Peter Palmer obit

Peter Palmer, Star of ‘Li’l Abner’ on Broadway and the Big Screen, Dies at 90

Before making it in show business, he played college football at the University of Illinois and sang the national anthem in uniform before games.

 

 He was not on the list.

 Peter Palmer, the onetime college football player who starred in the Broadway and big-screen musical versions of Li’l Abner as the sweet-natured hillbilly title character from Dogpatch, USA, has died. He was 90.

Palmer died Wednesday on the day after his birthday, his son Steven Palmer announced on Facebook.

“As a family we knew this was coming and that’s why we had such a wonderful celebration of his birthday this weekend,” he wrote. “He enjoyed being celebrated by his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and friends and extended family. Gonna miss you, Pops.”

After playing tackle for the University of Illinois — he also performed the national anthem while in uniform before home games — the 6-foot-3, 250-pound baritone won a singing contest while in the U.S. Army. The reward was an appearance on CBS’ The Ed Sullivan Show, where he sang “Granada.”

Producer-writers Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, set to hire Dick Shawn as their Li’l Abner on Broadway, spotted him on the Sullivan show. “A week later I auditioned, and four months later I was in rehearsal,” he recalled in a 2005 interview. “Young people ask me now, ‘How do I start?’ and I tell them to do as I did, ‘At the top,’ because that is how I did it.”

Also featuring Stubby Kaye as Marryin’ Sam, Edie Adams as Daisy Mae and Julie Newmar as Stupefyin’ Jones, Li’l Abner — based on the Al Capp comic strip — opened at the St. James Theatre in November 1956. With Palmer receiving a Theatre World Award, it was a smash hit, lasting nearly 700 performances through July 1958.

For the 1959 movie version at Paramount, Palmer “was not a shoo-in for the role of Abner and they looked and looked but finally called me and flew me out from New York for a screen test. They finally did settle on me,” he said.

Kaye, Newmar and Frank, who would direct the movie, also made the transition, and with Adams pregnant and unavailable, the part of Daisy Mae was taken by newcomer Leslie Parrish. (Also in the cast: Valerie Harper and Donna Douglas.)

But after Li’l Abner, “I could not get arrested on stage for films or TV,” he said.

Peter Webster Palmer was born in Milwaukee on Sept. 20, 1931. He was raised mostly in St. Louis, where he attended Clayton High School and performed as a soloist with the chorus. (They once got to sing for President Truman.)

The strapping Palmer was offered football scholarships to several colleges but chose Illinois so he could also study voice with music professor Bruce Foote, a renowned concert singer at the time.

Meanwhile, with Palmer on the team, the Fighting Illini won the Big Ten championship in 1951 and ’53 and clobbered Stanford in the 1952 Rose Bowl.

“I came to Illinois known as a football player who could sing and left as a singer who could play football,” he said in 2018. “It was such a thrill for me to sing the anthem before the games. It ranks up there with anything I ever did.”

After graduation, Palmer won a contest sponsored by a Chicago radio station, went to Hollywood to study with Nelson Eddy’s teacher and signed with an agent before he was drafted into the U.S. Army.

Following the Li’l Abner movie, Palmer struggled to find work in Hollywood, though he did return to Broadway to star in a revival of Brigadoon in 1963 and to work opposite Carol Channing in Lorelei in 1974.

He also had regular roles on the 1967 ABC drama Custer, starring Wayne Maunder, and the 1977 NBC sitcom The Kallikaks and guest-starred on other series including The Bill Dana Show, Emergency!, The Rockford Files, Three’s Company, Charlie’s Angels, Dallas and Superboy.

Palmer was married twice — his wife of 45 years, singer-actress Aniko Farrell, died in 2011 — and had six children.

 Actor (40 credits)

 1994 Thunder in Paradise (TV Series)

Senator

- Blast Off (1994) ... Senator

 1991-1992 Swamp Thing (TV Series)

Mr. Smithson / Orvis

- Judgment Day (1992) ... Mr. Smithson

- The Watchers (1991) ... Orvis

 1988-1991 Superboy (TV Series)

President / Kenderson

- Wish for Armageddon (1991) ... President

- Troubled Waters (1988) ... Kenderson

 1990 Super Force (TV Series)

Taggert

- Gravity's Rainbow: Part 2 (1990) ... Taggert (credit only)

- Gravity's Rainbow: Part 1 (1990) ... Taggert

 1990 Edward Scissorhands

Editor

 1989 The New Leave It to Beaver (TV Series)

Professoner Claney

- A Day at the Mall (1989) ... Professoner Claney

 1989 B.L. Stryker (TV Series)

- Blind Chess (1989)

