Eddie Firestone

Eddie Firestone (December 11, 1920 – March 1, 2007), also credited at times as Eddie Firestone Jr., was an American actor born in San Francisco, California, whose career spanned radio, television, film, and Broadway, accumulating more than 200 credits across those mediums.

Firestone's performing career began at a young age. At 12, he appeared alongside Harold Peary in Wheatenaville, a program that debuted on NBC's Pacific network on September 26, 1932. He later took on the title role in the radio series That Brewster Boy, during which time he was simultaneously enrolled as an undergraduate at Northwestern University. His work on that program was interrupted when he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1943 during World War II. He was commissioned and attained the rank of captain, continuing his service in the Marine Corps Reserve until 1957.

Following the war, Firestone transitioned into television. Among his earliest small-screen appearances were guest roles in the first season of Jack Webb's Dragnet in 1951–52, including the episode "The Big Lamp" in Season 1, Episode 14. He went on to appear in Season 1, Episode 3 of The Dick Van Dyke Show, playing Tom Edson, a girl-shy lab technician who works up the nerve to ask Sally on a date, in the episode "Sally and the Lab Technician." In 1961, he was cast in the Window on Main Street episode "The Charity Drive." His television work extended to prominent series including Bonanza and Hogan's Heroes, as well as three appearances on The Rockford Files and multiple episodes of Perry Mason, including "The Case of the Dodging Domino" in 1962, "The Case of the Decadent Dean" in 1963, and "The Case of a Place Called Midnight" in 1964. He appeared in the 1967 two-part Gunsmoke episode "Nitro" and returned to that series in 1974 for "The Tarnished Badge." Additional television credits include the 1970 debut episode of The Silent Force, titled "Prosecutor"; the Barnaby Jones episode "Trap Play" in 1975; a Season 2 episode of Hawaii Five-O in which he played a kidnapped wino; and the final episode of Logan's Run, "Stargate," in 1978.

On the theatrical stage, Firestone appeared on Broadway between 1954 and 1960, with credits that included the comedy Roman Candle and the play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. His screen work also extended to feature films, among them Walt Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase.

Firestone died on March 1, 2007, and is buried at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.