Thursday, March 21, 2024

Ron Harper obit

Ron Harper, ‘Land of the Lost’ and ‘Planet of the Apes’ Actor, Dies at 91

He also starred on ‘87th Precinct,’ ‘Wendy and Me,’ ‘The Jean Arthur Show’ and ‘Garrison's Gorillas,’ but none of his series lasted very long. 

He was not on the list.


Ron Harper, who starred on Planet of the Apes and four other short-lived primetime series and on the final season of the beloved kids TV show Land of the Lost during a very busy 15 years on television, has died. He was 91.

Harper died Thursday of natural causes at his home in West Hills, his daughter, Nicole Longeuay, told The Hollywood Reporter.

After understudying for Paul Newman on Broadway, Harper portrayed Det. Bert Kling alongside Norman Fell, Robert Lansing, Gregory Walcott and Gena Rowlands on the 1961-62 NBC cop show 87th Precinct, based on the novels of Ed McBain.

He played Jeff Conway, the husband of Connie Stevens’ character, on the 1964-65 ABC sitcom Wendy and Me, also starring George Burns, who produced the show and appeared as the owner of the apartment building in which the young couple lives.

Next up for Harper were turns as the son of Jean Arthur’s lawyer — they both portrayed lawyers, in fact — on CBS’ The Jean Arthur Show in 1966 and Lt. Craig Garrison on the World War II-set Garrison’s Gorillas, which aired on ABC in 1967-68.

All four never made it to a second season, with 87th Precinct lasting 30 episodes, Wendy and Me 34, The Jean Arthur Show 12 and Garrison’s Gorillas 26.

In 1974, Harper finally seemed to have a hit on his hands when he landed the role of astronaut Alan Virdon on CBS’ Planet of the Apes. The series, after all, had come on the heels of the five Planet of the Apes movies and starred Roddy McDowall, who was in four of the films, as a chimpanzee.

However, the high-cost show, which also starred Jim Naughton as an astronaut, performed poorly in its Friday night slot and was canceled, with just 14 episodes airing.

“Our Planet of the Apes stories degenerated into The Fugitive with fur. I think that’s one of the things that curtailed what should have been a longer run,” Harper said in an interview for Tom Weaver’s 2008 book, I Talked With a Zombie.

Harper then joined Sid and Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost in 1976 for its third and final season, stepping in for Spencer Milligan to play the family’s Uncle Jack on the NBC sci-fi show. He was on just 13 episodes, but those showed up often in repeats over the years.

“The stories were very good,” Harper said in 2005. “Each generation of children as they come up and are exposed to it like those stories and remember them, pass them right on. I have about three tapes, and I’ve been showing them to my daughter since she was 5. And she still, of all my series, loves Land of the Lost best.”

Ronald Robert Harper was born on Jan. 12, 1931, in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh. He graduated from Turtle Creek High School and earned a scholarship to Princeton University, where he did two seasons of summer stock. He then was offered a fellowship to Harvard Law School.

“I kept saying to myself, ‘Should you waste your good education being an actor?’ And that little voice within me kept saying things like, ‘What do you want to take that fellowship to Harvard Law for? Be an actor. Starving is fun,’” he said in 1966. “And like the fool that any actor has to be, I listened to that dumb little voice.”

He studied with Lee Strasberg, served in the U.S. Navy and in 1959-60 was Newman’s understudy in Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth, directed by Elia Kazan. He got to play opposite Geraldine Page four times one week when Newman was ill.

“In my last performance of it, I saw Paul in the audience,” he recalled in 2015. “If he was not feeling too well, he was feeling a little bit better. He was a wonderful, sweet guy. I think he probably felt generous enough to say, ‘Let Ron do one or two of the performances.’”

After that, he appeared on installments of such shows as Tales of Wells Fargo, Thriller, Wagon Train and The Tall Man before landing on 87th Precinct.

Harper returned to Broadway in 1972 in 6 Rms Riv Vu and did lots of soap operas, among them Another World, Loving, Capitol, Generations, Where the Heart Is and Love of Life.

His résumé also included the movies The Wild Season (1971), The Odd Couple II (1998) and Pearl Harbor (2001) and TV guest stints on The Big Valley, Remington Steele, Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, Walker, Texas Ranger, The West Wing and Cold Case.

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his son-in-law, Daniel; granddaughters Ronnie and Harper; and ex-wife Shirley. His first wife was actress Sally Stark.

 

Actor

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Kidnapped: The Hannah Anderson Story

5.3

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Ralph

2015

 

Drink (2014)

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6.6

Short

Gray

2014

 

Mark Gantt and Leslie Jordan in Whoa! (2013)

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8.0

George

2013

 

American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James (2010)

American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James

4.4

Video

Doc

2010

 

Elliott Gould, JoBeth Williams, Julie Benz, and Scott Elrod in Uncorked (2009)

Uncorked

6.1

TV Movie

Reverend Whitting

2009

 

Cold Case (2003)

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7.6

TV Series

Joe Bosquay '08

2008

1 episode

 

The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)

The Poughkeepsie Tapes

6.0

Mike Moakes

2007

 

Touched (2005)

Touched

5.9

Dr. Daniels

2005

 

Glass Trap (2005)

Glass Trap

3.1

Henry 'Hank' Conlon

2005

 

Venomous (2001)

Venomous

3.9

Video

Larry Kizinsky

2001

 

Publicity Poster

Pearl Harbor

6.2

Minister

2001

 

Rob Lowe, Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Dulé Hill, Moira Kelly, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, and Bradley Whitford in The West Wing (1999)

The West Wing

8.9

TV Series

Chairman

2001

1 episode

 

