Another in the long line of 1950s and 1960s character actors whose face
was oh-so familiar but not the name, Richard Eastham was originally
headed for a musical career.
He was born Dickinson Swift Eastham in
Opelousas, Louisiana, on June 22, 1916. A student at Washington
University, he was gifted with a fine sturdy baritone and performed
with the St. Louis Grand Opera in the days before World War II. After
finishing his wartime four-year army service, Eastham moved to New York
and studied at the American Theatre Wing. H
Richard's musical peak came after
understudying singer Ezio Pinza as plantation
owner "Emile DeBecque" in "South Pacific", sharing the stage in the
role with the likes of Mary Martin
and (later) Janet Blair while using
the name Dickenson Eastham. He also co-starred in an
Ethel Merman production of "Call Me Madam"
in the early 1950s and made his minor non-singing film bow with Merman
in the Fox film musical
Rhythmus im Blut (1954).
His TV debut came with a musical appearance on
Toast of the Town (1948)
(aka "The Ed Sullivan Show") in 1949.
A strong, masculine presence with slick blond hair and prominent
cheekbones, he changed his stage name to "Richard Eastham" and switched
gears to film and TV acting in the late 1950s, shifting quite easily
from playing men of integrity to outright heavies in crime stories and
westerns. Although he was an erratic presence in films, he made solid appearances in
Die große Schuld (1957), Disney's
Mein Freund Stubbs (1960)
and Alles für die Katz (1965),
Finger weg von meiner Frau (1966),
Die Mörder stehen Schlange (1966),
Tom Sawyers Abenteuer (1973) and
McQ schlägt zu (1974), among others.
TV would be a different story altogether. A frequent guest on
Perry Mason (1957) as both
prosecutor and suspect, he appeared with great regularity on such
series as Bat Masterson (1958),
Sprung aus den Wolken (1961),
Bonanza (1959),
F.B.I. (1965),
Einsatz in Manhattan (1973),
Barnaby Jones (1973) and
Die Waltons (1972). As a regular,
he introduced and narrated the western series
Wilder Westen Arizona (1957);
played "Red Wilson" in the daytime soap
Bright Promise (1969);
appeared as "Gen. Phil Blankenship" on
Wonder Woman (1975) starring
Lynda Carter; and joined the
Falcon Crest (1981) cast in his
last recurring TV role as "Dr. Howell".
Long settled in Los Angeles and
was married to his wife, Betty Jean, for 60 years until her death in
2002, he suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his final years and died
from complications at age 89 on July 10, 2005.
