Thayer David

Thayer David, born David Thayer Hersey on March 4, 1927, in Medford, Massachusetts, was an American actor whose career spanned film, television, and stage. He died on July 17, 1978, of a heart attack in New York City at the age of 51. His father, Thayer Frye Hersey, worked as an executive in the paper pulp industry. David attended Harvard University during the 1940s but left without graduating, choosing to pursue a professional career in theatre. With financial backing from his father, he co-founded the Brattle Theater Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which operated from 1948 to 1952, and used that foundation to establish himself as a stage actor.

David's Broadway career began in 1950 and encompassed a wide range of classical and contemporary productions. He appeared in The Relapse in 1950, playing Sir Tunbelly Clumsey, and followed that with roles including Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew in 1951, Petulant in The Way of the World in 1954, and the Sixth Son in The Carefree Tree in 1955. In 1956 alone he took on multiple productions, including the Duke of Cornwall in King Lear, Gollup in Mister Johnson, the Inquisitor in Saint Joan, and Dr. Steidl in Protective Custody. He played the title role in Oscar Wilde in 1957 and Tiberius in The Golden Six in 1958. His stage work continued into the 1960s with Cardinal Wolsey in A Man for All Seasons in 1961, the pub keeper in Andorra in 1963, Sorin in The Seagull and Danforth in The Crucible both in 1964, and Moriarty in Baker Street in 1965. That same year he appeared as Miguel Estete in The Royal Hunt of the Sun. Later Broadway credits included Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1966, in which he played Rusty Trawler, The Sorrows of Frederick in 1967, Uncle Vanya in 1971, The Jockey Club Stakes in 1973, and The Dogs of Pavlov in 1974.

On screen, David became widely recognized for his portrayal of Count Saknussemm in the 1959 film Journey to the Center of the Earth. From 1966 to 1971 he was a recurring presence on ABC's daytime serial Dark Shadows, where he played multiple characters including Matthew Morgan, Ben Stokes, Professor T. Elliot Stokes, Count Andreas Petofi, Sandor Rakosi, Mordecai Grimes, and parallel-timeline versions of several of those roles. He reprised the character of Professor T. Elliot Stokes in the spinoff film House of Dark Shadows in 1970 and appeared as Reverend Strack in Night of Dark Shadows in 1971. His film roles during the 1970s included Reverend Silas Pendrake in Little Big Man in 1970, the professional arsonist Charlie Robbins alongside Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger in 1973, the albino ex-Nazi spymaster Dragon in The Eiger Sanction in 1975 with Clint Eastwood, and fight promoter Miles Jergens in Rocky in 1976, directed by John G. Avildsen, who had also directed Save the Tiger. He played Deacon in Fun with Dick and Jane in 1977.

David's television work was equally extensive. He appeared in episodes of series including The Wild Wild West, Columbo, Kojak, The Rockford Files, Ellery Queen, Petrocelli, Charlie's Angels, and Hawaii Five-O. His television movie credits included portrayals of Nikita Khrushchev in Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident in 1976 and a role in The Amazing Howard Hughes in 1977. He appeared in the miniseries Roots, The Rhinemann Exchange, and Washington: Behind Closed Doors. In 1977 he played the lead antagonist Mr. Edward Byron in the made-for-TV film Spider-Man, which served as the pilot for the 1978 series The Amazing Spider-Man. That same year he was cast in the title role of Nero Wolfe, a Paramount Television film based on Rex Stout's novel The Doorbell Rang, intended as a series pilot. ABC shelved the project, and the film did not air until December 18, 1979, more than seventeen months after David's death. His raspy, distinctive voice also brought him work in commercial voice-overs and instructional films.

A Manhattan resident, David collected walking sticks, 18th-century European landscape paintings, and Victorian furniture. He had been married to and later divorced from actress Valerie French, and the two had been making plans to remarry at the time of his death.