Richard Duane Kelton (April 29, 1943 – November 27, 1978) was an American actor.

Life and career

Kelton was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. After briefly attending

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is the school mascot. ...

in 1963, he transferred to The

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

, earning his bachelor's degree in drama 1966, and then his Masters' two years later, in 1968. He returned briefly in 1973 to appear in a campus production. He made his way to California where he made his debut playing "Bud" in an episode of '' Gunsmoke''. In 1967, he made his film debut with a small part in the movie '' In Cold Blood'' (1967) as Nancy's boyfriend. Soon after arriving in California with his wife in 1970, he got guest-starring roles in ''

The Young Rebels ''The Young Rebels'' is an American adventure TV series that was broadcast by ABC as part of its 1970 fall lineup on Sunday night at 7:00 p.m Eastern time. Stars Richard Ely and Philippe Forquet died within a month of each other. Plot ''The You ...

'' and ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

''. Soon afterwards, he made his TV movie debut as "Lieutenant Charring" in ''Wild Women'' (1970). He continued in numerous other guest starring roles and movie roles. He also played the role of "Nick" in the Broadway revival of ''Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?'' in 1976. After returning to California in 1976, he had a guest-starring role on ABC-TV's '' Charlie's Angels''. He played the role of alien science officer "Ficus Pandorata" on the short-lived

NBC-TV The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

science fiction series '' Quark'' (1978). Later that year he was invited back to The University of Kansas to give a short seminar on films.

Death

Kelton died of accidental carbon monoxide asphyxiation due to a faulty heater in his trailer while filming the

miniseries ''

Centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...

'', in which he was to have co-starred.

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, which produced the TV miniseries, was fined $720 for the failure to provide a proper ventilation system for the trailer to which Kelton had retreated to rehearse his lines.

Legacy

His alma mater, KU, established the Richard Kelton Memorial Fund in December 1978 to aid student actors in their professional acting aspirations. The fund still exists today in the form of the Richard Kelton Memorial Scholarship, that provides scholarships for undergraduate students majoring in theatre with an emphasis in acting.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelton, Richard 1943 births 1978 deaths Actors from Lincoln, Nebraska People from Miami, Oklahoma Male actors from Oklahoma American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors Accidental deaths in Colorado Deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning 20th-century American male actors