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 Little House on the Prairie: Season 6 Sep 17, 1979 Dean Russell Harmon tbd
tbd The Hardy Boys Mysteries: Season 3 Oct 2, 1978 Carson Drew tbd
tbd The Hardy Boys Mysteries: Season 2 Sep 11, 1977 Carson Drew tbd
tbd The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries: Season 1 Jan 30, 1977 Carson Drew tbd
tbd The Hardy Boys Mysteries: Season 1 Jan 30, 1977 Carson Drew tbd
tbd Maude: Season 5 Sep 20, 1976 Leon tbd
tbd The Bionic Woman (1976): Season 1 Jan 14, 1976 Uncle Bill tbd
tbd Little House on the Prairie: Season 2 Sep 10, 1975 Snell tbd
tbd Ironside: Season 7 Sep 13, 1973 Caretaker / William Schallert tbd
tbd Gunsmoke: Season 19 Sep 10, 1973 Cordelius / Cordelius tbd
tbd Kung Fu: Season 1 Oct 14, 1972 Roper 7.4
tbd Banacek: Season 1 Sep 13, 1972 Osburn / Guest tbd
tbd Love, American Style: Season 4 Sep 5, 1972 Actor tbd
tbd Get Smart: Season 5 Sep 26, 1969 Earl Kibbee / Kibbee tbd
tbd Gunsmoke: Season 15 Sep 22, 1969 Jake Spence / Spence tbd
tbd Bewitched: Season 6 Sep 18, 1969 Anton / William Schallert tbd
tbd The Wild Wild West: Season 4 Sep 27, 1968 Actor / Harper tbd
tbd Gunsmoke: Season 14 Sep 23, 1968 Ezra Thorpe tbd
tbd Get Smart: Season 4 Sep 21, 1968 Admiral Hargrade / Hargarde / Hargrade tbd
tbd Star Trek: Season 2 Sep 15, 1967 Baris 7.3
tbd Ironside: Season 1 Sep 14, 1967 Arkoff / William Schallert tbd
tbd The Wild Wild West: Season 3 Sep 8, 1967 Silas tbd
tbd Mission: Impossible: Season 1 Sep 17, 1966 Dr. Harrison Selby tbd
tbd Get Smart: Season 2 Sep 17, 1966 Admiral Hargrade / Hargarde tbd
tbd The Patty Duke Show: Season 3 Sep 15, 1965 Martin Lane / Martin Lane / Uncle Jed / Martin Lane tbd
tbd The Patty Duke Show: Season 2 Sep 16, 1964 Martin Lane / Martin Lane tbd
tbd The Lucy Show: Season 2 Sep 30, 1963 Mr. Cresant tbd
tbd The Patty Duke Show: Season 1 Sep 18, 1963 Martin Lane / Martin Lane tbd
tbd The Lucy Show: Season 1 Oct 1, 1962 Mr. Cresant tbd
tbd Gunsmoke: Season 8 Sep 15, 1962 Jess tbd