Traylor Howard, Ryan Reynolds, Suzanne Cryer, Nathan Fillion, and Richard Ruccolo in Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (1998)

Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place

7.4

TV Series

Lawyer

2001

1 episode

 

Priscilla Inga Taylor, Edward Blatchford, Jason Hayes, Wendi Kenya, and Trevor Merszei in Malibu, CA (1998)

Malibu, CA

5.6

TV Series

Mr. Updyke

1999

1 episode

 

Chuck Norris in Walker, Texas Ranger (1993)

Walker, Texas Ranger

5.6

TV Series

Eddie

1998

1 episode

 

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in The Odd Couple II (1998)

The Odd Couple II

6.4

Jack

1998

 

Freedom Strike (1998)

Freedom Strike

3.7

Norman

1998

 

Danielle Fishel, Ben Savage, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong in Boy Meets World (1993)

Boy Meets World

8.1

TV Series

Man #1

1998

1 episode

 

Timothy Stack in Night Stand (1995)

Night Stand

8.7

TV Series

Bob

Charles Kornhoser

1995–1997

2 episodes

 

Matt McColm in NightMan (1997)

NightMan

5.6

TV Series

Elderly Man

1997

1 episode

 

Alyssa Milano and Ice-T in Below Utopia (1997)

Below Utopia

5.0

Jack Beckett

1997

 

Melrose Place (1992)

Melrose Place

6.0

TV Series

Pilot

1995

1 episode

 

Luke Perry, Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering, and Gabrielle Carteris in Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990)

Beverly Hills, 90210

6.5

TV Series

Mickey Garwood

1993

1 episode

 

FBI: The Untold Stories (1991)

FBI: The Untold Stories

6.8

TV Series

Arthur Lindberg

1992

1 episode

 

Kelly Rutherford, Anthony Addabbo, and Kristoff St. John in Generations (1989)

Generations

7.4

TV Series

Peter Whitmore

1990–1991

62 episodes

 

Dragnet (1989)

Dragnet

5.6

TV Series

Sheldon Carr

1990

1 episode

 

Debrah Farentino, Nicholas Walker, and Jess Walton in Capitol (1982)

Capitol

7.2

TV Series

Baxter McCandless

Jarrett Morgan

1985–1987

8 episodes

 

Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist in Remington Steele (1982)

Remington Steele

7.3

TV Series

Dr. Roger Chandler

1984

1 episode

 

Stacy Keach in The New Mike Hammer (1984)

The New Mike Hammer

6.8

TV Series

Roger Peyton

1984

1 episode

 

Vic Noto in Loving (1983)

Loving

7.0

TV Series

Charles Hartman (1988)

1983–1995

 

The Soldier (1982)

The Soldier

5.3

Head of CIA

1982

 

Another World (1964)

Another World

7.0

TV Series

Taylor Halloway

Taylor Halliway

1980

22 episodes

 

Birgitta Tolksdorf in Love of Life (1951)

Love of Life

7.4

TV Series

Dr. Andrew Marriott (credit only)

1980

1 episode

 

The Krofft Puppets in Land of the Lost (1974)

Land of the Lost

7.1

TV Series

Uncle Jack

1976

13 episodes

 

The Blue Knight (1975)

The Blue Knight

6.9

TV Series

Bronski

1975

1 episode

 

Planet of the Apes (1974)

Planet of the Apes

7.0

TV Series

Alan Virdon

1974

14 episodes

 

Where the Heart Is (1969)

Where the Heart Is

8.3

TV Series

Steve Prescott

1971–1973

5 episodes

 

Love, American Style (1969)

Love, American Style

6.8

TV Series

(segment "Love and the Ski Lodge")

Vic (segment "Love and the Proposal")

1970–1972

2 episodes

 

Cannon (1971)

Cannon

6.8

TV Series

Glen Ramsay

1971

1 episode

 

The Wild Season (1971)

The Wild Season

5.4

Steve Blaine

1971

 

Lee Majors, Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans, Peter Breck, and Richard Long in The Big Valley (1965)

The Big Valley

7.6

TV Series

Eric Abbott

1969

1 episode

 

Garrison's Gorillas (1967)

Garrison's Gorillas

7.8

TV Series

Lt. Craig Garrison

1967–1968

26 episodes

 

Jean Arthur, Ron Harper, and Leonard Stone in The Jean Arthur Show (1966)

The Jean Arthur Show

7.6

TV Series

Paul Marshall

1966

12 episodes

 

Wendy and Me (1964)

Wendy and Me

7.9

TV Series

Jeff Conway

1964–1965

34 episodes

 

Robert Fuller and John Smith in Laramie (1959)

Laramie

7.7

TV Series

Lee Parkison

Stede Rhodes

1960–1963

2 episodes

 

87th Precinct (1961)

87th Precinct

8.2

TV Series

Det. Bert Kling

1961–1962

30 episodes

 

Shotgun Slade (1959)

Shotgun Slade

6.8

TV Series

Deputy Griff Blanchard

1961

1 episode

 

Clu Gulager and Barry Sullivan in The Tall Man (1960)

The Tall Man

7.3

TV Series

Deputy Sheriff Harry

1961

1 episode

 

Henry Fonda in The Deputy (1959)

The Deputy

6.9

TV Series

Jay Elston

1961

1 episode

 

John McIntire in Wagon Train (1957)

Wagon Train

7.5

TV Series

Lt. Bevins

1960

1 episode

 

Thriller (1960)

Thriller

8.2

TV Series

Younger Thug

1960

1 episode

 

Tales of Wells Fargo (1957)

Tales of Wells Fargo

7.9

TV Series

Dan Haskell

1960

1 episode

 

Kraft Theatre (1947)

Kraft Theatre

8.0

TV Series

1955

1 episode

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