Dick York (4 September 1928 – 20 February 1992) was an American actor in radio, Broadway stage, and television.
Born Richard Allen York in Fort Wayne, Indiana, York grew up in Chicago, where a Catholic nun first recognized his vocal promise. He began his career at age 15 as the star of the CBS radio program That Brewster Boy. He also appeared in hundreds of other radio shows and instructional films before heading to New York City, where he acted on Broadway in Tea and Sympathy and Bus Stop. He performed with stars including Paul Muni and Joanne Woodward in live television broadcasts and with Janet Leigh, Jack Lemmon, and Gary Cooper in movies, including My Sister Eileen, Cowboy, and They Came to Cordura. He played the role of Bertram Cates, the young teacher charged with teaching the theory of evolution, in the 1960 classic Inherit the Wind starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly. He went on to star with Kelly in the television comedy/drama Going My Way and to appear in dozens of episodes of now-classic TV shows, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, and Route 66.
York is best known as the first actor to play Darrin Stephens in the 1960s sitcom Bewitched. The show was a huge success and York was nominated for an Emmy in 1968, but a debilitating back injury he had suffered on the set of They Came to Cordura caused him increasing pain, and led or contributed to his misuse of pain-alleviating drugs. During the fifth season on the sitcom, he collapsed on the Bewitched set and was rushed to the hospital. From his hospital bed he resigned from the show to devote himself to drug rehabilitation and recovery. For the 1969-70 season, he was replaced in the TV series by actor Dick Sargent, who held the role until the series ended in 1972.
As he battled his back pain, York gained 150 pounds and lost most of his teeth. He and wife Joan supported themselves by cleaning an apartment house they owned until they fell on further hard times and lost the building. As York related in his posthumously-published memoir, The Seesaw Girl and Me, it took him many more years to regain an interest in acting and to try to revive his career. He lost the weight he had gained, and appeared on several prime-time TV shows including Simon and Simon and Fantasy Island.
York spent his final years battling emphysema. Ultimately bedridden in a small home in Rockford, Michigan he founded Acting for Life, a private fundraising effort to help the homeless. Using his telephone as his pulpit, York motivated politicians, business people, and regular folk to contribute supplies and money. York is buried in Plainfield Cemetery in Rockford, Michigan.
Dick at IMDB
www.imdb.com/name/nm0948685/
All About Dick at the Bewitched.net site
www.bewitched.net/filmfax.htm
Quotes
"You know, three whales get in trouble and people from all over volunteer to help. Wouldn't it be wonderful if one old has-been actor with a hose up his nose could help millions?"
I walked into the office to read for Bewitched and Liz was sitting there. She unfolded those gorgeous legs and looked at me. I saw her in person for the first time. She had full lips and dark soft hair. She was sex all over.
I took pain pills to get to sleep because I didn't want to go to work the next day exhausted.
"I have done more in this chair here then I could have ever done in Hollywood."
Piper insisted she had to be out of breath when we played this one scene, so she ran around the block. Thank God she wasn't doing a crucifixtion scene; we would have had to nail her to the wall.
Born Richard Allen York in Fort Wayne, Indiana, York grew up in Chicago, where a Catholic nun first recognized his vocal promise. He began his career at age 15 as the star of the CBS radio program That Brewster Boy. He also appeared in hundreds of other radio shows and instructional films before heading to New York City, where he acted on Broadway in Tea and Sympathy and Bus Stop. He performed with stars including Paul Muni and Joanne Woodward in live television broadcasts and with Janet Leigh, Jack Lemmon, and Gary Cooper in movies, including My Sister Eileen, Cowboy, and They Came to Cordura. He played the role of Bertram Cates, the young teacher charged with teaching the theory of evolution, in the 1960 classic Inherit the Wind starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly. He went on to star with Kelly in the television comedy/drama Going My Way and to appear in dozens of episodes of now-classic TV shows, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, and Route 66.
York is best known as the first actor to play Darrin Stephens in the 1960s sitcom Bewitched. The show was a huge success and York was nominated for an Emmy in 1968, but a debilitating back injury he had suffered on the set of They Came to Cordura caused him increasing pain, and led or contributed to his misuse of pain-alleviating drugs. During the fifth season on the sitcom, he collapsed on the Bewitched set and was rushed to the hospital. From his hospital bed he resigned from the show to devote himself to drug rehabilitation and recovery. For the 1969-70 season, he was replaced in the TV series by actor Dick Sargent, who held the role until the series ended in 1972.
As he battled his back pain, York gained 150 pounds and lost most of his teeth. He and wife Joan supported themselves by cleaning an apartment house they owned until they fell on further hard times and lost the building. As York related in his posthumously-published memoir, The Seesaw Girl and Me, it took him many more years to regain an interest in acting and to try to revive his career. He lost the weight he had gained, and appeared on several prime-time TV shows including Simon and Simon and Fantasy Island.
York spent his final years battling emphysema. Ultimately bedridden in a small home in Rockford, Michigan he founded Acting for Life, a private fundraising effort to help the homeless. Using his telephone as his pulpit, York motivated politicians, business people, and regular folk to contribute supplies and money. York is buried in Plainfield Cemetery in Rockford, Michigan.
Dick at IMDB
www.imdb.com/name/nm0948685/
All About Dick at the Bewitched.net site
www.bewitched.net/filmfax.htm
Quotes
"You know, three whales get in trouble and people from all over volunteer to help. Wouldn't it be wonderful if one old has-been actor with a hose up his nose could help millions?"
I walked into the office to read for Bewitched and Liz was sitting there. She unfolded those gorgeous legs and looked at me. I saw her in person for the first time. She had full lips and dark soft hair. She was sex all over.
I took pain pills to get to sleep because I didn't want to go to work the next day exhausted.
"I have done more in this chair here then I could have ever done in Hollywood."
Piper insisted she had to be out of breath when we played this one scene, so she ran around the block. Thank God she wasn't doing a crucifixtion scene; we would have had to nail her to the wall.
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