and Comrade Tanya"
	The Outsider	Roger Edgeway	Episode: "What Flowers Daisies Are"
	The Big Valley	Bank Teller	Episode: "Hell Hath No Fury"
	Blondie	David Dithers	Episode: "Once Upon a Guru"
	Bewitched	Orvis	Episode: "Samantha's Secret Saucer"
		Juke	Episode: "Darrin Gone! and Forgotten?"
1969	My Friend Tony		Episode: "The Hazing"
	The Mod Squad	Rabbi Elliott Tannenbaum	Episode: "In This Corner - Sol Alpert"
	Bewitched	Cousin Henry	Episode: "Samantha's Shopping Spree"
1970	Night Gallery	Dr. Peter Mitchell	Episode: "The House"
1970-1973	Love, American Style	Various roles	5 episodes
1970-1979	Insight	Various roles	6 episodes
1971	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Dr. Weitzman	Episode: "A Passing of Torches"
	Bewitched	Bruce	Episode: "Samantha and the Loch Ness Monster"
	Adam-12	Ralph Salisbury	Episode: "The Ferret"
1972	Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law	Kurt Balks	Episode: "The Trouble with Ralph"
	Adam-12	Officer Albert Porter	2 episodes
	Norman Corwin Presents		Episode: "Odyssey in Progress"
	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Jonas Lasser	2 episodes
1974	The Rookies	Alvin Conrad	Episode: "Key Witness"
	Sierra	Tommy	Episode: "Taking Cody Winslow"
	Emergency!	Bernard Goldberg	Episode: "Daisy's Pick Blind Date"
1975	Kolchak: The Night Stalker	Neil	Episode: "Chopper"
	Police Story	D.A. Wallberger	2 episodes
	Barney Miller	Edward Foreman	Episode: "The Arsonist"
1976	Doc	Harvey Kramer	Episode: "Oldies but Goodies"
	Good Heavens	Mr. Dee	Episode: "See Jane Run"
	Holmes & Yoyo	Jerry	Episode: "Funny Money"
1977	Man from Atlantis	Doctor	Episode: "Man from Atlantis"
	Lanigan's Rabbi	Will Stopes	Episode: "The Cadaver in the Clutter"
	Charlie's Angels	Fred Olsen	Episode: "Pretty Angels All in a Row"
	Petticoat Affair	Milton	Episode: "A Party for the Captain"
	C.P.O. Sharkey	Dr. Simon	Episode: "Sharkey Files Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
	Police Woman	Clerk	Episode: "Do You Still Beat Your Wife?"
1978		J.P. Thompson	Episode: "Murder with Pretty People"
	Kojak	Arnie Goldman	Episode: "May the Horse Be with You"
	Quincy, M.E.	Dr. Kitei	Episode: "The Last Six Hours"
	Alice	Holdup Man	Episode: "Better Never Than Late"
	CHiPs	Student Driver	Episode: "Crash Diet"
1979	Kaz		Episode: "Kazinski Versus Bennett"
	Supertrain		Episode: "The Queen and the Improbable Knight"
	One Day at a Time	Victor Mulhern	Episode: "The Piano Teacher"
1980	Disneyland	Virgil Quinby	Episode: "The Ghosts of Buxley Hall"
	Trapper John, M.D.	Bernie Chalmers	Episode: "Slim Chance"
1981	Barney Miller	Edward Novak	Episode: "Resignation"
	The Love Boat	Harry Mason	2 episodes
1982	CHiPs	Alan Drummond	Episode: "Force Seven"
	Trapper John, M.D.	Patient	Episode: "Three on a Mismatch"
	Simon & Simon	Tunridge	Episode: "The Ten Thousand Dollar Deductible"
1983	Ryan's Four		Episode: "Ryan's Four"
	Fantasy Island	Wes Perry	Episode: "The Wedding Picture/Castaways"
1984	The Smurfs	Additional voices	Episode: "Symbols of Wisdom/Blue Eyes Returns"; uncredited
	Jessie	Mr Anderson	Episode: "The Psychic Connection"
1985	Diff'rent Strokes	Mr. Anderson	Episode: "Arnold Saves the Squirrel"
	Hill Street Blues	Arnold Solomon	Episode: "Queen for a Day"
	MacGyver	Walt, the Pilot	Episode: "Last Stand"
	Hotel	Carmondy	Episode: "Echoes"
1986	On Wings of Eagles	Mort Myerson	Miniseries
	Our House	Forrester	Episode: "See You in Court"
1987	One Big Family	Dickie Tyler	Episode: "Stagestruck"
	Rags to Riches'	Dennis Baxter	Episode: "Born to Ride"
	Small Wonder	Doctor	Episode: "Everyone Into the Pool"
1988	Freddy's Nightmare	Mr. Birdwell	Episode: "Killer Instinct"
1989		Mr. Sexton	Episode: "Silence Is Golden"
	Hunter	Lou	Episode: "The Legion"
1990	The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda	Additional voices	Episode: "Pity the Poor Pirate"
	China Beach	Judge Julius H. Hoffman	Episode: "The Call"
1992	Harry and the Hendersons	Dr. J	Episode: "The Girl Who Cried Bigfoot"
	Human Target	Quentin Firth	Episode: "Designed by Chance"
1993	Batman: The Animated Series	Rundle	Voice, episode: "The Mechanic"[11]
1994	Herman's Head	Mr. Prescott	Episode: "Bedtime for Hermo"
	Sisters	Huey Short	Episode: "Heroes"
1995	ER	Hank Travis	Episode: "Full Moon, Saturday Night"
1996	The Young and the Restless	Dr. Everhart	1 episode
	Sparks	Judge	Episode: "Porky's Revenge"
1996-1997	Road Rovers	Professor Eugene Atwater	Voice, 2 episodes[11]
1997-1999	Todd McFarlane's Spawn	Additional voices	Recurring role
1998	The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries	President Generic	Voice, episode: "Spooker of the House"[11]
	Seinfeld	Brendan	Episode: "The Maid"
	Murphy Brown	College Roommate	Episode: "Dial and Substance"
	Maggie Winters	Mr. Addison	Episode: "Dinner at Rachel's"
1999	Detention	Mr. Beal	Voice, 2 episodes
2000	Chicken Soup for the Soul	Mr. Bellinger	Episode: "A Mason-Dixon Memory"
	Static Shock	Mr. Janus	Voice, episode: "Grounded"[11]
2001	Family Law	Teacher	Episode: "Obligations"
2005	The Comeback		Episode: "Valerie Stands Out on the Red Carpet"
	The King of Queens	Vasili	Episode: "Move Doubt"
2006	Threshold	Graham Bolton	Episode: "Alienville"
2012	The Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour	Father	Episode: "Deathbed"

