Richard X. Slattery

Richard Xavier Slattery (June 26, 1925 – January 27, 1997) was an American character actor whose work spanned film, theater, and television across several decades. Born in New York City, he attended All Hallows High School and briefly enrolled at Fordham University on scholarships in both track and football before leaving to enlist in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He served as a lieutenant in the Pacific theater for two and a half years and received the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal upon his service's conclusion.

Following the war, Slattery joined the New York City Police Department, where he worked for twelve years between 1948 and 1960. His acting career began during that period through police academy training films and community theater productions in the Bronx. A square jaw and a rough, gravelly voice established him as a natural fit for tough-guy roles, frequently cast as police officers or drill sergeant types. In 1961, he made his Broadway appearance in A Cook for Mr. General, and in March 1972 he starred in a revival of The Time of Your Life at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles, beginning March 17 of that year.

Slattery became a recognizable presence on American television from the 1960s through the 1980s, accumulating guest appearances on a wide range of series including Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, 77 Sunset Strip, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, The Invaders, F Troop, The Green Hornet, The Virginian, Bonanza, The Partridge Family, The Odd Couple, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, I Dream of Jeannie, The Mod Squad, Emergency!, Run Joe Run, The Waltons, Ironside, Kojak, The San Pedro Beach Bums, and Knight Rider. He held featured roles in three television series: The Gallant Men, in which he played First Sergeant John McKenna; Mister Roberts, where he portrayed Captain John Morton; and C.P.O. Sharkey, in which he appeared as Captain Buck Buckner. He also played Lieutenant Modeen in the series Switch.

His film credits included A Distant Trumpet, The Boston Strangler, Walking Tall, The No Mercy Man, and Herbie Rides Again. For fourteen years during the 1970s and into the early 1980s, Slattery appeared in television commercials for 76 gasoline, playing a character named Murph, the owner of Murph's 76 Station. Those commercials were filmed at a 76 station located adjacent to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Slattery married actress Pegeen Rose in 1958; the marriage ended in 1968, and together they had five children. He subsequently married Mary Shelquist in 1970, and that marriage ended in 1979. His third marriage, to Helene Irene Vergauwen in 1988, lasted until his death. His son Kevin worked as a television producer on Just Shoot Me. Slattery died on January 27, 1997, at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, from a stroke.