Lee Paul obit

Lee Paul(1939-2019)

 

He was not on the list.

Lee Paul, who played "Skinhead," seems to have passed away based on a posting on his Facebook page:

As most of you know my wonderful , creative, talented husband Lee Paul passed away on Sept. 22. We had 47 years together. What a great ride....miss him dearly. Please keep enjoying his page and remember his work .....

However, I did Google searches (up to 10 pages worth in each case) and could not find anything about this, which seems odd. His IMDb listing also does not have a reference to his passing.

In season one's "Not That Much Different," he played a peacenik, Paul Brechtman.

Actor Lee Paul’s career record reads: “Bad guys, 117; good guys, 3, with one of those in question.”

Predominantly “bad guy” Paul is something of a rarity among the 80,000 card-carrying actors and actresses in America today. Indeed, Lee Paul is an even greater rarity among the 2,000 or so who do manage to get performing jobs during the year.

Whereas the bulk of those working--89%--draw mean annual wages of $2,900, well below the poverty level, Paul says proudly that theatrical work has provided the major part of his total family income in the last 10 years.

Paul, whose face is seen regularly in television film reruns during any given week, has been much like others in the entertainment business who acknowledge that, without a “day job,” survival would be much more difficult.

Worked Odd Jobs

In years long gone, day or odd jobs have included working in a classical sheet music store, taking pictures of actors and actresses for their commercial and theatrical composites and selling insurance.

But today the residuals and regular acting assignments have lifted him out of that other cycle--working at the other job and not having time to polish the acting craft.

With roles of various sorts in well over 100 television productions--primarily the heavy--the residuals show up regularly in the Paul mailbox. They range from an occasional hefty sum to a career low of $2.67. Thirty or more television commercials have added to Paul’s credits, and income, including a “good guy” part in an inspirational commercial for the Mormon Church.

Among his many guest star and co-star television appearances are roles in “Falcon Crest,” “Simon & Simon,” “Fall Guy,” “Matlock,” “Herbie the Love Bug” and “Underground Man.”

Paul, a Chatsworth resident, feels that he is at the cusp of a welcome change in his image, from “bad guy to good guy.”

Losing a Part Hurts

At “5 feet, 17 1/2 inches,” and 225 pounds, he is both tall and solidly built. Paul acknowledges that it hurts when he is passed over for a part simply because of his height, as has happened more than once. “When they ask, ‘How tall are you?’ it means you are too tall.”

Two recent film roles have afforded an opportunity for Paul to reflect his changing image. He played an FBI agent in the recently completed “Survival Game” under director Herb Freed, and a “good cop” in another recent release, “Deadly Friend,” under director Wes Craven. Never mind that the FBI agent was unmasked by the plot as a conniving figure and the “good” cop’s motives remained a great big question mark.

Other film appearances from a few years back to the recent past have included “The Sting,” “Ben,” “Island at the Top of the World” and “War Games.”

‘Next George Kennedy’

Realistically, Paul does not see himself as a star. “Everyone can’t be a Robert Redford or Paul Newman.” He does, however, see himself as a recognizable supporting star. “George Kennedy told me that I’m going to be the next George Kennedy,” Paul said. “But he didn’t say when.”

With an IQ of 165 and the initial sponsorship of an attorney, a retired Air Force officer who took an interest in him while he was in the Boy Scouts in Brooklyn, the young Paul Lee Kroll went off on a fully paid scholarship to Marietta College in Ohio.

He was graduated at age 19 with a bachelor of science in petroleum studies, later changed to a fully accredited degree in engineering, and a lifelong bug to be an actor.

“Truthfully--my wife knows about this--I was chasing a senior girl and it turned out she was in the drama department,” Paul recalled.

Performed in Opera

“I was a big guy and straight out of one of the toughest areas of Brooklyn. I went to the music department and told them I was going to be in their production of ‘The Medium,’ ” the strange, brooding opera by Gian-Carlo Menotti.

“What could they say?

“I soaked up the lights, the warmth, the applause! I played the role of Mister Gabineau.”

And the girl?

“She noticed me, all right. I told her to ‘get out of my key light.’ ” And that was the end of that.

The petroleum engineering degree provided about six months of employment when Schlumberger, the worldwide French firm that hired him fresh out of Marietta College, shipped him off to Williston, N.D.

That was much too far from his new love, the theater, and the novice actor headed for New York, opting for a time to take a “gofer” job with the Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati at $25 a week, a fair wage in 1960. (“You had to play poker, and win, to survive.”) The newborn actor Lee Paul got his Equity card there and his first professional theater experience.

Thereafter it was on to New York and a series of stock companies.

