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Dabbs Greer is a Actor American born on 2 april 1917 at Fairview (USA)

Dabbs Greer

Dabbs Greer
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Birth name Robert William Greer
Nationality USA
Birth 2 april 1917 at Fairview (USA)
Death 28 april 2007 (at 90 years) at Pasadena (USA)

Robert William "Dabbs" Greer (April 2, 1917 – April 28, 2007) was an American actor who performed many diverse supporting roles in film and television for some fifty years.

His distinctive, southern-accented voice fitted well in shows featuring rustic characters, such as westerns. He also was portrayed on other shows as a minister, and is probably best remembered as the Reverend Robert Alden in NBC's Little House on the Prairie. Earlier, Greer had a recurring role as Coach Ossie Weiss in the 26-episode NBC situation comedy, Hank, which aired in 1965 and 1966.

Biography

Personal life
Greer was born in Fairview in Newton County in southwestern Missouri, the son of Bernice Irene (née Dabbs), a speech teacher, and Randall Alexander Greer, a druggist. Greer moved to Anderson as an infant with his family. At the age of eight, he began acting in children's theater productions. He attended Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, where he was a member of Theta Kappa Nu.

In 1943, he moved to Pasadena, California, where he died in 2007 at Huntington Hospital after a battle with renal failure and heart disease. Greer never married and had no survivors.


Career

He made his film debut as an extra in the 1938 film Jesse James, which was filmed mainly about Pineville, Missouri. "They were paying $5 a day – a day! – to local people for being extras. That was really good money in those days, more money than we had seen in a long time," he told the Neosho Daily News in 2002. Greer was recognizable to fans of Adventures of Superman, as he appeared in three of that series, including the inaugural entry, Superman on Earth (1952), in which he was cast as the first person ever to be saved by Superman. He was the major guest star, as a man framed for capital murder in Five Minutes to Doom (1954), and as an eccentric millionaire in The Superman Silver Mine (1958).

Greer made hundreds of appearances in nearly two hundred different television series, including the role of the marshal in the two-part "King of the Dakotas" (1955) and as Ray in "Paper Gunman" of the NBC western anthology series, Frontier.

In 1956's movie "Hot Rod Girl" he played the auto repair shop (HENRYS) owner Mr. Fry.

In 1957, he appeared in the episode "Revenge" of the syndicated crime drama Sheriff of Cochise and as Sanders in the episode "My Horse Ajax" of NBC's children's western series, Fury, starring Peter Graves and Bobby Diamond. At that time, he starred in three episodes as Mr. Blandish in the syndicated romantic comedy series How to Marry a Millionaire (1957–1959), with Barbara Eden and Merry Anders. He guest starred about this time on the syndicated adventure series, Whirlybirds, starring Kenneth Tobey and Rescue 8, starring Jim Davis and Lang Jeffries. He joined David Janssen in an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Greer was cast on the syndicated western series, Pony Express, starring Grant Sullivan. Greer guest starred as well on three CBS western series, Steve McQueen's Wanted: Dead or Alive, Trackdown starring Robert Culp, and Don Durant's Johnny Ringo and thereafter in the NBC modern western series, Empire. He also guest starred on Jack Lord's drama series about the rodeo circuit, Stoney Burke.

Greer appeared in the 1957 episode "Ambush at Gila Gulch" of ABC's Tombstone Territory, the 1957 episode "Rebel Christmas" of the Tod Andrews syndicated series The Gray Ghost, and as Ed Grimes on the 1958 episode "312 Vertical" of Rod Cameron's syndicated series State Trooper. Also appeared in It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)

Other appearances in 1959 included the episode, "Peligroso", of NBC's western series The Restless Gun and episodes of the syndicated Man Without a Gun, In addition, he played Mr. Jonas on the Gunsmoke series and the Keenan Wynn and Bob Mathias NBC adventure series, The Troubleshooters. He also appeared in the 1960 episode "The Proud Man" in the role of Willie Medford on the syndicated western series Two Faces West and the 1960 episode "Dark Fear" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. In addition, he played Mr. Jonas on the Gunsmoke series.

