Monthly Archives: May 2007

I know I put too many obits on this site but I had to note the passing of Dabbs Greer, a fine character actor who worked with an amazing frequency for more than fifty years. Few TV shows were filmed in Hollywood during that time without at least one appearance by Dabbs Greer, and the producers must have appreciated his skill and dependability because most brought him back several times. He was on seven episodes of Bonanza, ten of The FBI, thirty-five (!) episodes of Gunsmoke, six of The Fugitive, etc. He played guest roles eight times in the Raymond Burr version of Perry Mason. Three of those times, he turned out to be the murderer.

Mr. Greer's listing over at the Internet Movie Database tells the story better than I can. They have 253 entries for him which seems like a lot, but I'll bet it's less than a fourth of what he did. To the extent people know him at all, it was probably via recurring roles on Little House on the Prairie and Picket Fences. In both cases, he played priests, which was how he was frequently cast. (Remember the episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show with the flashback to how Rob and Laura got married? The scene where Rob couldn't hear so he kept saying "I do" at the wrong moment? That was Dabbs Greer playing the priest who conducted the ceremony.) More often, he played "every man" roles.

Here's the L.A. Times obit for Dabbs Greer. It's not only a shame to lose him but also to see that kind of prolific character actor fade from the scene. We don't have people like that anymore. And come to think of it, you don't meet a lot of guys named Dabbs, either.

We're featuring obscure film clips of my all-time favorite performers, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The one we have for you today is probably the last time the two of them ever appeared in front of a camera together. It's a home movie camera and the footage is silent…but it's also in color, which is a treat.
It's nice to see them and their families socializing off the set but it's also sad. Laurel was recovering from a stroke…though one might note he's still smoking. This was 1956. Hardy's doctor had ordered him to lose weight and as you can see, he'd lost around a hundred pounds. At the time of this filming, they were planning some television projects — a series of fairy tales with their characters inserted into the storylines — but then Hardy suffered a stroke from which he never recovered.
Beyond that, it pretty much speaks for itself. Here's one last look at the two men I consider the most glorious entertainers of the previous century. I'm skeptical that anyone will top them in this one, either.