Frank Overton

Frank Emmons Overton (March 12, 1918 – April 24, 1967) was an American actor born in Babylon, New York. He built a career across stage, film, and television that spanned more than two decades, earning particular recognition for his work in major Hollywood productions and a long-running television series.

Overton began his professional acting career on the New York stage. His Broadway appearances ran from 1944 to 1961 and included Jacobowsky and the Colonel, Truckline Cafe, The Trip to Bountiful, The Desperate Hours, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, and Big Fish, Little Fish, among other productions.

His film work brought him some of his most prominent roles. In 1962, he portrayed Sheriff Heck Tate in To Kill a Mockingbird, and two years later he appeared as General Bogan in Fail Safe. He also played a significant part in Wild River, cast as the jilted fiancé of Lee Remick's character.

Television occupied much of Overton's later career. He appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone: "Walking Distance" in 1959 alongside Gig Young, and "Mute," in which he played Sheriff Harry Wheeler opposite Ann Jillian. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason in different roles — Father Paul in "The Case of the Renegade Refugee" in 1961, and Deputy D.A. Nelson Taylor in "The Case of the Bluffing Blast" in 1963. Additional television credits included The Fugitive in 1963, an episode of the ABC series The Asphalt Jungle in 1961, and a Bonanza appearance in Season 3, Episode 19, "The Storm," in which he played the father of Joe's terminally ill fiancée. His most sustained television role was Major Harvey Stovall in 12 O'Clock High, which he held from 1964 until 1967. One of his final performances was the role of Elias Sandoval in the Star Trek episode "This Side of Paradise," which aired in March 1967.

Overton married actress Phyllis Hill in Los Angeles in 1962. He died of a heart attack on April 24, 1967, in Pacific Palisades, California, at the age of 49, survived by his wife and a daughter.