Dabbs Greer was a very familiar face in films and especially on TV. He
was a sort of "everyman" in his roles and played merchants, preachers,
businessmen, and other "pillars of the community" types as well as
assorted villains. With his plain looking face, wavy hair and mellow,
distinctive voice he was a solid supporting actor.
He was born on April
2, 1917, in Fairview, Missouri, to Randall Alexander Greer and Bernice Irene Dabbs. Reared in Anderson, Missouri, he
was the only child of a pharmacist father and a speech therapist
mother. His first acting experience was on stage in a children's
theatre production when he was eight years old. He attended Drury
College in Springfield, Missouri, where he earned a BA and headed the
drama department and Little Theatre in Mountain Grove, Missouri, from
1940-43. He then moved on to the famed Pasadena Playhouse in California
as actor, instructor and administrator from 1943-50. He made his film
debut in Das schwarze Buch (1949) (aka "The Black Book") in an uncredited bit part and
went on to appear in many parts during the next 50 years. He is
probably best remembered for his role as Rev. Alden on Unsere kleine Farm (1974) but he
was also a regular on the TV series Rauchende Colts (1955) as a merchant, Mr. Jonas;
Hank - Der (un)heimliche Student (1965) as Coach Ossie Weiss and Picket Fences: Tatort Gartenzaun (1992) as Rev. Henry Novotny. He also
appeared in made-for-TV movies and guest-starred on such series as
Superman - Retter in der Not (1952); Westlich von Santa Fe (1958); Der Kopfgeldjäger (1958); Trackdown (1957); Perry Mason (1957); Bonanza (1959); Auf der Flucht (1963) and
Drei Mädchen und drei Jungen (1969). He died in 2007, aged 90. He never married, had no children, and left no immediate relatives.
