Allan Melvin
(1923 - 2008)He’s been around a long time, since the early days of television, and has been primarily a TV actor. Tall, husky and tough-looking with a long, square face, blond hair and husky voice, he is familiar to millions of TV fans from different roles. Always cast as a tough, but lovable character he’s been a fixture on many TV series. Born in Kansas City, Missouri on February 18, 1923, his family moved to New York City when he was a young boy. His father was a film salesman for Fox Film Assn. He attended Columbia University and later served a hitch in the Navy. He married his wife Amalia in 1943 and later got a job in radio sound effects with NBC. He did a nightclub act using his talent with voices and appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts radio show and won. He appeared on Broadway in "Stalag 17" as Reed which led to his ‘big break’, a role on TV’s "Sergeant Bilko" with Phil Silvers, aka "You’ll Never Get Rich" as Cpl. Henshaw in 1955. Later he moved west to Hollywood where he worked on such shows as: "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." (1965-69) as Sergeant Hacker; "The Brady Bunch" (1969-74) as Sam Franklin the butcher/boyfriend of Alice the Brady's maid/helper and "All in the Family" aka "Archie Bunker’s Place" (1973-83) as Barney Hefner. His voice has always been his "bread & butter" and he did voices for many animated cartoon shows including: "Magilla Gorilla" (1966) as Magilla; "The Banana Splits Hour" (1968); "Cattanooga Cats" (1969); "H.R. Pufnstuf" (1970); "The Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Hour" (1976); "Spiderman and His Amazing Friends" (1982) and "Challenge of the Go Bots" (1984). He only appeared in one film "With Six You Get Eggroll" (1968) as a Desk Sergeant. He also appeared as the plumber in the Liquid Plumr commercials for 15 years. He guest starred on many TV series including: "The Dick Van Dyke Show"; "The Andy Griffith Show" as a bully who threatens and challenges Barney Fife; "Perry Mason"; "Run Buddy Run"; "My Favorite Martian"; "Ben Casey"; "The Mod Squad"; "Green Acres" "Love American Style" "Kung Fu" "The Smurfs"; "Duck Tales" and "Lost in Space." He married his wife Amalia in 1944 and they remained together until his death. He died of cancer on January 17, 2008 in Brentwood, California at age 84.
From Great Character Actors, Page 4.
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