George Riddle obit

George Riddle, Actor on ‘The Onion News Network’ and ‘The Fantasticks,’ Dies at 86

The onetime circus performer also appeared four times on Broadway and showed up in 'Arthur' and on 'The Sopranos.' 

He was not on the list.

George Riddle, who portrayed the crusty gold prospector turned presidential candidate Joad Cressbeckler on the 2011 IFC comedy The Onion News Network and enjoyed a long run on the stage in The Fantasticks, has died. He was 86.

Riddle died Friday of duodenal cancer in North Plainfield, New Jersey, his longtime friend Christie Wagner told The Hollywood Reporter.

During his 65-year career, the colorful Riddle showed up in such films as Arthur (1981), The Innkeepers (2011) and The Kitchen (2019) and on episodes of shows including The Sopranos and Inside Amy Schumer.

The former circus performer also played Civil War General George Crook in the 1988 telefilm The Trial of Standing Bear, narrated by William Shatner.

On The Onion News Network, Riddle gained a legion of fans with his turn as the irascible, wildly opinionated Cressbeckler, whose predictions and political analysis were peppered with malapropisms and nonsequiturs.

Riddle logged more than 5,000 performances as The Old Actor in The Fantasticks, the longest-running off-Broadway play, starting with the musical’s debut at The Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village in 1960.

He portrayed the Major General in the Broadway revival of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, which debuted at the Uris Theatre in 1981, and he joined The Will Rogers Follies as Clem Rogers in 1992 for a three-year tour around the country, earning a Barrymore Award nomination when the musical stopped over in Philadelphia.

He also appeared on Broadway in Anything Goes in 1988-89 and Stage Door Charley in 1995.

Born on May 21, 1937, in Auburn, Indiana, Riddle — who said he was a descendant of the Mayflower settlers — started out in the circus, but after a fall from the high wire, he turned to a safer pursuit: acting.

He made his acting debut at the Fred Miller Theatre in Milwaukee in 1956 and his onscreen debut in the Marshall Brickman film Simon (1980), starring Alan Arkin. His final career credit came for a turn on the Apple TV+ series Little Voice in 2020.

A member of The Magic Castle in Hollywood, Riddle amassed a collection of theater and film memorabilia in his East Village penthouse apartment and loved cars and motorcycles. His main mode of transportation around New York for years was his 1941 Harley-Davidson.

He and Joan Crawford’s daughter Christina (the author of Mommie Dearest) lived together for several years, Wagner noted.

Survivors include his son, René; brother Robert; sister Mary Ellen; and six grandchildren.

Actor

Brittany O'Grady in Little Voice (2020)

Little Voice

Mr. Sal Mantone

TV Series

2020

1 episode

 

Betty (2020)

Betty

Elderly Man

TV Series

2020

1 episode

 

Elisabeth Moss, Melissa McCarthy, and Tiffany Haddish in The Kitchen (2019)

The Kitchen

Mr. Sullivan

2019

 

Mary Kay Place in Diane (2018)

Diane

Les

2018

 

Vincent Kartheiser, Adam Pally, and Rachel Bloom in Most Likely to Murder (2018)

Most Likely to Murder

Grumpy Man

2018

 

Mildred & The Dying Parlor (2016)

Mildred & The Dying Parlor

Dancing Jerry

Short

2016

 

Ethan Fixell and Dave Ahdoot in Dave & Ethan: Lovemakers (2016)

Dave & Ethan: Lovemakers

TV Series

2016

1 episode

 

Amy Schumer in Inside Amy Schumer (2013)

Inside Amy Schumer

Juror #9

TV Series

2015

1 episode

 

Joseph Cross and Adelaide Clemens in The Automatic Hate (2015)

The Automatic Hate

HowardJosh and Ronald's father

2015

 

Mealtime

(credit only)

Short

2014

 

Snapper Magee's (2014)

Snapper Magee's

Short

2014

 

La Boite Noir

Sirocco's Dad

Short

2013

 

Whiskey 'n Ditch

Reno

Short

2012

 

A Time to Speak

Old Man

Short

2012

 

Blood Country (2012)

Blood Country

Moses

Short

2012

 

Suzanne Sena in The Onion News Network (2011)

The Onion News Network

Joad Cressbeckler

TV Series

2011

6 episodes

 

Pat Healy, Sara Paxton, Brenda Cooney, and Lena Dunham in The Innkeepers (2011)

The Innkeepers

Old Man

2011

 

Every Day (2010)

Every Day

Old Man 2

2010

 

The Superagent

Walter

TV Movie

2009

 

The Blind (2009)

The Blind

Herman

2009

 

Numskull

Grandpa

Short

2009

 

Eavesdrop (2008)

Eavesdrop

Oliver

2008

 

Lorraine Bracco, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Steven Van Zandt, Dominic Chianese, Robert Iler, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Tony Sirico in The Sopranos (1999)

The Sopranos

Walter

TV Series

2007

1 episode

 

Flannel Pajamas (2006)

Flannel Pajamas

Calvin

2006

 

The Legacy of Walter Frumm

Walter

2005

 

Josh Hutcherson and Charlotte Ray Rosenberg in Little Manhattan (2005)

Little Manhattan

Frank

2005

 

Sometimes the Neighbor

Marcus

Short

2003

 

BlackMale (2000)

BlackMale

Bum

2000

 

The Pompatus of Love (1995)

The Pompatus of Love

Strip Club Patron

1995

 

Meghan Andrews, Melissa Chasse, Avriel Hillman, Meghan Lahey, Nicolle Rochelle, Jessica Prunell, and Jeni F. Winslow in The Baby-Sitters Club (1990)

The Baby-Sitters Club

Jeweler

TV Series

1990

1 episode

 

True Blood (1989)

True Blood

Ticket Seller

1989

 

The Trial of Standing Bear

General George Crook

TV Movie

1988

 

Arthur (1981)

Arthur

Bartender

1981

 

Simon (1980)

Simon

Muttonchop Aide

1980