RIP: William Schallert

To lovers of the screen both large and small, William Schallert's face is instantly recognizable. His name, however, might escape the memory of many.

The news sources are touting Schallert as the Father from The Patty Duke Show, but how many people under retirement age even know about that program?

The long and colorful career of William Schallert saw many, many movies and television roles. He made guest appearances on old Boomer favorites like The Six Million Dollar Man and its gender-friendly spinoff, The Bionic Woman. Schallert was on Kung Fu. Room 222. Love, American Style. Gunsmoke. Leave it to Beaver. The Andy Griffith Show. That Girl. Get Smart. The Dick Van Dyke Show The Mod Squad. Have Gun-Will Travel. Combat! Dozens and dozens more.

Genre-loving TV viewers saw William Schallert on Star Trek, Land of the Giants, Thriller, and The Twilight Zone.

There were hundreds of movie appearances. Schallert was a professional, in demand, working actor, and as such he did a lot of indoor bullstuff like Pillow Talk and Singing in the Rain. Can't blame a guy for making a buck.

But the drive-in community knew and revered William Schallert from his memorable roles in exploitation fare like The Monolith Monsters, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Gunslinger (directed by shoot-'em-from-the-hip legend Roger Corman), Invasion USA (the original, not the Chuck Norris remake), Riot in Cell Block 11, Them!, Twilight Zone-The Movie, Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Beat Generation, Captive Women, Speedway. Yes, Speedway. Elvis movies were huge at the drive-ins.

Joe Dante, God bless him, used older actors to wonderful effect in his movies, and William Schallert appeared in Gremlins, Innerspace, Twilight Zone-The Motion Picture, and Matinee.

Schallert was in extreme demand and he worked steadily throughout his long and incredibly busy career. He was equally comfortable in horror/science fiction pictures, comedy, action, westerns, you name it. His kindly demeanor made Schallert a natural as a doctor in the movies, and Dante used him especially well as one in the Mant segments of Matinee.

Guys like William Schallert are the unsung heroes of the screen. Character Actors like him don't get the glory of leading parts, and they rarely get juicy romantic roles. But the best of them, like William Schallert, bring authenticity to any production they grace with their presence.

That isn't even close to all that William Schallert accomplished. He was the SAG president from 1979-1981. Schallert founded the Committee for Performers With Disabilities. He appeared in the very first episode of the acclaimed live television show, Playhouse 90.

Actors who were in the classic exploi-cheese movies of yesteryear are dying off too quickly for me. We lost Kevin McCarthy a few years back. Same with Ed Lauter. Beverly Garland. The list is long, and my heart breaks for every one of them.

William Schallert worked in genre fare almost until the end, taking on roles in things like True Blood and Bag of Bones.

He was 93 when he died, on May 8th, 2016. Reaching that age, with almost 400 roles to his credit, is a hell of an achievement.