He was cast in The Twilight Zone in the 1962 episode titled "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" and the 1963 episode "Valley of the Shadow", and in a 1963 segment of Jack Palance's ABC circus drama, The Greatest Show on Earth. In 1967, Greer appeared in the series finale entitled "Elizabeth's Odyssey" of Barry Sullivan's NBC western series The Road West.

The 1960s brought Greer several recurring roles in popular series, such as track coach Ossie Weiss in Hank, Sheriff Norris "Norrie" Coolidge in The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, and storekeeper Wilbur Jonas in Gunsmoke. While playing Jonas, he also played Chester's uncle in one episode. Greer also made many appearances on the very popular series The Rifleman, staring Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford, playing both good-guy and bad-guy characters.

In the next-to-the-last episode entitled "The Unmasked" (June 17, 1962) of the ABC/WB western series Lawman, starring John Russell and Peter Brown, Greer was cast in an entirely fictitious portrayal of Boston Corbett, the Union Army soldier who shot and mortally wounded John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. In this episode, Corbett is given the name "Joe Brockway" and depicted as a hotel owner in Laramie, Wyoming. In the story line, two former Confederates from Georgia, played by Barry Atwater and Charles Maxwell, arrive in Laramie in search of Brockway, the key, they claim, to the settlement of an estate to which they are all a party. Jack Albertson is cast with Greer in the episode as a traveling elixir salesman named "Doc" Peters.

In 1963, Greer was cast as Jack Tabor in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Skeleton's Closet". He guest starred in seven other Perry Mason episodes, either portraying a drunkard such as Buzz Farrell in "The Case of the Left-Handed Liar," the murderer such as Hal Kirkwood in "The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor," and Charles Knudsen in "The Case of the Lavender Lipstick," or murder victim such as Dave Kirby in "The Case of the Fugitive Nurse." Greer appeared alongside other guest actors (Dewey Martin, Patricia Crowley, Ray Danton, Andrew Duggan, Walter Burke, David Carradine, and Dick Wessel) in a 1964 episode of Arrest and Trial entitled "The Black Flower" in which he portrayed a store owner wounded in a robbery. He also appeared in a 1964 episode of The Outer Limits entitled "The Children of Spider County" in which he portrayed the protective father of a country girl, Anna Bishop, who was enamored of the prodigal son of an extraterrestrial. In 1967, Greer appeared in an episode of The Invaders entitled "The Experiment", playing an alien posing as a Catholic priest.

Greer had a prominent continuing role in the NBC series Little House on the Prairie as Reverend Alden from 1974 to 1983. Often cast as a minister, he performed the marriages of Rob and Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show and of Mike and Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch, and he tended to the spiritual needs of the townfolk in fictional Rome, Wisconsin, as Reverend Henry Novotny in Picket Fences. He also had a guest appearance on an episode of Scott Baio's Charles in Charge in the role of Buzz Powell.

In the May 9, 1991, episode of L.A. Law called "On the Toad Again", he played a character who was addicted to a "high" produced by licking the skin secretions of psychoactive toads.

In the 1997 film Con Air, Greer appeared as the old man discovered hiding under a pickup truck at "Lerner Field" by Nicolas Cage's character Cameron Poe.

Greer's last feature film was a prominent role as the 108-year-old version of the character played by Tom Hanks in 1999's The Green Mile – 61 years after Greer was an extra in the 1938 film Jesse James. Greer's last television performance was in a 2003 episode of Lizzie McGuire.

Most of his work was in supporting roles, but Greer told the Albany Times Union in Albany, New York, in 2000: "Every character actor, in their own little sphere, is the lead."