References

1. Slotnik, Daniel E. (August 31, 2012). "Long Career Followed 'Dobie Gillis' Role". The Atlanta Constitution. p. B7. Retrieved November 20 , 2023.
2. Erickson, Hal (2013). "Steve Franken profile". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on October 8, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
3. "Steve Franken credits". TV Guide. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
4. Profile of Lieutenant, The at the Archive of American Television; retrieved August 18, 2012.
5. Aushenker, Michael (June 25, 2008). "'The Party' to Remember: Blake Edwards' Cult Classic Turns 40!". Palisadian-Post. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
6. Episode credits
7. Minovitz, Ethan (August 28, 2012). "Dobie Gillis actor Steve Franken dies at 80". Big Cartoon News. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
8. McLellan, Dennis. "Steve Franken dies at 80; portrayed rich pal of 'Dobie Gillis'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
9. Slotnik, Daniel E. (August 29, 2012). "Steve Franken, Actor in 'Dobie Gillis,' Dies at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved September 2, 2012.
10. Gitlin, Martin (2014). The Greatest Sitcoms of All Time. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-8108-8724-4.
11. "Steve Franken (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 29, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.

External links

• Steve Franken at IMDb
• Steve Franken at the Internet Broadway Database
• "GAF Super 8 Movie Cameras from $49.50" (1971 TV commercial with Henry Fonda and Steve Franken) at OVGuide.com. Retrieved August 18, 2012.