 1988 A Time of Destiny

Policeman

 1988 Deep Space

Pike

 1988 Scandal in a Small Town (TV Movie)

Scottie

 1987 CBS Summer Playhouse (TV Series)

Minion

- Infiltrator (1987) ... Minion

 1986 Dallas (TV Series)

- Bar-B-Cued (1986)

 1986 A Masterpiece of Murder (TV Movie)

Bronson

 1984 E/R (TV Series)

Ronald Parker

- A Cold Night in Chicago (1984) ... Ronald Parker

 1984 Brothers (TV Series)

Ivan Ivanovich

- Fools Russian (1984) ... Ivan Ivanovich

 1983 Simon & Simon (TV Series)

Charlie

- Pirate's Key: Part 2 (1983) ... Charlie

- Pirate's Key: Part 1 (1983) ... Charlie

 1981 Bungle Abbey (TV Movie)

Brother Peter

 1978 M*A*S*H (TV Series)

Capt. Toby Hill

- An Eye for a Tooth (1978) ... Capt. Toby Hill

 1978 Fantasy Island (TV Series)

Boyd

- I Want to Get Married/The Jewel Thief (1978) ... Boyd

 1978 Charlie's Angels (TV Series)

Fred Michaels

- Hours of Desperation (1978) ... Fred Michaels

 1977 Tabitha (TV Series)

Vasily Kasiroff

- Tabitha's Weighty Problem (1977) ... Vasily Kasiroff

 1977 The Hostage Heart (TV Movie)

Dr. Licata

 1977 The Kallikaks (TV Series)

Oscar Heinz

- Swami, How I Love Ya (1977) ... Oscar Heinz

- I Coulda Been a Contender (1977) ... Oscar Heinz

- TV or Not TV (1977) ... Oscar Heinz

- The Bells Are Wronging (1977) ... Oscar Heinz

- You Auto Buy Now (1977) ... Oscar Heinz

 1977 Three's Company (TV Series)

Jeff

- Jack the Giant Killer (1977) ... Jeff

 1977 Code R (TV Series)

McDonald

- The Great Boat Race (1977) ... McDonald

 1976 Quincy M.E. (TV Series)

Lance Tucker

- A Star Is Dead (1976) ... Lance Tucker

 1976 Most Wanted (TV Series)

Benz

- The Corrupter (1976) ... Benz

 1976 The Rockford Files (TV Series)

Stack

- The Italian Bird Fiasco (1976) ... Stack

 1975 Emergency! (TV Series)

George Antonio / Sam

- On Camera (1975) ... George Antonio

- The Mouse (1975) ... Sam

 1969-1970 Lancer (TV Series)

Charlie / Sorley Boy McGloin

- Lifeline (1970) ... Charlie

- The Black McGloins (1969) ... Sorley Boy McGloin

 1969 Love, American Style (TV Series)

Henry Haskins (segment "Love and the Wild Party")

- Love and the Burglar/Love and the Roommate/Love and the Wild Party (1969) ... Henry Haskins (segment "Love and the Wild Party")

 1967 Custer (TV Series)

Sgt. James Bustard

- Pursued (1967) ... Sgt. James Bustard

- The Raiders (1967) ... Sgt. James Bustard

- The Gauntlet (1967) ... Sgt. James Bustard

- Spirit Woman (1967) ... Sgt. James Bustard

- Dangerous Prey (1967) ... Sgt. James Bustard (credit only)

Show all 17 episodes

 1967 The Jackie Gleason Show (TV Series)

Dynamite Moran

- The Honeymooners: The Main Event (1967) ... Dynamite Moran

 1966 The John Forsythe Show (TV Series)

Moose

- Anyone for a Fat Lip? (1966) ... Moose

 1964 The Bill Dana Show (TV Series)

Rory Standish

- Jose's Four Amigos (1964) ... Rory Standish

- The Masquerade Party (1964) ... Rory Standish

 1960 The Bell Telephone Hour (TV Series)

- One Nation Indivisible (1960)

 1960 The Texan (TV Series)

Critter Calhoun

- Mountain Man (1960) ... Critter Calhoun

 1960 The Red Skelton Hour (TV Series)

Li'l Abner

- Clem Kadiddlehopper in Dog Patch (1960) ... Li'l Abner

 1960 The Ed Sullivan Show (TV Series)

Singer

- Episode #13.17 (1960) ... Singer

 1959 Li'l Abner

Li'l Abner Yokum