Gunsmoke Guests on GunsmokeNet.com
Fritz Weaver
Fritz Weaver

Old Friend, February 4, 1967 Written by Clyde Ware, Directed by Allen Resiner, Guest Cast: Fritz Weaver, Delphi Lawrence, Valentin de Vargas, Carlos Rivas, David Renard, Lew Brown, William Benedict

Fritz Weaver was a classy stage actor who successfully made the transition to film and television. He was tall, lean and sedate looking with a long kindly face, bushy hair and booming resonant voice, a result of his stage training no doubt. He played roles of the average man caught up in extraordinary circumstances most often and did so with flair. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 19, 1926. He received a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Chicago and moved on to New York and the Broadway stage. He won a Tony Award in 1970 for his role in "Child's Play." In the early 1950s during television's infancy he appeared on many live dramas on such shows as "The U.S. Steel Hour"; "Studio One"; "Dupont Show of the Month" and "Armstrong Circle Theatre" as did many other Broadway stars. Later he appeared in the more mainstream TV productions. He appeared in films less frequently, but always successfully. His film credits include: "Fail Safe" (1964) as Col. Cascio, his theatrical film debut; "The Maltese Bippy" (1969) as Ravenswood; "Walk in the Spring Rain" (1970) as Roger Meredith; "The Day of the Dolphin" (1973) with George C. Scott, as Harold DeMilo; "Marathon Man" (1976) with Dustin Hoffman, as Prof. Biedenthal; "Black Sunday" (1977) as Corley; "Creepshow" (1982) as Dexter Stanley (in "The Crate'}; "Power" (1986) as Wallace Furman and "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1999) as John Reynolds. On TV he appeared on the soap "All My Children" (1992-98) as Hugo Marick and in the mini-series: "Holocaust" (1978) as Josef Weiss, in one of his best roles; "The Martian Chronicles" (1980) with Rock Hudson, as Father Peregrine and "Dream West" (1986) as Sen. Thomas Hart Benton. He also appeared in numerous TV movies including: "The Borgia Stick" (1967); "The Snoop Sisters" (1972) with Helen Hayes; "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" (1975) with Elizabeth Montgomery and "Citizen Cohn" (1992). He guest starred on many TV series including: "Twilight Zone"; "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."; "Rawhide"; "The Fugitive"; "Mission: Impossible"; "Combat"; "The Invaders"; "Kung Fu"; "Hawaii 5-O"; "Matlock"; "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"; "The X-Files" and "Frasier." He continues working on stage, film and television.

Many Biographies are courtesy of GREAT CHARACTER ACTORS