He served as a Navy pilot in World War II and attended the University of Oklahoma where he was a track and field star. three grandchildren. when all three attended the university drama program. He once called it “the most satisfying role of my career.”. [8] Later, from 1964 to 1965, he portrayed a friendly veterinary physician raising an adopted Chinese boy as a single father in NBC's comedy-drama Kentucky Jones.
horse, a sheepskin coat and a folksy manner that belied his shrewd environmental problems. Having become famous as Chester, he was next cast in an offbeat supporting role in the 1958 Orson Welles film Touch of Evil,[7] in which he played a face-twisting, body-contorting eccentric employee of a remote motel who nervously repeated, "I'm the night man." His frequent use of the affirming Southernism, "There you go," became a catchphrase for the show. Under the name Billy D. Weaver, he tried out for the 1948 U.S. Olympic team in the decathlon,[3] finishing sixth behind 17-year-old high school track star Bob Mathias. He also appears, virtually alone, as a terrorized motorist chased by an unseen truck driver in “Duel,” the first film directed by a then 23-year-old Steven Spielberg. correct this character" using his training and personal You have permission to edit this article. "He was a wonderful man and a fine actor, and we will all miss “Gentle Ben,” an earlier series for CBS about a family that adopts a bear, lasted two seasons. Weaver wasn't immediately taken with Deputy Chester Goode, his "When the garbage man comes," Jay Leno once quipped, "how does inside temperature even year-round.
said. Weaver was born June 4, 1924, in Joplin, Missouri, the son of Walter Leon Weaver and his wife Lenna Leora Prather. Menu. Stay informed during this important election season. Never having heard the radio show, Weaver gave Chester's "inane" dialog his best "method" delivery. His father was of English, Irish, Scottish, Cherokee, and Osage ancestry. [18], Weaver was consistently involved with the annual Genesis Awards, which honor those in the news and entertainment media who bring attention to the plight and suffering of animals.
He starred in the 1971 television film Duel, the first film of director Steven Spielberg. Weaver's own home in Ridgway, Colorado, exemplified his commitment to preserving the environment.
[10] He released several singles and albums between 1959 and 1984, most notable of which was his eponymous Im'press Records LP in 1972, the cover of which featured a portrait of Weaver in character as McCloud; it was the first of seven albums he recorded.[11].
"He provided comic relief but was also a real person doing He was 81. In the late 1980s, he commissioned architect Michael Reynolds to design and build his new residence, which incorporated into its construction various recycled materials, such as old automobile tires and discarded cans, and featured passive solar power and other ecotechnologies. William Dennis Weaver (June 4, 1924 – February 24, 2006) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, best known for his work in television and films from the early 1950s until not long before his death in 2006. Weaver had other series over the years, most of them short-lived. Spielberg selected Weaver based on the intensity of his earlier performance in Touch of Evil. Weaver seemed to take his greatest satisfaction not on the screen but in his role an evironmental and hunger activist. About; Music was always a big part of the Weaver’s lives. From 1973 to 1975, Weaver was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Colorado's 3rd Congressional District will soon have a new representative for the first time in a decade. A country boy at heart, Weaver grew up in a small farmhouse outside Joplin, Mo. 150,000 needy people a week in Los Angeles County. Why have models of Colorado’s coronavirus trajectory been off? ", Weaver's 50-year career included stage plays and movies. when he was offered the "Gunsmoke" role for $300 a week. Three years later, he was doing freelance in disgust and regard us in the same way we regard cannibals and cannibalism — Dennis Weaver[22], Weaver died of complications from prostate cancer in Ridgway, Colorado, on February 24, 2006. After help from Shelley Winters got him a contract with Universal Studios, he moved to Los Angeles but had little work before landing the role of Chester in “Gunsmoke.”.
In addition to "Gentle Ben," which lasted two seasons