Harry Townes

Harry Rhett Townes (September 18, 1914 – May 23, 2001)^[1] was an American television and film actor who later in life became an Episcopalian priest.

Early life

Townes was born in Huntsville, the seat of Madison County in northern Alabama. He graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, having developed his acting skills through the university drama club.

Career

He performed in several New York and Broadway stage productions, including summer stock. During World War II, he left the stage to enlist in the United States Army Air Corps. Discharged in 1946, he returned to the stage and then relocated to perform in Hollywood.

As a character actor, Townes was a familiar face to television viewers in the 1950s and 1960s. His expanded range led him to fill a variety of roles, and he avoided being typecast. He made five guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of title character Newton Bain in the 1964 episode, "The Case of the Woeful Widower." He also made three appearances on Bonanza and seven on Gunsmoke and in The Fugitive. He made single and double appearances on numerous other television series. Besides appearing in twenty-nine films, he is credited with more than two hundred television roles. He gained a cult following with a younger audience for a guest shot on "The First", a two-part episode of The Incredible Hulk. He played Dell Frye, a man who also had the ability to transform into a Hulk-like creature. "The First" is one of the most popular episodes from the TV series largely because of Townes' performance.

Personal life

Townes was ordained as an Episcopal priest in St. Paul's Cathedral on March 16, 1974. He served at St. Mary of the Angels Church in Hollywood. He retired from acting in 1989 and returned to his hometown of Huntsville, where he lived the remainder of his life.

Townes died in Huntsville at the age of eighty-six and is interred there at Maple Hill Cemetery.

Selected film and television appearances

• Westinghouse Studio One - "Success Story" (1952)
• Operation Manhunt (1954)
• Justice (1954)
• Cry Tough (1959)
• Gunsmoke - 7 episodes, 1956–1971
  • "Spring Term" as Bill Lee (15 December 1956)
  • "Monopoly" as Ivy (4 October 1958)
  • "Tail to the Wind" as Pezzy Neller (17 October 1959)
  • "Tobe" as Tobe Hostader (19 October 1963)
  • "Two Tall Men" as Abihu Howell (8 May 1965)
  • "Malachi" as Malachi Harper (13 November 1965)
  • "Lijah" as Hale Parker (8 November 1971)^[2]
• The Mountain - (1956)
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - episodes "The Creeper" (June 17, 1956) and "My Brother Richard" (January 20, 1957) and "The Photographer and The Undertaker" (March 15, 1965)
• The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
• Screaming Mimi (1958)
• Have Gun Will Travel - episode "The Bostonian" as Henry Prince: Season 1, Episode 21 (1958)
• Perry Mason (5 episodes, 1958–1966)
• The Troubleshooters - episode "Moment of Terror" as Verne Lewis (1959)
• Men Into Space" - episode "Lost Missile" as Doctor Tyssen (1959)
• Destination Space" - unsold pilot
• The DuPont Show with June Allyson - as Falk in "The Opening" (1959) and as Rudolph Miller in "The Visitor" (1960)
• The Rebel - as Confederate Colonel Charles Morris in "The Death of Gray" (1960)
• Stagecoach West - Toby Reese in "Life Sentence" (1960)
• Johnny Ringo as Judge Mark Bentley in "Judgement Day" (1960)
• Rawhide (4 episodes, 1959–1964)
• The Twilight Zone - episodes "The Four of Us Are Dying" (1960) and "Shadow Play" (1961)
• Bonanza - "The Mill" (1960), also "The Medal" (1969)
• One Step Beyond - Volume #4 - (1960)
• Laramie - Mace Stringer in "Rope of Steel" (1960)
• Target: The Corruptors! - Joe Knight in "The Fix" (1961)
• Thriller - "The Cheaters" (1960), "Dark Legacy" (1961)
• The Law and Mr. Jones - two episodes as Fowler (1961)
• The Islanders as Hans Lubeck in "To Bell a Cat" (1961)
• The Investigators as Charles Victor in "In a Mirror, Darkly" (1961)
• The Outlaws - three episodes as Frank Wagner (1960–1962)
• The Tall Man - as Henry Stewart in "The Frame" (1962)
• The Littlest Hobo (1963)
• The Dakotas as George Deus in "Feud at Snake River" (1963)
• The Outer Limits as Dr. Cliff Scott in "O.B.I.T." (1963)
• The Eleventh Hour as Mr. Lauderback in the episode "The Wings of the Morning" (1963)
• Mr. Novak as Frank Dever in "The Death of a Teacher" (1964) and as Walter MacTell in "The Tender Twigs" (1965)
• Kentucky Jones (1965) as Charles Caldwell in "The Big Shot"
• The Wild Wild West (2 episodes, 1965–1967)
• The Fugitive - episodes "Fear in a Desert City" (1963), "Tug of War" (1964), "Scapegoat" (1965), "When the Wind Blows" (1965), and "Joshua's Kingdom (1966)
• Dr. Kildare (2 episodes, 1965–1966)
• The Monroes - episode "The Friendly Enemy" as Joe Smith (1966)
• Fitzwilly - (1967)
• Disneyland - 2 episodes as Mr. Barlowe (1967)
• Star Trek - episode "The Return of the Archons" (1967)
• The Mod Squad - Episode "A Time To Love - A Time To Cry" (1968)
• Mannix - Episode "Lost Sunday" (1972)
• Kung Fu - episode "An Eye For An Eye" (1973) (interestingly playing the same exact type role he played in the 1969 Bonanza episode, that of an American Civil War Rebel soldier, who, after the war, is still filled with hurt and resentment about the loss to the North)
• Emergency! - episode "Rip-Off" (1973) as Barney Olsen
• Planet of the Apes - 1 episode " The Interrogation " (1974)
• Sara - episode "Reprieve" as Doc Vaughn (1976)
• Ark II (episode "Omega") - (1976) (a story and role very similar to those of his Star Trek appearance)
• The Incredible Hulk - 2 episodes "The First" (Parts 1 and 2) as Dell Frye (1981)
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - episode "The Guardians" as The Guardian (1981)
• Angel of H.E.A.T. - (1982)
• Voyagers! - episode "The Trial of Phineas Bogg" as Professor Garth (1983)
• The Warrior and the Sorceress - (1984)^[3]
• Father Knows Best - episode "Class Prophecy" (1957)
• Ripcord - episode "Dangerous Night, aka DARB" as Dr. Gustave Merrill (1961)

References

External links

• Harry Townes at the Internet Movie Database
• Harry Townes at Find a Grave

• Harry Townes at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Obituary in The New York Times