Frank Buxton (February 13, 1930 – January 2, 2018) was an American actor, television writer, author, and television director. Buxton grew up in

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Larc ...

. He was a graduate of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

(B.S.) and

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

(M.S.), and served in the U.S. Army in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Career

Buxton's acting career extends from summer theatre in ''Three Men on a Horse'' with the legendary

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

at age 19. He worked as a producer-director at

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, as well as Buffalo stations WGR-TV and

WBUF-TV WBUF-TV was a television station that broadcast on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 17 in Buffalo, New York, United States. It broadcast from August 17, 1953, to February 1955 and again from March 1955 until the morning of October 1, 1958. Th ...

. Turning to performing, Buxton performed his own stand-up comedy act at comedy clubs from coast to coast. He toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for a year as Albert in ''

Bye Bye Birdie ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart. Originally titled ''Let's Go Steady'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is set in 1958. The short story "Dream Man", authored ...

''. His first TV credit was as host and producer of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television documentary series, ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

'' co-hosted by actress/singer

Virginia Gibson Virginia Gibson (born Virginia Gorski; April 9, 1925 – April 25, 2013) was an American dancer, singer and actress of film, television and musical theatre. Early years Of Polish and Irish lineage, Gibson was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jo ...

from 1962 to 1966. Buxton also did the narration, as well as all of the voices, for the "Silly Record" LP (1962 on

Harmony Records Harmony Records was a record label owned by Columbia Records that debuted in 1925. History Harmony Records began for low-priced 78 rpm records in the 1920s and 1930s. It was revived for budget albums of reissued tracks in 1957. The revived labe ...

). In 1966, Buxton teamed up with

Hal Seeger Harold Seeger (May 16, 1917 – March 13, 2005) was an American animated cartoon producer and director who owned his own studio the Hal Seeger Studio (Hal Seeger Productions). He is most famous as the creator of the 1960s animated series '' Batfi ...

in the animated cartoon series ''

Batfink ''Batfink'' is an American animated television series, consisting of five-minute shorts, that first aired in April 1966.David Mackay published a filmography of Batfink in the Sept. 1993 issues oFarmes per Second magazine, and also provided a comp ...

'', providing the voice for the title character in all 100 episodes, as well as its recurring villain Hugo A-Go-Go. As a writer, Buxton co-authored with Bill Owen on two books covering the golden age of radio - ''The Big Broadcast'' and ''The Golden Age''. Owen succeeded Buxton as host of ''Discovery'' from 1966 to 1971. Buxton also hosted the game show '' Get the Message'' for ABC in 1964, later to be replaced by

Robert Q. Lewis Robert Q. Lewis (born Robert Goldberg; April 25, 1921 – December 11, 1991) was an American radio and television personality, comedian, game show host, and actor. Lewis added the middle initial "Q" to his name accidentally on the air in 1942, ...

. For much of the 1970s, Buxton worked as a writer, producer and director for

Paramount Television The original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its name ...

. He served as a story editor for the comedy anthology series ''

Love, American Style ''Love, American Style'' is an anthology comedy television series that aired on ABC from 1969 to 1974. The series was produced by Paramount Television. During the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons, it was a part of ABC's Friday primetime lineup ...

'', in addition to writing and directing episodes of ''

The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to: Neil Simon play and its adaptations * ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon ** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play *** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...

'', ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most succ ...

'' and ''

Mork & Mindy ''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', "My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrest ...

''. Buxton also created, wrote, produced and directed the television series ''

Hot Dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

'' for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

, which starred

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

Tom Smothers Thomas Bolyn Smothers III (born February 2, 1937) is an American comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick. Early life Smothers was born in 1937 at ...

Jonathan Winters Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also h ...

, and

Joanne Worley Jo Anne Worley (born September 6, 1937) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. Her work covers television, films, theater, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. Worley is widely known for her work on the comedy-variety sho ...

. The series won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 1970. Buxton played roles in numerous TV series, movies, and commercials such as

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

and Safeway Markets, to name a few. He spent the end of his life in

Bainbridge Island Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, where he was active in community theatre and numerous philanthropic activities. Buxton continued to perform regularly with The Edge, an improvisational comedy group at Bainbridge Performing Arts. He was also a regular cast member on the web cooking show ''Cookus Interruptus''.

Death

Frank Buxton died on January 2, 2018, in Bainbridge Island, Washington from heart-related issues. At the time of his death, he was still active in local theater and improv.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buxton, Frank 1930 births 2018 deaths Male actors from Massachusetts American male voice actors American male stage actors American male film actors American male television actors American television writers American male television writers American television directors People from Wellesley, Massachusetts People from Bainbridge Island, Washington Screenwriters from Massachusetts Screenwriters from Washington (state)