Richard Peabody (April 6, 1925 – December 27, 1999) was an American actor best known for his role as six-foot-six
Pfc. Littlejohn on the 1960s series ''
Combat!
''Combat!'' is an American television drama series that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American so ...
''. Peabody worked in television, movies, radio, and print. He was tall and typecast himself as a
western villain.
Biography
Peabody was a
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
Navy veteran, and had an early career in radio commercial production.
He anchored a TV news broadcast, hosted a radio talk show, wrote commercials and, in later years, wrote "Peabody's Place", a weekly newspaper column for the Mountain Democrat in
Placerville, California
Placerville (, ; formerly Old Dry Diggings, Dry Diggings, and Hangtown) is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California. The population was 10,747 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,389 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Sa ...
.
He was in the movies ''
Support Your Local Sheriff!
''Support Your Local Sheriff!'' (also known as ''The Sheriff'') is a 1969 American comedy Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring James Garner, Joan Hackett, and Walter Brennan. The supporting cast features Harry Morgan, Jack Elam, ...
'' and ''
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys'' in 1969; both films were directed by
Burt Kennedy
Burton Raphael Kennedy (September 3, 1922 – February 15, 2001) was an American screenwriter and director known mainly for directing Westerns. Budd Boetticher called him "the best Western writer ever."
Biography
Kennedy was born in 1922 i ...
who worked on ''Combat!''. He also appeared in ''Your Money or Your Wife'' in 1972.
His main TV credit was all five seasons of ''Combat!''. He was also in various episodes of ''
Gunsmoke'', ''
Bonanza'', and ''
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...
''.
Personal life
His wife Tina, a former model, wrote "Young Sarge", a song Dick Peabody recorded in 1965.
He died of
prostate cancer at the age of 74.
Filmography
See also
*
Vic Morrow
Victor Morrow (born Victor Morozoff; February 14, 1929 – July 23, 1982) was an American actor. He came to prominence as one of the leads of the ABC drama series '' Combat!'' (1962–1967), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstand ...
*
Rick Jason
Rick Jason (born Richard Jacobson; May 21, 1923 – October 16, 2000) was an American actor, born in New York City, and most remembered for starring in the ABC television drama ''Combat!'' (1962–1967).
Childhood
An only child of Jewish parent ...
References
External links
*
1925 births
1999 deaths
American male television actors
American male film actors
Deaths from prostate cancer
Deaths from cancer in California
20th-century American male actors
United States Navy personnel of World War II
{{US-screen-actor-1920s-stub