Than Wyenn obit

Than Wyenn, Prolific Character Actor, Dies at 95

He was not on the list.

He appeared in scores of projects, including 'Imitation of Life,' 'Splash,' 'Being There' and 'The Twilight Zone.'

Than Wyenn, a busy character actor whose lengthy list of credits include the films Imitation of Life and Splash and a memorable episode of The Twilight Zone, died Friday at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, his family announced. He was 95.

Wyenn spent more than 40 years in film and television and has a whopping 150 credits listed on IMDb.

In “Execution,” a 1960 episode from the first season of The Twilight Zone, Wyenn played a bad guy who gets what’s coming to him when he is transported via time machine into a hangman’s noose in the Old West. The episode also features future Gilligan’s Island star Russell Johnson.

Wyenn played the Italian film representative Romano who woos Lana Turner’s character in the 1959 melodrama Imitation of Life and appeared as Mr. Ambrose in Splash (1984), starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. He also showed up in such films as Beginning of the End (1957), Pete Kelly’s Blues (1959), The Boy and the Pirates (1960) and Being There (1979).

A native of New York, Wyenn toured nationally with a Shakespearean troupe, moved to Los Angeles and starred in the world premiere production of Baruch Lumet’s Once Upon a Tailor at The Circle Theater.

He worked primarily in television during his career, popping up on such shows as Dragnet, Zorro, Perry Mason, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Untouchables, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible, The Six Million Dollar Man, Hart to Hart, Barnaby Jones, Burke's Law, Quincy M.E. and T.J. Hooker.

A voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1966,  Wyenn worked for 37 years as the drama consultant for the Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education.

Survivors include his wife of 71 years, Guy; sons Joel and Neil; and grandchildren Morgan, Diana, Michael, Shane and Brittany.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles (jewishla.org) or Bridge House).

Filmography

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1949      The Undercover Man     Cabbie Uncredited

1953      A Slight Case of Larceny                 Clerk      Uncredited

1954      Tennessee Champ           Usher    Uncredited

1954      The Human Jungle           Forger   Uncredited

1954      The Adventures of Hajji Baba      Auctioneer          Uncredited

1954      Black Tuesday    Bank Teller          Uncredited

1955      Pete Kelly's Blues             Rudy Shulak       

1955      The Naked Street             Rosalie's Doctor                Uncredited

1955      Good Morning, Miss Dove            Mr. Harry Levine               Uncredited

1956      The Ten Commandments             Slave      Uncredited

1957      Hot Rod Rumble               Arnie's Boss       

1957      Beginning of the End       Frank Johnson  

1957      The Invisible Boy              Prof. Zeller         

1958      The Brothers Karamazov               Waiter Uncredited

1958      The True Story of Lynn Stuart      Nat         Uncredited

1958      I Want to Live!   San Francisico Hood        Uncredited

1959      Imitation of Life                Romano              

1960      The Boy and the Pirates                 Hunter

1965      The Money Trap               Phil Kenny           Uncredited

1966      Gambit Airport Official   Uncredited

1967      Rosie!    Psychiatrist        

1968      The Pink Jungle Customs Agent

1977      Black Sunday      Israeli Ambassador         

1977      The Other Side of Midnight          Greek Priest      

1979      Being There        Ambassador Gaufridi     

1984      Splash   Mr. Ambrose