Richard Anderson

Richard Norman Anderson (August 8, 1926 – August 31, 2017) was an American actor whose career spanned film, television, and Broadway. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, to Harry and Olga Anderson, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he participated in high school theatrical productions. He served in the United States Army during World War II before pursuing formal training at the Actors' Laboratory Theatre, which led to early work in radio and stock theater.

Anderson launched his professional acting career in 1950 as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. During his six years at the studio, he appeared in a number of notable productions, including The Magnificent Yankee (1950) as Reynolds, The Student Prince (1954) as Lucas, and Forbidden Planet (1956) as Chief Engineer Quinn. Following his MGM tenure, he signed with 20th Century Fox. His subsequent film work included Stanley Kubrick's World War I drama Paths of Glory (1957), in which he portrayed the prosecuting attorney, and The Long, Hot Summer (1958), in which he played the object of unrequited affection from Clara Varner, portrayed by Joanne Woodward. He also appeared as a suspicious military officer in Seven Days in May (1964).

In 1959, Anderson brought his talents to the Broadway stage, appearing in the play The Highest Tree. His television work during the same era was equally extensive. He played Ricardo Del Amo, a friend and rival of Diego de la Vega, in the second season of the Zorro television series in 1957. In the 1960s, he made guest appearances across a wide range of series, including Perry Mason, Steve Canyon, The Untouchables, Wagon Train, The Rifleman, Daniel Boone, Thriller, Combat!, I Spy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Bonanza, The Green Hornet, and The Fugitive, among others. In the 1967 finale of The Fugitive, he played the brother-in-law of protagonist Dr. Richard Kimble. He co-starred with Marilyn Maxwell in an ABC production of Bus Stop from 1961 to 1962, and appeared as Judge Wilson Chase in the first-season finale of Mission: Impossible in 1966. From 1970 to 1971, he starred as Chief George Untermeyer in the Burt Reynolds series Dan August.

Anderson became most widely recognized for his portrayal of Oscar Goldman, the supervisor of both Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers, in The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff The Bionic Woman. He first appeared in the role in the second episode of The Six Million Dollar Man in 1973 and continued through the series' conclusion in 1978, also appearing throughout the full run of The Bionic Woman from 1976 to 1978. He reprised the character in three television reunion movies: The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989), and Bionic Ever After? (1994).

Anderson maintained a busy television schedule throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with appearances on Hawaii Five-O, Gunsmoke, Ironside, Columbo, Charlie's Angels, Knight Rider, Remington Steele, The A-Team, The Fall Guy, Simon & Simon, and Murder, She Wrote, among others. He had a recurring role as Senator Buck Fallmont on Dynasty from 1986 to 1987 and portrayed President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1987 miniseries Hoover vs. The Kennedys. He also played murder suspect Ken Braddock in the two-hour revival film Perry Mason Returns (1985), starring Raymond Burr. In the 1990s, Anderson served as narrator and recurring guest star on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He was additionally known as the Shell Answer Man, serving as a commercial spokesperson for Shell Oil Company from 1976 to 1982.

In his personal life, Anderson was married twice, first to Carol Lee Ladd and later to Katharine Thalberg, daughter of film producer Irving Thalberg and actress Norma Shearer, with both marriages ending in divorce. He had three daughters with Thalberg. In 2007, Anderson was honored with a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. He died on August 31, 2017, from natural causes in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 91.