Usually with

Don Siegel
Don Siegel
(7 films)
Bess Flowers
Bess Flowers
(8 films)
Hal Needham
Hal Needham
(4 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Dabbs Greer (77 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

The Green Mile, 3h8
Directed by Frank Darabont
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Fantastic, Fantasy, Crime
Themes Medical-themed films, Prison films, Films about psychiatry, Films about capital punishment
Actors Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Graham Greene
Roles Old Paul Edgecomb
Rating85% 4.255724.255724.255724.255724.25572
In a Louisiana nursing home in 1999, Paul Edgecomb becomes nervous while watching the 1935 film Top Hat. He is with his elderly friend Elaine, who becomes concerned, and Paul tells her that the film reminded him of his past, when he was a prison officer in charge of death row inmates at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary during the summer of 1935. The scene shifts to 1935, where Paul works with fellow guards Brutus "Brutal" Howell, Harry Terwilliger, and Dean Stanton. Unlike the other guards, Paul is a very calm guard and is sympathetic with some inmates.
Con Air
Con Air (1997)
, 1h55
Directed by Simon West
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Action, Crime
Themes Films about sexuality, Films about terrorism, Transport films, LGBT-related films, Transgender in film, Aviation films, Dans un avion, LGBT-related films, Disaster films, Films about aviation accidents or incidents, LGBT-related film, Films about hijackings, Cross-dressing in film
Actors Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Colm Meaney
Roles Old Man Under Truck
Rating68% 3.448993.448993.448993.448993.44899
Former Army Ranger Cameron Poe is sentenced to prison for manslaughter for using excessive force on a drunk man while trying to protect his pregnant wife Tricia. Poe is paroled eight years later, and is to be released after being flown to Alabama on the Jailbird, a C-123K transport prison aircraft. Along with Poe are several other prisoners including his diabetic cellmate and friend Mike "Baby-O" O'Dell, who is being transferred (but not yet paroled) with Poe. The transfer is being overseen by U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin, as the transfer includes notorious criminal mastermind Cyrus "Cyrus The Virus" Grissom, gangster and Black Guerrilla member Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones and mass murderer William "Billy Bedlam" Bedford for their transfer to a new Supermax prison. Larkin is approached at the last minute by DEA agents Duncan Malloy and Willie Sims, who ask for Sims to be brought aboard disguised as a prisoner so that he can extract more information from drug lord Francisco Cindino, a prisoner that is to be picked up at Carson City, Nevada en route. Larkin agrees, unaware that Malloy has hidden a gun on Sims' body.
Little Giants, 1h46
Directed by Duwayne Dunham
Genres Comedy
Themes Sports films, American football films
Actors Rick Moranis, Ed O'Neill, Shawna Waldron, Devon Sawa, Susanna Thompson, Brian Haley
Roles Wilbur
Rating64% 3.200173.200173.200173.200173.20017
Danny O'Shea (Rick Moranis) has always lived in the shadow of his older brother, Kevin (Ed O'Neill), a Heisman Trophy winner and a local football hero. The brothers live in their hometown of Urbania, Ohio. Kevin coaches the local "Pee-Wee Cowboys" football team. Despite being the best player, Danny's tomboy daughter Becky (Shawna Waldron), nicknamed Icebox, is cut during try outs because she is a girl. Also cut are Becky's less-talented friends, Rasheed Hanon (who can't catch anything), Tad Simpson (who can't run) and Rudy Zolteck (who's overweight and quite flatuent). After being ridiculed by the other players who made the team, she convinces her dad to coach a new pee-wee team of their own.
Runaway Daughters, 1h23
Directed by Joe Dante
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Transport films, Road movies
Actors Julie Bowen, Jenny Lewis, Paul Rudd, Chris Young, Dick Miller, Wendy Schaal
Roles Gary
Rating54% 2.730412.730412.730412.730412.73041
