Frank Aletter
Encyclopedia
Frank Aletter was an American
stage, film, and television actor.
During the 1950s Aletter appeared on Broadway in Bells Are Ringing
, Time Limit, and Wish You Were Here
. He soon moved on to a prolific television career, appearing as a guest on numerous shows between 1956 and 1988.
Aletter starred in three programs in the 1960s. Bringing Up Buddy
, a CBS sitcom during the 1960-1961 season, featured Aletter with Enid Markey
and Doro Merande
, who portrayed his overprotective spinster
aunts to Aletter's character, Buddy Flower, a bachelor
stockbroker. Aletter's first wife, Lee Meriwether
, a former Miss America
, guest starred in one of the episodes.
After Bringing Up Buddy, Aletter guest starred in ABC
's crime drama Target: The Corruptors!
, CBS's anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show
, and NBC
's medical drama
The Eleventh Hour
.
In the 1964-1965 season, Aletter appeared in The Cara Williams Show, with Cara Williams
as his television wife. The two worked at the same company in violation of policy that employees could not marry each other and maintain their employment. The show hence focused on how they kept their marriage secret. In the 1965-66 season he guest starred on two episodes of Twelve O'Clock High as Lt.Col Bill Ritchie and as a Sergeant in public relations.
Aletter also appeared in It's About Time, a Sherwood Schwartz
series on CBS in 1966-1967.
He played Professor Irwin Hayden in the Richard Donner
directed 36 part live-action cliffhanger
serial Danger Island
on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour which aired on Saturday mornings on NBC
from 1968-1970.
In the fall of 1970, he had a supporting role in the NBC
sitcom Nancy
.
His movie roles include Mister Roberts, Tora! Tora! Tora!
, and Disney's A Tiger Walks
.
Along with his acting work, Aletter was involved with Screen Actors Guild
, having been elected as a vice president in 1987.
, former Miss America, from 1958 to 1974. They had two daughters, actresses Kyle Aletter-Oldham
and Lesley Aletter.
He married his second wife, Estella, former Miss Hurricane Hunter, in 1984; he had two stepdaughters, Julia and Alexandria Hodes.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stage, film, and television actor.
During the 1950s Aletter appeared on Broadway in Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
, Time Limit, and Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here (musical)
Wish You Were Here is a musical with a book by Arthur Kober and Joshua Logan and music and lyrics by Harold Rome. The musical was adapted from Kober's 1937 play, Having Wonderful Time, and revolves around a summer camp for adults.-Synopsis:...
. He soon moved on to a prolific television career, appearing as a guest on numerous shows between 1956 and 1988.
Aletter starred in three programs in the 1960s. Bringing Up Buddy
Bringing Up Buddy
Bringing Up Buddy is a 39-episode situation comedy television series which aired on CBS during the 1960–1961 season. In the story line, Frank Aletter, a native of Queens, New York, plays the orphaned Buddy Flower, a bachelor stockbroker, who is reared by his overprotective and meticulous aunts,...
, a CBS sitcom during the 1960-1961 season, featured Aletter with Enid Markey
Enid Markey
Enid Markey was an American actress of stage, film and television. She originated the role of Jane in films, playing the character twice - in 1918 .Her first film role was in The Fortunes of War...
and Doro Merande
Doro Merande
Doro Merande was an American actress who appeared in Hollywood films, onstage and on television. A well-regarded character actress, she frequently portrayed "sour, witchy old women"...
, who portrayed his overprotective spinster
Spinster
A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...
aunts to Aletter's character, Buddy Flower, a bachelor
Bachelor
A bachelor is a man above the age of majority who has never been married . Unlike his female counterpart, the spinster, a bachelor may have had children...
stockbroker. Aletter's first wife, Lee Meriwether
Lee Meriwether
Lee Ann Meriwether is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the 1955 Miss America pageant. She is perhaps best known for her role as Betty Jones, the crime-solving partner in the long-running 1970s crime drama, Barnaby Jones. The role earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations in...
, a former Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
, guest starred in one of the episodes.
After Bringing Up Buddy, Aletter guest starred in ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's crime drama Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors! is a 35-episode crime drama starring Stephen McNally as newspaper reporter Paul Marino, which aired on ABC from September 29, 1961 to June 8, 1962. The character Jack Flood, Marino's undercover agent, was portrayed by Robert Harland...
, CBS's anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show
The Lloyd Bridges Show
The Lloyd Bridges Show is an American anthology drama series produced by Aaron Spelling, which aired on CBS from September 11, 1962 to May 28, 1963, starring and hosted by Lloyd Bridges.-Synopsis:...
, and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's medical drama
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...
.
In the 1964-1965 season, Aletter appeared in The Cara Williams Show, with Cara Williams
Cara Williams
Cara Williams is an American film and television actress.-Biography:Born as Bernice Kamiat to an Austrian emigrant father and a mother of Romanian descent, she began her screen acting career in 1941, and was initially billed as Bernice Kay...
as his television wife. The two worked at the same company in violation of policy that employees could not marry each other and maintain their employment. The show hence focused on how they kept their marriage secret. In the 1965-66 season he guest starred on two episodes of Twelve O'Clock High as Lt.Col Bill Ritchie and as a Sergeant in public relations.
Aletter also appeared in It's About Time, a Sherwood Schwartz
Sherwood Schwartz
Sherwood Charles Schwartz was an American television producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, and created the television series Gilligan's Island on CBS and The Brady Bunch on ABC...
series on CBS in 1966-1967.
He played Professor Irwin Hayden in the Richard Donner
Richard Donner
Richard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer.The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen, Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern...
directed 36 part live-action cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
serial Danger Island
Danger Island (TV series)
Danger Island is a live-action adventure serial produced by Hanna-Barbera and originally broadcast in 1968 as a segment on the Banana Splits Adventure Hour...
on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour which aired on Saturday mornings on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
from 1968-1970.
In the fall of 1970, he had a supporting role in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sitcom Nancy
Nancy (TV series)
Nancy is a 1970-1971 NBC sitcom starring Renne Jarrett as Nancy Smith, the daughter of the President of the United States, who, according to the story line, while she is on vacation in fictitious Center City, Iowa, meets and marries a veterinarian, played by John Fink in the role of Dr...
.
His movie roles include Mister Roberts, Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tora! Tora! Tora!
is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...
, and Disney's A Tiger Walks
A Tiger Walks
A Tiger Walks is a 1964 family drama film, directed by Norman Tokar and produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is based on a novel of the same name by Ian Niall...
.
Along with his acting work, Aletter was involved with Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
, having been elected as a vice president in 1987.
Personal life
He was married to Lee MeriwetherLee Meriwether
Lee Ann Meriwether is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the 1955 Miss America pageant. She is perhaps best known for her role as Betty Jones, the crime-solving partner in the long-running 1970s crime drama, Barnaby Jones. The role earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations in...
, former Miss America, from 1958 to 1974. They had two daughters, actresses Kyle Aletter-Oldham
Kyle Aletter-Oldham
Kyle Aletter is an American actress and model who was born May 31, 1960 in Los Angeles, California. She was a substitute model on the U.S. game shows The Price Is Right and Card Sharks...
and Lesley Aletter.
He married his second wife, Estella, former Miss Hurricane Hunter, in 1984; he had two stepdaughters, Julia and Alexandria Hodes.
External links
- New York Times Movies His filmography there
- Frank Aletter, Screen Actor, Dies at 83