Daniel Upshaw Biggers (January 18, 1931 – December 5, 2011) was an American college official and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

best known for his role as Frank "Doc" Robb on the television series '' In the Heat of the Night''.

Life and career

Biggers was born in

Newton County, Georgia Newton County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 112,483. The county seat is Covington. Newton County is included in the ''Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, G ...

in 1931. He was an English instructor at

Toccoa Toccoa is a city in far Northeast Georgia near the border with South Carolina. It is the county seat of Stephens County, Georgia, United States, located about from Athens and about northeast of Atlanta. The population was 9,133 as of the ...

High School in the late 1950s. In 1963 he became headmaster of Thornwood (Darlington Lower School) in

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all ...

."Actor and director of Historic Berry, Dan Biggers has died,"
''

Rome News-Tribune ''Rome News-Tribune'' is the local daily newspaper of Rome, Georgia, in the United States. Begun originally as a weekly newspaper, the paper has survived several merges with other newspapers and now distributes news on a daily basis through pri ...

'', December 6, 2011. Beginning in 1967, he was dean of students at

Berry College Berry College is a private liberal arts college in the Mount Berry community adjacent to Rome, Georgia. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Berry College was founded on values based on Christian princi ...

. Before that, he was on the staff of the Dean of Men at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

and escorted

Charlayne Hunter Charlayne Hunter-Gault (born February 27, 1942) is an American civil rights activist, journalist and former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, CNN, and the Public Broadcasting Service. Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were the ...

(now a correspondent for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

) to class when she integrated the University of Georgia in 1960. From 1976 until his retirement in 1996, he was the director of Oak Hill and the Martha Berry Museum. He was also on the board of directors of the Greater Rome Convention and Visitors Bureau for 13 years and helped develop the Northwest Georgia Travel Association. In 1983 he was awarded the Phoenix Award for conservation and preservation by the Society of American Travel Writers. Biggers' acting career began with the Rome Little Theatre, where he won several acting awards. His first television appearance was in ''Maid in America'' in 1962 and his last in '' Elizabethtown'' in 2005. His breakout role was in '' The Slugger's Wife'' in 1985. He played "Doc" Robb on ''In the Heat of the Night'' for eight years. He was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Rome International Film Festival and also by the Georgia Screen Actors Guild. In 1997, Biggers portrayed Harry Cram in the

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' D ...

-directed screenplay of

John Berendt John Berendt (born December 5, 1939) is an American author, known for writing the best-selling non-fiction book '' Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'', which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. Biography Be ...

's best-selling book '' Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil''.

Death

Biggers died in Rome, Georgia, in the morning of December 5, 2011.Tony Potts
"Rome Actor, Dan Biggers, Dies,"
''Coosa Valley News'', December 5, 2011.

References

External links

* 1931 births 2011 deaths People from Toccoa, Georgia American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Newton County, Georgia {{US-screen-actor-1930s-stub