The passing of the great Micael Ansara made me think of the other oldest living actors from TOS.
Holding the title, if you will, for the last several years is super-prolific character actor Don Keefer.
He worked from 1947 to 1997 and will be 97 in 2 weeks. He played the fairly bland character "Cromwell' in Asssignment: Earth, but he played roles--usually as an 'everyman' in genre TV and movies for 50 years.
He appeared in Lois and Clark, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Incredible Hulk, Mission: Impossible, the movie Creepshow and his last role was in the genre comedy Liar-Liar in 1997 as the begger Jim Carrey first avoids and then hands a pocketful of money to.
But without a doubt most genre fans will remember him most for playing poor Dan Hollis in the "It's a Good Life" episode of the original Twilight Zone who got his courage up after a few shots of Whiskey and encouraged the gathering too "bash him (the Billy Mumy character) over the head" while he had the kids attention.
And of course he got turned into a 'jack-in-the-box' for his trouble--a truely disturbing image even 50 years later.
To this day when i see that episode i just wish somebody in that group of 10 people would "pick up a heavy object and bash his head in!", but alas it never happens!
Holding the title, if you will, for the last several years is super-prolific character actor Don Keefer.
He worked from 1947 to 1997 and will be 97 in 2 weeks. He played the fairly bland character "Cromwell' in Asssignment: Earth, but he played roles--usually as an 'everyman' in genre TV and movies for 50 years.
He appeared in Lois and Clark, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Incredible Hulk, Mission: Impossible, the movie Creepshow and his last role was in the genre comedy Liar-Liar in 1997 as the begger Jim Carrey first avoids and then hands a pocketful of money to.
But without a doubt most genre fans will remember him most for playing poor Dan Hollis in the "It's a Good Life" episode of the original Twilight Zone who got his courage up after a few shots of Whiskey and encouraged the gathering too "bash him (the Billy Mumy character) over the head" while he had the kids attention.
And of course he got turned into a 'jack-in-the-box' for his trouble--a truely disturbing image even 50 years later.
To this day when i see that episode i just wish somebody in that group of 10 people would "pick up a heavy object and bash his head in!", but alas it never happens!
