John Anderson

Acting · Directing · Production · Writing

Born October 20, 1922, Clayton, Illinois, USA

John Robert Anderson (October 20, 1922 – August 7, 1992) A tall, sinewy, austere-looking character actor with silver hair, rugged features and a distinctive voice, John Robert Anderson appeared in hundreds of films and television episodes. Immensely versatile, he was at his best submerging himself in the role of historical figures (he impersonated Abraham Lincoln three times and twice baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, men whom he strongly resembled). He was a familiar presence in westerns and science-fiction serials, usually as upstanding, dignified and generally benign citizens (a rare exception was his Ebonite interrogator in The Outer Limits (1963) episode "Nightmare"). He had a high opinion of Rod Serling and was proud to be featured in four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959), most memorably as the tuxedo-clad angel Gabriel in "A Passage for Trumpet" (doing for Jack Klugman what Henry Travers did for James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)).

Filmography

• 2021John, 316 — Story Editor
• 1994Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone — Virgil Earp (flashback sequence) (archive footage)
• 1992Bed of Lies — Price Daniel, Sr.
• 1991Babe Ruth — Judge Landis
• 1991Daddy — George Watson
• 1991In Broad Daylight — Wes Westerman
• 1990Follow Your Heart — Josh Lowe
• 1989Deadly Innocents — Gus
• 1989Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal — George Dutton
• Quantum Leap — Pat Knight
• Aaron's Way
• Annie McGuire
• 1988Eight Men Out — Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
• 1987American Harvest — Judge Meriweather
• Jake and the Fatman — Ace Thompson
• Star Trek: The Next Generation — Kevin Uxbridge
• Dream West — Brig. Gen. Brooke
• Heart of the City — Warren
• 1986I-Man — Holbrook
• Matlock — Sam Chandler
• 1986Never Too Young to Die — Arliss
• 1986Scorpion — Noel G. Koch
• MacGyver — Harry Jackson
• North and South — William Hazard
• Hunter — Winston Taggert
• Murder, She Wrote — Andrew Dixon
• 1984Sins of the Past — Rev. Donald Randolph
• Scarecrow and Mrs. King
• Matt Houston
• 1982Missing Children: A Mother's Story — Stanley Willard
• Silver Spoons — Captain Stark
• 1982The First Time — Paul Cooper
• Voyagers!
• Bret Maverick — General Frye
• 1981Out of the Blue — T.V. Interviewer
• 1981Zoot Suit — Judge F.W. Charles
• 1980Smokey and the Bandit II — Governor
• Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
• $weepstake$ — Thomas Singer
• Backstairs at the White House — Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Hart to Hart
• 1979In Search of Historic Jesus — Caiaphas
• The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo — Col. Clayborn
• Dallas — Dr. Herbert Styles
• 1978Donner Pass: The Road to Survival — Patrick Breen
• 1978The Deerslayer — Hutter
• Lou Grant — Russell Grainger
• 1977Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion — Alexander Majors
• Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected — Floyd Carrington
• 1977The Force of Evil — Sheriff John Carrington
• The Incredible Hulk — Mike Calahan
• 1977The Last Hurrah — Amos Force
• 1977The Lincoln Conspiracy — Abraham Lincoln
• 1976Bridger — President Andrew Jackson
• Quincy, M.E. — Justin DeWilde, Chief Frank Ollano, Movie Director
• Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II — Scotty
• 1976The Dark Side of Innocence — Stephen Hancock
• 1976The Quest — Army Officer
• The Quest
• Bronk — Colonel Hecker
• 1975Dead Man on the Run — Jason Monroe
• 1975Death Among Friends — Capt. Lewis
• 1975The Specialist — Pike Smith
• 1974Heatwave! — Toler
• 1974Lincoln: Trial by Fire — President Lincoln
• Little House on the Prairie — Amos Pike
• 1974Manhunter — Aaron Denver
• Petrocelli — Joshua Forbes
• 1974Smile Jenny, You're Dead — Col. John Lockport
• 1974The Dove — Mike Turk
• The Rockford Files — Gerald A. O'Malley
• 1973Call to Danger — Edward McClure
• 1973Executive Action — Halliday
• 1973Hitched — Jomer Cruett
