William Schallert

Biography: The son of the Los Angeles Times' drama editor, William Schallert was, along with Sydney Chaplin, one of the co-founders of Hollywood's highly regarded Circle Theatre troupe. Sent to Great Britain on a Fulbright Fellowship to study British repertory theatre, Schallert guest-lectured at Oxford on several occasion before heading home. A character actor of almost intimidating versatility, Schallert began his long film and TV career in 1951. While he appeared in films of every variety, Schallert was most closely associated with the many doctors (mad or otherwise), lab technicians and scientific experts that he played in such science fiction endeavors as The Man From Planet X (1951), Gog (1954), Them! (1954) The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and The Monolith Monsters (1959). Director Joe Dante paid homage to Schallert's prolific horror-flick work by casting the actor in his Matinee, where he played yet another dabbler in Things Man Is Not Meant to Know in the film-within-a-filmThe son of the Los Angeles Times' drama editor, William Schallert was, along with Sydney Chaplin, one of the co-founders of Hollywood's highly regarded Circle Theatre troupe. Sent to Great Britain on a Fulbright Fellowship to study British repertory theatre, Schallert guest-lectured at Oxford on several occasion before heading home. A character actor of almost intimidating versatility, Schallert began his long film and TV career in 1951. While he appeared in films of every variety, Schallert was most closely associated with the many doctors (mad or otherwise), lab technicians and scientific experts that he played in such science fiction endeavors as The Man From Planet X (1951), Gog (1954), Them! (1954) The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and The Monolith Monsters (1959). Director Joe Dante paid homage to Schallert's prolific horror-flick work by casting the actor in his Matinee, where he played yet another dabbler in Things Man Is Not Meant to Know in the film-within-a-film "Mant." Schallert's hundreds television credits could fill a book in themselves; the Nickelodeon cable network once tried to put together a montage of the actor's guest star appearances, touching only the tip of the iceberg. He was a regular on such series as Dobie Gillis (as literature teacher Mr. Pomfrit, who always dismissed his class as though announcing the beginning of the Indy 500), Get Smart (as a senile 97-year-old Navy admiral), The Nancy Drew Mysteries (as Nancy's attorney father) The New Gidget (as Gidget's professor father) The Nancy Walker Show, Little Women and Santa Barbara. His most famous TV role was as Patty Lane's ever-patient newspaper-editor dad on The Patty Duke Show, which ran from 1963 through 1966; over twenty years later, Mr. Schallert and Ms. Duke were touchingly reunited--again as father and daughter--on an episode of The Torkelsons (1991-92). William Schallert once served as president of the Screen Actors' Guild, a position later held...by Patty Duke. Shallert continued acting until the early 2010s; he died in 2016, at age 93. Expand

William Schallert's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average career score: 66
Highest Metascore: 86 Written on the Wind
Lowest Metascore: 39 Teachers
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Negative: 1 out of 11
11 movie reviews
Title: Year: Credit: User score:
66 Innerspace Jul 1, 1987 Dr. Greenbush / Dr. Greenbush 7.7
39 Teachers Oct 5, 1984 Horn tbd
63 The Strongest Man in the World Feb 6, 1975 Prof. Quigley / Prof. Quigley 5.4
76 Charley Varrick Oct 19, 1973 San Miguel Sheriff Bill Horton tbd
54 The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes Dec 24, 1969 Professor Quigley 8.0
53 Speedway Jun 12, 1968 Abel Esterlake tbd
68 Hour of the Gun Nov 1, 1967 Herman Spicer 4.4
76 In the Heat of the Night Aug 3, 1967 Mayor Schubert / Mayor Schubert 5.8
76 The Tarnished Angels Dec 31, 1957 Ted Baker tbd
73 The Incredible Shrinking Man Feb 22, 1957 Doctor Arthur Bramson / Doctor Arthur Bramson 7.0
86 Written on the Wind Dec 25, 1956 Reporter tbd