The title characters are Angie Gordon (Julie Bowen), Mary Nicholson (Holly Fields), and Laura Cahn (Jenny Lewis). Their picaresque adventure begins in 1956 when Mary has a pregnancy scare after letting Bob Randolph (Chris Young) go too far with her. Mr. Russoff (Fabian), named for Lou Rusoff who wrote the screenplay of the original version, is a widower from the wrong side of the tracks, and Bob seeks to cover his tracks by enlisting in the United States Navy. Angie and Laura accompany Mary in a flight from the suburbs as she decides what to do about her pregnancy. Along the way, they meet bully cops, one played by Courtney Gains from Dante's The 'Burbs, and redneck survivalists with rifles. Two of the latter are played by Dante stalwarts John Astin and Rance Howard.
House IV
House IV (1992)
, 1h34
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Comedy, Horror comedy, Horror
Themes Ghost films, Comedy horror films
Actors William Katt, Denny Dillon, Dabbs Greer, Ned Bellamy, Kane Hodder
Roles Dad
Rating39% 1.96721.96721.96721.96721.9672
Roger Cobb (William Katt) is now married to Kelly (Terri Treas), has a daughter, Laurel (Melissa Clayton), and lives in the old Cobb family house that is located on a deserted and desolate shoreline. Roger's cynical step-brother Burke (Scott Burkholder) has been pestering him to sell the family mansion to some seedy Mafia real estate developers, without any success. Roger is soon killed in a car accident that leaves Laurel requiring a wheelchair, and Burke is unable to convince Kelly to sell the house.
Pacific Heights, 1h42
Directed by John Schlesinger
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Crime
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about psychiatry
Actors Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine, Michael Keaton, Laurie Metcalf, Mako Iwamatsu, Nobu McCarthy
Roles Mr. Thayer
Rating63% 3.19843.19843.19843.19843.1984
Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton) is in bed with a woman, Ann Miller (Beverly D'Angelo) when he is suddenly attacked and beaten by two men. After the men have left, Hayes tells Ann, "The worst is over". He says he is planning to head out and see his family.
Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, 1h44
Directed by Anthony Hickox
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Horror comedy, Action, Horror, Western
Themes Vampires in film, Comedy horror films
Actors David Carradine, Morgan Brittany, Bruce Campbell, Jim Metzler, Maxwell Caulfield, Deborah Foreman
Roles Otto
Rating61% 3.0507253.0507253.0507253.0507253.050725
Under the leadership of their ancient and powerful leader Jozek Mardulak, a colony of vampires seek a peaceful life in the desolate desert town of Purgatory. Key to the transition is the town's artificial-bloodmaking facility and it is just not working. Mardulak summons the human designer of the plant, who brings his wife and two young daughters along for what he thinks will be a pleasant desert vacation. Soon, he and his family are caught up in a civil war as another vampire elder, who abhors the idea of vampires being anything other than predators, organizes a revolution, and a descendant of the Van Helsing family arrives intent on destroying all vampires.
Two Moon Junction, 1h44
Directed by Zalman King
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films
Actors Sherilyn Fenn, Richard Tyson, Louise Fletcher, Burl Ives, Kristy McNichol, Martin Hewitt
Roles Kyle
Rating50% 2.514572.514572.514572.514572.51457
April Delongpre (Sherilyn Fenn) is the well-born, 21-year-old, eldest daughter of a powerful Alabama senator and heiress to an old and respectable Southern family. After graduating from college, April returns home to her parents house for the summer to await her semi-arranged marriage to her fiancé Chad Douglas Fairchild (Martin Hewitt). When a carnival comes to the town, April and Chad accompany April's two younger sisters to the fairgrounds where April sees from a distance a rugged carnival roustabout and drifter named Perry (Richard Tyson). When April accidentally leaves her purse behind in one of the rides, Perry returns it for her and introduces himself (after having looked inside and gotten April's name and home address). Intrigued by the mysterious drifter, April returns to the carnival that evening to talk with Perry, but she refuses his advances.