Was An Officer

Paul was drafted into the Army but, because of his engineering degree, he shifted to officer candidate school at Lackland AFB, Tex., where he earned the gold bar of an Air Force second lieutenant and assignment as a “weapons controller.”

“That’s a lot like an air traffic controller, except that our job was to bring planes together so that we could shoot them down.”

After three years, 1st Lt. Paul Lee Kroll left the military and resumed his theatrical career on the West Coast and in Hollywood.

Paul has traveled widely on his own and his acting career has taken him to all parts of the United States as well as to the Philippines. Quite recently he was on the verge of traveling with a film company to Africa, but work on another film at Santa Cruz stood in the way.

“Location work is terrific,” Paul said. “Not only are housing, travel and eating arrangements all attended to, but being on location generally allows for serendipitous explorations in the surrounding territory.”

Not Close to Family

Paul has mixed feelings about his parents, his family in Brooklyn, one sister and two brothers.

“We were never very close,” he says. His mother is dead and his father, at 89, is “still inventing” in New York.

“There was not much room for art or beauty when I was growing up,” he recalls.

“But, once my mother broke out of the dreariness and wrote a poem. I still have it, and every time I read it I cry.”

Paul is married to Kathleen Kroll--she took his family name, king in Polish--a former Las Vegas dancer and front row principal.

Their meeting involved another “girl-chasing” episode at a dance class 14 years ago. He was attracted to another woman of about his age, 33, when the attractive Kathy, at age 19, joined the group.

Paul’s other interests today include “people watching,” photography and every conceivable electronic gadget as a visit to his upstairs den quickly substantiates.

Paul is is genuinely enthusiastic about any of his new acquisitions, a 28-to-200 Vivitar zoom lens for his Pentax, a remarkable telephone dialer capable of a myriad additional chores, laser disks producing “pure sound,” a remote-controlled robotic “go ball” and a host of other such toys.

Although acting is Lee Paul’s life, second only to wife Kathy, and his goal is to become known as a “good guy” actor, he almost means it when he quotes a bumper sticker on his Jeep-style vehicle:

“He who owns the most toys when he dies wins.”

 

Actor

The Van Dyke Show (1988)

The Van Dyke Show

7.0

TV Series

Al

1988

1 episode

 

Desperado: Avalanche at Devil's Ridge (1988)

Desperado: Avalanche at Devil's Ridge

6.5

TV Movie

Joshua Barrens

1988

 

Survival Game (1987)

Survival Game

3.5

McClean

1987

 

Andy Griffith in Matlock (1986)

Matlock

7.1

TV Series

Wrestler Gentleman GeorgeCaretaker James Henderson

1986–1987

2 episodes

 

Marie Cole, Aaron Lohr, Vonetta McGee, Tyren Perry, Jimmie 'JJ' Walker, and Larry O. Williams Jr. in Bustin' Loose (1987)

Bustin' Loose

6.8

TV Series

Honest Pete

1987

1 episode

 

Outlaws (1986)

Outlaws

7.1

TV Series

Fireball McGuire

1987

1 episode

 

Falcon Crest (1981)

Falcon Crest

6.2

TV Series

Donald Nelson

1986

1 episode

 

Kristy Swanson in Deadly Friend (1986)

Deadly Friend

5.6

Sgt. Volchek

1986

 

Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker in Simon & Simon (1981)

Simon & Simon

7.0

TV Series

Rollo

1986

1 episode

 

Robert Blake in Hell Town (1985)

Hell Town

7.0

TV Series

Lloyd

1985

1 episode

 

Lee Majors and Heather Thomas in The Fall Guy (1981)

The Fall Guy

7.1

TV Series

Tall Henchman

1985

1 episode

 

Linda Evans in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler: The Adventure Continues (1983)

Kenny Rogers as The Gambler: The Adventure Continues

6.2

TV Movie

Pettibone

1983

 

Herbie, the Love Bug (1982)

Herbie, the Love Bug

6.3

TV Series

Rainey

1982

1 episode

 

Ricardo Montalban and Hervé Villechaize in Fantasy Island (1977)

Fantasy Island

6.6

TV Series

Dupree

1981

1 episode

 

William Conrad in Nero Wolfe (1981)

Nero Wolfe

7.2

TV Series

Martin Kelsey

1981

1 episode

 

Condominium (1980)

Condominium

6.2

TV Mini Series

Vic York

1980

2 episodes

 

The Children of an Lac (1980)

The Children of an Lac

6.6

TV Movie

Captain Ed Bensman

1980

 

Douglas Barr, Philip Brown, Susan Buckner, Tim Rossovich, and Dolph Sweet in When the Whistle Blows (1980)

