Harold Gould

Harold Vernon Goldstein, known professionally as Harold Gould, was born on December 10, 1923, in Schenectady, New York, and died on September 11, 2010. The son of Louis Goldstein, a postal worker, and Lillian, a homemaker who also did part-time work for the New York State Health Department, Gould was raised in the Jewish faith in Colonie, New York, where he graduated as valedictorian of his high school class. He initially enrolled at Albany Teachers College with the intention of becoming a public high school teacher of social studies or English, but his academic path was interrupted when he enlisted in the United States Army during World War II. He saw combat in France with a chemical mortar battalion, developed trench foot, and was sent to England to recover before serving in a rail transport unit in France.

After the war, Gould returned to Albany Teachers College, changed his major to drama and theatre, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947. He then performed in summer stock theatre on Cape Cod before enrolling at Cornell University, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1948 and a Ph.D. in theatre in 1953. At Cornell he also met his future wife, Lea Vernon. Following graduation, he accepted a teaching position at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he spent three years in combined teaching and stage work. He made his professional theatre debut in 1955 playing Thomas Jefferson in The Common Glory in Williamsburg, Virginia. In 1956, he joined the drama department faculty at the University of California, Riverside, where he taught for four years before pursuing professional acting full time.

Gould's Broadway career spanned the years 1932 to 1938 and included appearances in Valley Forge, White Man, John Brown's Body, Othello, and Madame Capet, among other productions. His later stage work extended well beyond Broadway: he won an Obie Award in 1969 for his performance in Václav Havel's The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, a role he reprised for a 1988 PBS production of the play. His Broadway credits also include Jules Feiffer's Grown Ups, Neil Simon's Fools, Richard Baer's Mixed Emotions, and Tom Stoppard's Artist Descending a Staircase. He played Mr. Green in Jeff Baron's Visiting Mr. Green at the Pasadena Playhouse and George Antrobus in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth at the Old Globe Theater, which was broadcast on PBS's American Playhouse in 1983. Gould was a member of Theatre West, the oldest membership theatre company in Los Angeles, for 48 years.

In film, Gould made his debut in an uncredited role in Two for the Seesaw in 1962, the same year he received his first credited role in The Coach and appeared as Prosecutor Tom Finney on The Virginian. Uncredited appearances in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie and The Satan Bug followed in 1964 and 1965, respectively, before he secured credited roles in The Yellow Canary, a Rod Serling film starring Pat Boone, Jack Klugman, and Barbara Eden; Inside Daisy Clover; and Harper, starring Paul Newman. His film career gained significant momentum with his portrayal of "Kid Twist" in The Sting in 1973, which won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. Subsequent film appearances included Woody Allen's Love and Death in 1975, the Disney film Gus in 1976, and Silent Movie in 1976, directed by Mel Brooks, in which he played "Engulf," the villainous head of a conglomerate. Later film roles included Stuart Little, Patch Adams, The Master of Disguise, and the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday.

On television, Gould began accumulating credits in the 1960s across a wide range of series, including Dennis the Menace, Dr. Kildare, The Twilight Zone, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, and Hawaii Five-O, where he made multiple appearances as the recurring villain Honore Vashon. He originated the role of Marlo Thomas's father in the 1965 pilot for That Girl, though the part was later recast with Lew Parker. In a 1972 episode of Love, American Style, he played Howard Cunningham, the father of Richie Cunningham, a role that would become the centerpiece of Happy Days; Gould agreed to reprise the character for the series but ultimately declined, citing a prior stage commitment and, by his own account, a requirement to shave his beard, which led to the role being recast with Tom Bosley.

In 1972, Gould was cast as Martin Morgenstern, the father of Rhoda Morgenstern, in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He reprised the role the following year and became a series regular when Rhoda launched as a spin-off in 1974, remaining with the show through its run from 1974 to 1978. He appeared in the short-lived 1977 series The Feather and Father Gang, playing smooth-talking ex-con man Harry Danton opposite Stefanie Powers, before returning to Rhoda after the series was canceled following 13 episodes. In the NBC miniseries The Scarlett O'Hara War in 1980, he portrayed MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, a performance that earned him an Emmy nomination. He received additional Emmy nominations for his work in Rhoda, Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry, and Moviola, making him a five-time Emmy Award nominee in total. In Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry, he played a Jewish widower pursuing a relationship with a Christian woman played by Katharine Hepburn. He also appeared in the miniseries Washington: Behind Closed Doors, played Chad Lowe's grandfather in Spencer, and appeared in an episode of the PBS series The Sunset Years as a married man having an affair with a fellow member of his Yiddish-speaking club, as well as in Singer & Sons as a deli owner grooming two African-American men to inherit his business.

From 1985 to 1992, Gould played Miles Webber, the persistent suitor of Rose Nylund, played by Betty White, across 12 episodes of The Golden Girls spanning three seasons. He had also appeared in the show's first season as a different character, Arnie, one of Rose's boyfriends. He reprised the role of Miles in two episodes of the spin-off The Golden Palace, in which the character had married someone else. Additional television appearances in later years included roles on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Felicity, The King of Queens, Touched by an Angel, and Judging Amy. Over the course of his career, Gould appeared in more than 300 television shows, 20 major motion pictures, and over 100 stage plays.