Evil Town
Evil Town (1987)
, 1h28
Directed by Curtis Hanson
Origin USA
Genres Horror
Themes Medical-themed films, Zombie films, Films about viral outbreaks, Disaster films
Actors James Keach, Dean Jagger, Robert Walker Jr., Hope Summers, Doria Cook-Nelson, Dabbs Greer
Roles Lyle Phelps
Rating38% 1.942871.942871.942871.942871.94287
The film depicts an evil scientist's (Dean Jagger) campaign to achieve eternal youth, through synthesizing a drug derived from human pituitary fluid. In extracting the fluid, he creates mindless zombies from the donors. Because the local town residents are in on the plot, to achieve immortality, they help the scientist, by abducting visitors who come through town.
Chu Chu and the Philly Flash, 1h32
Directed by David Lowell Rich
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Alan Arkin, Carol Burnett, Jack Warden, Danny Aiello, Danny Glover, Vincent Schiavelli
Roles Wally
Rating42% 2.1352052.1352052.1352052.1352052.135205
Once a big-league baseball player known as the Philly Flash, he is now broke and a drunk, reduced to a life on the street, washing car windshields for spare change or trying to sell stolen wristwatches to passersby.
The Greatest Gift, 1h40
Directed by Boris Sagal
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Glenn Ford, Julie Harris, Lance Kerwin, Harris Yulin, Charles Tyner, Dabbs Greer
Roles Deacon Hurd
Rating73% 3.6745553.6745553.6745553.6745553.674555
Humble depression-era preacher, Reverend Holvak (Glenn Ford) lives with his wife Elizabeth (Julie Harris) and son Ramey (Lance Kerwin) and struggles against the injustice of violence and a corrupt sheriff in an attempt to maintain the moral values of their faith in their small town.
White Lightning, 1h41
Directed by Joseph Sargent
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Themes Transport films, Films about automobiles, Road movies
Actors Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Bo Hopkins, Jennifer Billingsley, Diane Ladd, Matt Clark
Roles Pa McKlusky
Rating63% 3.198123.198123.198123.198123.19812
Bobby "Gator" McKlusky (Burt Reynolds) is serving time in an Arkansas prison for running moonshine when he learns his younger brother Donny was murdered and that Sheriff J.C Conners (Ned Beatty) was the one behind it. Gator knows the sheriff is taking money from local moonshiners, so he agrees to go undercover for the Feds and try to expose the sheriff. He gets a job running moonshine with Roy Boone (Bo Hopkins) and starts having an affair with his girlfriend Lou (Jennifer Billingsley). Eventually, when the sheriff discovers Gator is working for the Feds and sends his enforcer Big Bear (Armstrong), Gator decides to go after the sheriff in an epic car chase finale.
White Lightning, 1h41
Directed by Hal Needham, Joseph Sargent
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Action, Crime
Actors Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Jennifer Billingsley, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Louise Latham
Roles Pa McKlusky
Rating63% 3.1984653.1984653.1984653.1984653.198465
Jugé pour trafic de whisky, McKlusky est condamné à la prison. Au pénitencier, il apprend que son frère a été assassiné par le shérif Connors. Les autorités fédérales soupçonnent Connors de corruption et de trafic. McKlusky leur propose de démasquer le shérif en échange d'une remise de peine...
Rage
Rage (1972)
, 1h40
Directed by George C. Scott
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors George C. Scott, Martin Sheen, Richard Basehart, Lee Remick, Barnard Hughes, Kenneth Tobey
Roles Dr. Thompson
Rating63% 3.1505153.1505153.1505153.1505153.150515
While on a camping trip, sheep rancher Dan Logan (Scott) and his son are inadvertently exposed to a secret Army nerve gas from a helicopter passing overhead. Both end up in a military hospital in which they are kept apart, unable to contact outsiders, and lied to about their condition by a mysterious major (Sheen), who looks at the incident as little more than an opportunity to study the effectiveness of a nerve gas on humans.