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

Average career score: 67
Highest Metascore: 100 Murphy Brown: Season 2
Lowest Metascore: 38 The Deep End: Season 1
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 6
  2. Negative: 1 out of 6
6 tv reviews
Title: Year: Credit: User score:
tbd ER: Season 3 Aug 21, 2019 Mitchell Jennings 7.8
tbd 2 Broke Girls: Season 3 Sep 23, 2013 William Schallert 7.6
48 Stephen King's Bag of Bones: Season 1 Dec 11, 2011 Max Devore / Max 5.3
74 True Blood: Season 4 Jun 26, 2011 Mayor Norris / William Schallert 7.5
38 The Deep End: Season 1 Jan 21, 2010 Mr. Douglas 7.4
tbd Medium: Season 6 Sep 25, 2009 J. Donald Kessinger tbd
tbd According to Jim: Season 8 Dec 2, 2008 William Schallert 7.7
77 Desperate Housewives: Season 5 Sep 28, 2008 Ken 8.3
63 True Blood: Season 1 Sep 7, 2008 William Schallert 8.1
tbd Close to Home: Season 2 Sep 22, 2006 Harold Jensen tbd
tbd My Name Is Earl: Season 2 Sep 21, 2006 Dr. Rudin 8.5
tbd How I Met Your Mother: Season 2 Sep 18, 2006 William Schallert 8.6
tbd What's New Scooby-Doo?: Season 3 Jan 29, 2005 William Schallert tbd
tbd What's New Scooby-Doo?: Season 2 Sep 13, 2003 William Schallert / William Schallert tbd
tbd Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Season 5 Sep 30, 1996 Nilz Baris 8.6
tbd Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman: Season 2 Sep 18, 1994 Al tbd
tbd Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Season 2 Sep 26, 1993 Varani 8.0
tbd Coach: Season 6 Sep 14, 1993 Bert tbd
tbd In the Heat of the Night: Season 4 Sep 18, 1990 Carl Tibbetts tbd
tbd Quantum Leap: Season 2 Sep 20, 1989 Judge 8.3
100 Murphy Brown: Season 2 Sep 18, 1989 Actor / William Schallert 3.8
tbd St. Elsewhere: Season 6 Sep 16, 1987 Dr. Stanley tbd
tbd Highway to Heaven: Season 4 Sep 16, 1987 Grandpa tbd
tbd Simon and Simon: Season 6 Sep 25, 1986 Aldous Billings tbd
tbd St. Elsewhere: Season 4 Sep 18, 1985 Dr. Stanley tbd
tbd Magnum, P.I.: Season 3 Sep 30, 1982 Bob tbd
tbd The Waltons: Season 9 Nov 27, 1980 Actor tbd
tbd Archie Bunker's Place: Season 1 Sep 23, 1979 Dr. Wakeford tbd
tbd CHiPs: Season 3 Sep 22, 1979 Rev. Warmer tbd
tbd The Waltons: Season 8 Sep 20, 1979 Actor tbd