When the Whistle Blows

5.5

TV Series

Malcolm Jackson

1980

1 episode

 

Kenny Rogers in The Gambler (1980)

The Gambler

6.3

TV Movie

George

1980

 

Jeff Goldblum and Ben Vereen in Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980)

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe

7.5

TV Series

Stubby

1980

1 episode

 

Paris (1979)

Paris

6.1

TV Series

Reed

1979

1 episode

 

Greg Evigan in B.J. and the Bear (1978)

B.J. and the Bear

6.4

TV Series

Country Comfort Customer

1979

2 episodes

 

The Golden Gate Murders (1979)

The Golden Gate Murders

6.5

TV Movie

Willie Petersen

1979

 

Quincy, M.E. (1976)

Quincy, M.E.

7.3

TV Series

Joe Ramsey

1979

1 episode

 

Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox in CHiPs (1977)

CHiPs

6.5

TV Series

Police Chief

1978

1 episode

 

Wonder Woman (1975)

Wonder Woman

7.0

TV Series

Dirk

1978

1 episode

 

Angie Dickinson in Police Woman (1974)

Police Woman

6.6

TV Series

Leo StollerStanley LawrenceSailor

1975–1977

3 episodes

 

Jack Palance in Bronk (1975)

Bronk

6.7

TV Series

Roger

1976

1 episode

 

The Blue Knight (1975)

The Blue Knight

6.8

TV Series

Tommy

1975

1 episode

 

S.W.A.T. (1975)

S.W.A.T.

6.7

TV Series

Burly Thug

1975

2 episodes

 

Force Five (1975)

Force Five

5.6

TV Movie

Steve Ritchie

1975

 

Archer (1975)

Archer

5.7

TV Series

1975

1 episode

 

Emergency! (1972)

Emergency!

7.9

TV Series

Pete

1975

1 episode

 

Target Risk (1975)

Target Risk

7.7

TV Movie

Harry

1975

 

Agneta Eckemyr, David Gwillim, David Hartman, Mako, Jacques Marin, and Donald Sinden in The Island at the Top of the World (1974)

The Island at the Top of the World

6.2

Chief of Boat Archers

1974

 

Raymond Burr and Barbara Sigel in Ironside (1967)

Ironside

6.9

TV Series

TraceRichardBilly Mahan

1972–1974

4 episodes

 

Kent McCord and Martin Milner in Adam-12 (1968)

Adam-12

7.7

TV Series

Rapist Suspect

1974

1 episode

 

Teresa Graves in Get Christie Love! (1974)

Get Christie Love!

6.4

TV Series

Host

1974

1 episode

 

William Conrad in Cannon (1971)

Cannon

6.8

TV Series

ShawDebt Collector

1973–1974

2 episodes

 

Mannix (1967)

Mannix

7.4

TV Series

Sam Lannihan

1974

1 episode

 

The Underground Man (1974)

The Underground Man

6.6

TV Movie

Fritz Snow

1974

 

Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Erin Moran, Don Most, and Anson Williams in Happy Days (1974)

Happy Days

7.4

TV Series

Mory

1974

1 episode

 

Get Christie Love! (1974)

Get Christie Love!

5.4

TV Movie

Max Loomis

1974

 

Scream of the Wolf (1974)

Scream of the Wolf

5.4

TV Movie

Student

1974

 

Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting (1973)

The Sting

8.2

Bodyguard

1973

 

Arthur Hill in Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971)

Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law

6.9

TV Series

Donnie

1973

1 episode

 

The Rookies (1972)

The Rookies

6.8

TV Series

Tim Duvall

1973

1 episode

 

Kung Fu (1972)

Kung Fu

7.6

TV Series

Gilchrist

1973

1 episode

 

Hec Ramsey (1972)

Hec Ramsey

7.7

TV Series

Rance Claiborne

1973

1 episode

 

McMillan & Wife (1971)

McMillan & Wife

7.2

TV Series

Officer Ryan

1973

1 episode

 

Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Peter Graves, Peter Lupus, and Greg Morris in Mission: Impossible (1966)

Mission: Impossible

7.9

TV Series

SchmidtGristin

1971–1972

2 episodes

 

Ben (1972)

Ben

5.3

Carey

1972

 

Kam Fong, Al Harrington, Jack Lord, and James MacArthur in Hawaii Five-O (1968)

Hawaii Five-O

7.4

TV Series

Mitch KennerPaul Brechtman

1969–1972

2 episodes

 

Hey, Landlord (1966)

Hey, Landlord

7.2

TV Series

Man At Movie

1966

1 episode