Liam Dunn (November 12, 1916 – April 11, 1976) was an American character actor.

Life and career

The

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

native's early career was spent in television in series such as ''

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 ...

'', ''

Room 222 ''Room 222'' is an American comedy-drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox Television that aired on ABC for 112 episodes, from September 17, 1969 until January 11, 1974. The show was broadcast on Wednesday evenings at 8:30 ( EST) fo ...

'', ''

Alias Smith and Jones ''Alias Smith and Jones'' is an American Western series that originally aired on ABC from January 1971 to January 1973. The show initially starred Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, outlaw cousins who are tryin ...

'', ''

Mannix ''Mannix'' is an American detective television series that ran from 1967 to 1975 on CBS. It was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller. The title character, Joe Mannix, is a private in ...

'', ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situa ...

'' 5Ep18as "Amos", and ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...

''. Dunn's breakout role was as the judge (and

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

's character's father) in the 1972 film '' What's Up, Doc?'', for which he was noticed by

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

, who was in the process of forming a stock company of actors. Dunn went on to appear in Brooks films, including ''

Blazing Saddles ''Blazing Saddles'' is a 1974 American satirical western black comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, who also wrote the screenplay with Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Alan Uger. The film stars Cleavon Little and Gene Wilde ...

'' (1974) as Rev. Johnson, ''

Young Frankenstein ''Young Frankenstein'' is a 1974 American comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks. The screenplay was co-written by Brooks and Gene Wilder. Wilder also starred in the lead role as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor ...

'' (1974) as Mr. Hilltop, and as the Newsvendor in ''

Silent Movie ''Silent Movie'' is a 1976 American satirical comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in the summer of 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and Sid ...

'' (1976). He also appeared in several Walt Disney productions, such as '' The World's Greatest Athlete'' (1973), ''

Charley and the Angel ''Charley and the Angel'' is a 1973 American Disney family/comedy film set in an unidentified small city in the 1930s Depression-era Midwestern United States and starring Fred MacMurray in one of his final film appearances and his last movie for ...

'' (1973), ''

Herbie Rides Again ''Herbie Rides Again'' is a 1974 American comedy film and the second installment of ''The Love Bug'' film series made by Walt Disney Productions starring an anthropomorphic (and quite autonomous) 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie. The ...

'' (1974) and '' Gus'' (1976). He frequently portrayed characters who were verbally and/or physically abused in a slapstick way. Additional television credits include ''

Twigs A twig is a thin, often short, branch of a tree or bush. The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away. The color, texture, and patterning of the twig bark are ...

'', ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

'', ''

Barney Miller ''Barney Miller'' is an American sitcom television series set in a New York City Police Department police station on East 6th St in Greenwich Village. The series was broadcast on ABC Network from January 23, 1975, to May 20, 1982. It was cre ...

'', '' McMillan & Wife'', ''

Rhoda ''Rhoda'' is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns starring Valerie Harper that originally aired on CBS for five seasons from September 9, 1974, to December 9, 1978. It was the first spin-off of ''The Mary Tyl ...

'', ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom '' Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the Unit ...

'', and ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Moo ...

'', S4Ep6. Additional film credits included roles in ''

Catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non- ...

'' (1970), ''

The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid ''The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid'' is a 1972 American Western film about the James-Younger Gang distributed by Universal Pictures. It was written and directed by Philip Kaufman in a cinéma vérité style and starring Cliff Robertson. The ...

'' (1972), ''

A Reflection of Fear ''A Reflection of Fear'' is a 1972 American thriller film directed by William A. Fraker with a screenplay by Edward Hume and Lewis John Carlino and starring Sondra Locke, Robert Shaw, Mary Ure, Signe Hasso, Gordon Devol and Sally Kellerman. It ...

'' (1972), '' Emperor of the North Pole'' (1973), '' Papillon'' (1973), '' Killer Bees'' (1974), '' Bank Shot'' (1974), ''

At Long Last Love ''At Long Last Love'' is a 1975 American jukebox musical comedy film written, produced, and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. It stars Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn, and Duilio Del Prete as two couples who each switch partners d ...

'' (1975), '' The Night That Panicked America'' (1975), '' Peeper'' (1976) and '' High Velocity'' (1976). Liam was a warm and witty presence and occasionally enjoyed smoking

pot Pot may refer to: Containers * Flowerpot, a container in which plants are cultivated * Pottery, ceramic ware made by potters * A type of cookware Places * Ken Jones Aerodrome, IATA airport code POT * Palestinian Occupied Territories, the W ...

with his young friends. However, he had serious

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alv ...

and often had to use oxygen, from a relatively small, green tank. Nevertheless, he always smoked

cigarettes A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

. Asked why, he replied "I can't stop." Dunn collapsed on the set of Disney's ''

The Shaggy D.A. ''The Shaggy D.A.'' is a 1976 American comedy film and a sequel to '' The Shaggy Dog'' (1959) produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Don Tait. As with the first film in the series, it takes some ...

'' (1976) during the filming of the roller rink sequence, and as soon as he was hospitalized, died on April 11, 1976, from emphysema in Granada Hills, California.

John Fiedler John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

was brought in to complete the role as dog catcher. Though only 59 at the time of his death, Dunn always looked much older than he was, and he was cast accordingly.

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1916 births 1976 deaths American male film actors American male television actors Deaths from emphysema Male actors from New Jersey 20th-century American male actors American male comedy actors {{US-tv-actor-1910s-stub