• 1973Set This Town on Fire — Henry Kealey
• 1973The Counsellor — Don Vito Albanese
• Emergency! — Captain Bob Roberts
• Kung Fu — Jack Youngblood, Wray, Benjamin Dundee
• M*A*S*H — General Collins
• 1972Molly and Lawless John — Sheriff Marvin Parker
• The Bob Newhart Show — Mr. Charlie Colton
• The Sixth Sense — The Sheriff
• 1972The Stepmother — Inspector Darnezi
• Bearcats! — Judge Juan O'Brien
• Cannon
• 1971Man and Boy — Stretch
• 1970Cotton Comes to Harlem — Capt. Bryce
• 1970Soldier Blue — Col. Iverson
• 1970The Andersonville Trial — Ambrose Spencer
• 1970The Animals — Sheriff Allan Pierce
• Hawaii Five-O — Brig. General Earl Rigney
• 1969Heaven with a Gun — Ase Beck
• 1969The Great Bank Robbery — Mayor Kincaid
• 1969Young Billy Young — Boone
• 19685 Card Stud — Marshal Dana
• 1968A Man Called Gannon — Capper
• 1968Day of the Evil Gun — Captain Jefferson Addis
• Here Come the Brides
• Lancer
• 1967A Covenant with Death — Dietrich
• Cimarron Strip
• Mannix — George Blake
• 1967Welcome to Hard Times — Ezra Maple / Isaac Maple
• Felony Squad — Lt. Mike Reineck
• 1966Namu, the Killer Whale — Joe Clausen
• Occasional Wife
• 1966Scalplock — Standish
• Tarzan
• 1966The Fortune Cookie — Abraham Lincoln (uncredited)
• The Rat Patrol — Major Indrus, Gen. Owen Lansbury
• The Big Valley — Matt Bentell
• The F.B.I. — Adam MacDonald, Bollin
• 1965The Guide — Producer's Assistant
• 1965The Hallelujah Trail — Sgt. Buell
• The Legend of Jesse James — Moss Canby
• 1965The Satan Bug — Agent Reagan
• 1964For the Love of Willadean — Farmer Wills
• Kraft Suspense Theatre — Rankin
• My Favorite Martian — Capt. Farrow
• Redigo
• The Fugitive — Justin Briggs, Ed Shrader
• The Great Adventure — Colonel Knowlton
• The Lieutenant — Joe Hammond
• The Outer Limits — Ebonite Interrogator
• 1962Geronimo — Jeremiah Burns
• 1962Ride the High Country — Elder Hammond
• Sam Benedict — James Bradley, Jim Bradley
• Stoney Burke
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour — Luke Hunter, Adam
• The Virginian — Major Cass, Adam Tercell, Jeremiah Chilton, Deputy Sheriff Sam Morrell, Sam McLain, Seth James
• 1962Walk on the Wild Side — Preacher
• 87th Precinct
• Ben Casey
• Cain's Hundred — Kenneth Drake
• Dr. Kildare — Vernon Hackett
• Harrigan and Son — Earl
• Outlaws
• Peter Loves Mary — Bill Horton
• 1960Psycho — California Charlie
• Route 66
• Stagecoach West — Cole Dawson
• The Tall Man
• 1960The Wackiest Ship in the Army — Sailor (uncredited)
• The Westerner — Leth Ritchie
• Thriller — Jacob Grant
• Adventures in Paradise — Benson
• Black Saddle — Clyde Wicker
• Bonanza — Sam Masters, Gorman, Tulsa Weems
• Johnny Ringo — Cartwright
• Laramie
• 1959Last Train from Gun Hill — Salesman
• Law of the Plainsman — Clyde Santee, Matthew Bannock, Jeb Wicken
• Rawhide — Captain James Rankin, Maj. Cantwell
• The Detectives
• The Rebel — Ezra Taber
• The Twilight Zone — Capt. 'Skipper' Farver, Goldsmith, Deidrich, Gabriel
• Bat Masterson — Major Liam Mars
• Bronco
• Lawman — Hassayampa Edwards
• Peter Gunn
• Sea Hunt
• Steve Canyon — Sergeant Bulla
• The Rifleman — Samuel Gibbs, Owny Kincaid
• 1958The True Story of Lynn Stuart — Doc
• Wanted: Dead or Alive — Deputy Sheriff Fix
• Yancy Derringer — Wayne Raven
• Have Gun, Will Travel — Fred Cooley
• Panic!
• Perry Mason — George Andrews, Bud Ferrand, Dan O'Malley
• Richard Diamond, Private Detective — Paul Russell
• The Walter Winchell File
• Trackdown — McCall
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre — Fisk Madden, Roy Kelsey, Marshal Cal Lazenby, John Duncan
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents — Nicholson, Attendant
• Cheyenne
• Gunsmoke — Ben Siple, Delliver, Yermo, Cheevers, Pa Gibbijohn, Les McConnell, Roberts, Jess Fletcher, Amos Sadler, Lemuel Cleary, Adam Kimbro
• The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp — Virgil Earp
• Lassie
• Hallmark Hall of Fame — Amos Force
• 1951The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
• Inside Detective — Theater manager
• 1946Dick Tracy vs. Cueball — Assistant Director
• Rebel Range — Fisk Madden