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.