Dean Arthur Harens (June 30, 1920 – May 20, 1996) was an American actor. He appeared in movies, plays and many TV programs over four decades.

Early years

Born in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

in 1920, Harens studied at the Goodman Theatre in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Harens was a protege of actress

Alison Skipworth Alison Skipworth (born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom; 25 July 18635 July 1952) was an English stage and screen actress. Early years Skipworth was born in London. She was the daughter of Dr. Richard Ebenezer Groom and Elizabeth Rodgers, an ...

, who discovered him when he was acting in Michigan.

Career

Harens acted summer stock before debuting on Broadway in ''The Talley Method'' in 1941. His first film appearance came at the age of 24, in 1944's ''

Christmas Holiday ''Christmas Holiday'' is a 1944 American film noir crime film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly. Based on the 1939 novel of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, the film is about a woman who marries a Souther ...

''. He appeared in seven movies throughout his career, although never in a starring role. He was a cast member on three TV series, and played a recurring character on the ABC series ''

The F.B.I. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

''. Among the television series in which Harens guest starred was the 1958-1959

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

about the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

, '' Behind Closed Doors'', hosted and occasionally starring Bruce Gordon. He also made four guest appearances on '' Perry Mason'', including the role of murderer Frank Fettridge in the 1959 episode, "The Case of the Calendar Girl," the 1959 episode of “The Case of Paul Drake’s Dilemma” as the brother-in-law of the victim, and in 1960 the role of double murderer Riley Morgan in "The Case of the Wandering Widow." Harens also guest starred twice in the western TV series ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on ...

'': he played Jim Poole in the 1965 episode "Jonah" and he portrayed rancher Morgan Tanner in the 1966 episode "Credit for a Kill". Harens's wife, actress

June Dayton June Dayton (born Mary June Wetzel; August 24, 1923 – June 13, 1994) was an American television actress who appeared in a variety of shows from the 1950s into the 1980s. Early life Dayton was born in Dayton, Ohio. She used her hometown of D ...

, whom he met while acting on Broadway in 1947, died in 1994 at the age of 70.

Death

Harens died in

Van Nuys Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

, in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

of Los Angeles, California, at the age of 75. He was interred in San Fernando Mission Cemetery in San Fernando, California.

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1920 births 1996 deaths American male stage actors American male film actors American male television actors 20th-century American male actors {{US-screen-actor-1920s-stub