Robert F. Simon

Robert Frank Simon (December 2, 1908 – November 29, 1992) was an American character actor born in Mansfield, Ohio, who built a career spanning Broadway, film, and television across five decades. He began his acting life while employed as a clerk in a meat market, performing with Mansfield's Community Players organization before going on to train and work with the Cleveland Playhouse.

Simon's Broadway career ran from 1942 to 1952 and encompassed more than a dozen productions. His earliest New York credits included The Russian People (1942), Apology (1943), and Mrs. January and Mr. X (1944), followed by Brighten the Corner (1945). In 1946 he appeared in both Truckline Cafe and On Whitman Avenue, and in 1948 he was part of the cast of Sundown Beach. He also appeared in Clifford Odets's Clash by Night and in An Enemy of the People. Among his most significant stage work was his 1949 succession of Lee J. Cobb in the role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. His Broadway work concluded with the musical Of Thee I Sing in 1952.

After relocating to Los Angeles in 1954, Simon transitioned into film and television. His 1955 screen appearances included the television programs Medic and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as the feature films Chief Crazy Horse, Seven Angry Men, and The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell. In 1957 he appeared in the Betty Hutton film Spring Reunion and portrayed George Nordmann in Edge of the City, which starred John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. That same year and into 1958, he made four appearances on the anthology series Playhouse 90. His other film credits from the late 1950s included The Buccaneer (1958), Compulsion (1959), The Last Angry Man (1959), and Operation Petticoat (1959). In 1958 he guest-starred as Captain Woods in the General Electric Theater episode "The Coward of Fort Bennett," and he appeared on Peter Gunn and Adventures in Paradise in 1959.

Simon became a frequent presence in television Westerns between 1956 and 1970, with appearances in Broken Arrow, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, Laramie, Black Saddle, Cheyenne, Bat Masterson, Lawman, Have Gun – Will Travel, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Virginian, Laredo, and The Guns of Will Sonnett, among others. He portrayed Sheriff Morgan in the Elfego Baca series and General Alfred Terry on Custer. In 1962 he played Mackie in the Rawhide episode "House of the Hunter" and portrayed Handy Strong in the John Ford feature film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

His dramatic television work was equally extensive. Simon guest-starred three times on Perry Mason, including the role of murderer Edward Bannister in the 1958 episode "The Case of the Desperate Daughter." He portrayed Dave Tobak on the series Saints and Sinners and appeared in the 1962 episode "The Benefactor" of The Defenders, playing an unrepentant abortion care provider who uses his trial to argue for a change in the law. In 1963 he appeared as Harvey in the Twilight Zone episode "No Time Like the Past," and in 1966 he played Nazi officer Colonel Beckman in The Rat Patrol episode "The Exhibit A Raid." His dramatic film roles during the 1960s included The Spiral Road (1962), Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), and Fate Is the Hunter (1964).

Simon also worked regularly in comedy. He portrayed Frank Stephens on Bewitched and Everett McPherson on Nancy, and appeared in sitcoms including McHale's Navy, Get Smart, and The Andy Griffith Show. His comedy film credits included A New Kind of Love (1963), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), in which he played "Cervantes," and Private Duty Nurses (1971). He made three guest appearances as General Maynard M. Mitchell on M*A*S*H in 1973.

From 1969 through 1985, Simon continued to appear across a wide range of television series, including Barnaby Jones, Columbo, Hawaii Five-O, Quincy M.E., Eight Is Enough, and McMillan & Wife. He held a recurring role as Captain Rudy Olsen on The Streets of San Francisco and portrayed J. Jonah Jameson on The Amazing Spider-Man from 1978 to 1979. His final television appearance came in a 1985 episode of Airwolf.

Simon was married to Barbara Them, a fellow Mansfield native, and the couple had four children. He died of a heart attack in Tarzana, California, on November 29, 1992, three days before his eighty-fourth birthday, and was interred at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California.