{"id":115454,"date":"2017-09-01T08:15:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T12:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=115454"},"modified":"2017-09-01T08:17:26","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T12:17:26","slug":"richard-anderson-popular-tv-actor-dies-at-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/01\/richard-anderson-popular-tv-actor-dies-at-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Anderson, popular TV actor, dies at 91"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo of Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman. Anderson played this character on two television programs: The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. (Photo By ABC Television – eBay itemphoto front photo back eBay itemundamaged photo front, Public Domain)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES\u2014 Richard Anderson, the tall, handsome actor best known for costarring simultaneously in the popular 1970s television shows \u201cThe Six Million Dollar Man\u201d and \u201cThe Bionic Woman,\u201d has died at age 91.<\/p>\n

Anderson died of natural causes on Thursday, family spokesman Jonathan Taylor told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Six Million Dollar Man\u201d brought a new wave of supernatural heroes to television. Based on the novel \u201cCyborg\u201d by Martin Caidin, it starred Lee Majors as U.S. astronaut Steve Austin, who is severely injured in a crash. The government saves his life by rebuilding his body with atom-powered artificial limbs and other parts, giving him superhuman strength, speed and other powers.<\/p>\n

Anderson played Oscar Goldman, Majors’ boss at the secret government spy agency the astronaut went to work for after becoming a cyborg.<\/p>\n

\u201cRichard became a dear and loyal friend, and I have never met a man like him,\u201d Majors said in a statement Thursday, adding the two first met when they filmed several episodes of another hit television show, the 1960s western \u201cThe Big Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI called him ‘Old Money.’ His always stylish attire, his class, calmness and knowledge never faltered in his 91 years,\u201d Majors said, adding Anderson was \u201cstill the sweet charming man\u201d when they spoke just a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Six Million Dollar Man\u201d began as a TV movie in 1973 and when it proved a hit it was turned into a weekly series the following year. Its popularity led to the 1976 spinoff show, \u201cThe Bionic Woman,\u201d starring Lindsay Wagner.<\/p>\n

Anderson took on the Oscar Goldman role in that show, too, sometimes appearing from week to week in both series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can’t begin to say how much I have always admired and have been grateful for the elegance and loving friendship I was blessed to have with Richard Anderson,\u201d Wagner said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Bionic Woman,\u201d Wagner was a tennis pro whose body was rebuilt after a near-fatal skydiving accident. After obtaining powers similar to those of \u201cThe Six Million Dollar Man,\u201d she went to work for the same government agency run by Anderson’s character.<\/p>\n

In real life, Majors recalled, it was Anderson who embraced tennis, travelling the world to play in tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved his daughters, tennis and his work as an actor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anderson, who stood 6-feet-4, began his career in 1949 with a small role as a wounded soldier in \u201c12 O’Clock High.\u201d Soon after, his comedy scenes in a TV series called \u201cLights, Camera, Action!\u201d drew the attention of MGM, which offered him a screen test and a contract.<\/p>\n

He had decided to try acting after watching Gary Cooper movies, and at the screen test he performed a scene from Cooper’s \u201cThe Cowboy and the Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

At MGM he played secondary roles in such movies as \u201cThe Magnificent Yankee,\u201d \u201cAcross the Wide Missouri,\u201d \u201cScaramouche,\u201d \u201cThe Story of Three Loves,\u201d \u201cThe Student Prince,\u201d \u201cHit the Deck\u201d and \u201cForbidden Planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people ask me where I received my education, I tell them it was at MGM U,\u201d the Internet Movie Database quoted him as saying. \u201cThe biggest lessons that I learned is that acting is a talent. You can’t teach it. And even if you have the talent, you have to get the part.\u201d<\/p>\n

When MGM began thinning out its contract list in the late 1950s, Anderson was let go.<\/p>\n

He went on to make movies for other studios, appearing in such films as Stanley Kubrick’s \u201cPaths of Glory,\u201d \u201cThe Long Hot Summer,\u201d \u201cCompulsion,’ \u201cThe Wackiest Ship in the Navy,\u201d \u201cThe Gathering of Eagles,\u201d \u201cJohnny Cool,\u201d \u201cSeven Days in May\u201d and \u201cKitten With a Whip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson was also a frequent guest on TV series and had regular roles on \u201cBus Stop,\u201d \u201cPerry Mason,\u201d \u201cDan August\u201d and \u201cThe Fugitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other television credits included \u201cSlattery’s People,\u201d \u201cDr. Kildare,\u201d \u201cThe Virginian,\u201d \u201cThe Rifleman,\u201d \u201cBonanza,\u201d \u201cMannix\u201d and \u201cThe Mod Squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also acted as producer when \u201cThe Six Million Dollar Man\u201d and \u201cThe Bionic Woman\u201d were revived in later years as TV movies.<\/p>\n

Richard Norman Anderson was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on Aug. 8, 1926. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he began appearing in high school plays.<\/p>\n

After two years in the Army, he began studying at the Actors Laboratory in Los Angeles. Soon he was landing work in radio and summer stock productions.<\/p>\n

Anderson was married and divorced twice. His first wife, Carol Lee Ladd, was the daughter of actor Alan Ladd.<\/p>\n

His second wife, Katharine Thalberg, was the daughter of actress Norma Shearer and movie mogul Irvin Thalberg. The couple had three daughters,<\/p>\n

His daughters, Ashley Anderson, Brooke Anderson and Deva Anderson survive him.<\/p>\n

The family says memorial services will be private.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES\u2014 Richard Anderson, the tall, handsome actor best known for costarring simultaneously in the popular 1970s television shows \u201cThe …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":115462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22571,22573,22572],"class_list":["post-115454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-richard-anderson","tag-the-bionic-woman","tag-the-six-million-dollar-man","mauthors-john-rogers","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}