Actor Richard Anderson, whose television career spanned 50 years, dies aged 91
It was as US intelligence official Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man that Anderson left his most memorable mark
Richard Anderson, who played the boss of both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman in an onscreen career stretching some 50 years, died on Thursday, a family spokesman said. He was 91.
Anderson died from natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, California, surrounded by his family, publicist Jonathan Taylor said. Memorial services will be private, Taylor added.
The imposing actor often appeared on screen as an authority figure – politicians, government officials and policemen – but also played his share of cowboys and criminals. His roster of guest appearances included many popular shows still airing in syndication such as The Big Valley, Ironside, Murder She Wrote and Dynasty.
Anderson played the police chief in the Burt Reynolds’ detective series Dan August (1970-1971), and a police lieutenant in the last season of the long-running legal drama Perry Mason. Two decades later, he had a prominent guest role in the 1985 TV movie Perry Mason Returns, which reunited original series cast members Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale.
The Vietnam war had just ended and everybody was down and we came in with a hero
In the 1967 two-part finale of The Fugitive, Anderson played the husband of Dr Richard Kimble’s sister. The climactic episode in which Kimble, played by David Janssen, finally cleared his name in the killing of his wife after four seasons on the run, was at the time the most watched series programme in TV history.