Robert F. Simon
Encyclopedia
Robert F. Simon was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

, often portraying military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 or authority figure roles. Though his face was recognized by audiences, he was mostly unknown by name. Simon appeared in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s and on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 between 1950 and 1985, having mastered the genre of westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

, drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

, and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

.

Television work

Simon had recurring supporting roles on six television series:
  • As copy editor Dave Tabak in Saints and Sinners (1962–63)
  • As Uncle Everett McPherson in the 1970 NBC 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...

  • As Frank Stephens, father-in-law of Samantha Stephens and father of Darrin Stephens, 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 Bewitched
    Bewitched
    Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...

    . He appeared five times from 1964-1971 in Bewitched, but left the role and was replaced as Frank Stephens by actor Roy Roberts
    Roy Roberts
    Roy Roberts was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen.-Biography:...

    .
  • As General
    General
    A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

     Alfred H. Terry in the 1967 ABC military-western Custer
    Custer (TV series)
    Custer, also known as The Legend of Custer, is a 17-episode military-western television series which ran on ABC from September 6 to December 27, 1967, with Wayne Maunder in the starring role of then Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. During the American Civil War, Custer had risen to the...

  • As Captain
    Police captain
    - France :France uses the rank of capitaine for management duties in both uniformed and plain-clothed policing. The rank comes senior to lieutenant and junior to commandant....

     Rudy Olsen in Karl Malden
    Karl Malden
    Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...

    's ABC detective
    Detective
    A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

     series The Streets of San Francisco
    The Streets of San Francisco
    The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...

  • As newspaperman J. Jonah Jameson
    J. Jonah Jameson
    John Jonah Jameson Junior is a supporting character of Spider-Man in the .Jameson is usually the publisher or editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, a fictional New York newspaper and now serves as the mayor of New York City...

     in The Amazing Spider-Man
    The Amazing Spider-Man
    The Amazing Spider-Man is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. Being the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a monthly periodical and was published continuously until it was...

    .

Historic roles

In addition to his Custer role of General Terry, Simon had other historic roles:
  • Henry Clay
    Henry Clay
    Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...

      in NBC's 1965 television version of John F. Kennedy
    John F. Kennedy
    John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

    's Profiles in Courage
    Profiles in Courage (TV series)
    Profiles in Courage was a historical anthology series that appeared on NBC from November 8, 1964 to May 9, 1965 . The series was based on the recently assassinated President John F...

    in the episode "Daniel Webster
    Daniel Webster
    Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...

    "
  • Shawnee Indian Chief Blackfish
    Chief Blackfish
    Blackfish , known in his native tongue as Cot-ta-wa-ma-go or Mkah-day-way-may-qua, was a Native American leader, war chief of the Chillicothe division of the Shawnee tribe.-Biography:...

     in the 1964 episode "Ken-Tuck-E" of NBC's Daniel Boone
    Daniel Boone (TV series)
    Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...

    starring Fess Parker
    Fess Parker
    Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett in the Walt Disney 1955-56 TV mini-series and as TV's Daniel Boone from 1964-70...

     as Kentucky
    Kentucky
    The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

     frontiersman Daniel Boone
    Daniel Boone
    Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...

  • Liberal journalist
    Journalist
    A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

     Drew Pearson
    Drew Pearson (journalist)
    Andrew Russell Pearson , known professionally as Drew Pearson, was one of the best-known American columnists of his day, noted for his muckraking syndicated newspaper column "Washington Merry-Go-Round," in which he attacked various public persons, sometimes with little or no objective proof for his...

     in the NBC film Tail Gunner Joe
    Tail Gunner Joe
    Tail Gunner Joe is a 1977 television movie dramatizing the life of U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican who claimed knowledge of communist infiltration of the U.S. government during the 1950s. The film was broadcast on NBC-TV...

    , a fictional critique of U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
  • As Attorney General of the United States Homer S. Cummings in the 1961 episode "The Big Train" Part One" of ABC's crime drama The Untouchables
    The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
    The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...

    .

Early years

Simon was born in Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Richland County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, approximately southwest of Cleveland and northeast of Columbus....

, where he was an all-state high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 champion in the 1920s. He played basketball in one-on-one games well into his forties. Before he entered acting, he was a traveling salesman
Vendor (supply chain)
A vendor, or a supplier, is a supply chain management term meaning anyone who provides goods or services to a company. A vendor often manufactures inventoriable items, and sells those items to a customer.- History :...

. He initially thought that acting would help him to overcome his natural shyness, but he enjoyed appearing on stage and later film so much that he decided to make a career as an actor. His first professional job was in Marc Blitzstein
Marc Blitzstein
Marcus Samuel Blitzstein, better known as Marc Blitzstein , was an American composer. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration...

's No For an Answer in which he displayed his song-and-dance abilities. He was also involved with the Cleveland Playhouse, and Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...

, through which he became an understudy to Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...

 for the lead in Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...

's Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...

.

Family

Simon had two daughters, Barbara Ann Simon Callet (born 1941) and Susan Simon Thompson, and two sons, Robert Louis Simon (born 1950) and James A. Simon (born 1951). Simon's webpage does not include the name of his spouse(s).

1950s

Simon appeared on Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...

 in Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...

's play, Clash by Night
Clash by Night
Clash by Night is a black-and-white drama with some film noir aspects, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Marilyn Monroe and Robert Ryan. The movie was based on the play by Clifford Odets, adapted by writer Alfred Hayes...

. In 1949, he succeeded Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...

 as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...

.

His first film appearances were as Inspector Foley in Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) and as a psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

 in Bright Victory (1951). His first television role was at the age of 43 in 1952 as Captain Scott in the episode "Woman with a Sword" on Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...

anthology series. Simon appeared as Ackerman in the 1954 film Rogue Cop
Rogue Cop
Rogue Cop is a film noir directed by Roy Rowland, based on the novel by William P. McGivern , and starring Robert Taylor, Janet Leigh, and George Raft.-Plot:...

. Between 1951 and 1954, he appeared on The Philco Television Playhouse
The Philco Television Playhouse
The Philco Television Playhouse, a live television anthology series sponsored by Philco, was telecast from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the NBC series was seen on Sundays from 9:00pm to 10:00pm...

and Justice
Justice (1954 TV series)
Justice is an NBC half-hour drama television series about attorneys of the Legal Aid Society of New York, which aired from April 8, 1954 to March 25, 1956. In the 1954-1955 season, Justice starred Dane Clark as Richard Adams and Gary Merrill as Jason Tyler. In the 1955-1956 season, William Prince...

.

In 1955, he appeared on television in episodes of Medic
Medic (TV series)
Medic is an American medical drama that aired on NBC beginning in 1954. Medic was television's first doctor drama to focus attention on medical procedures, establishing the style for later medical series.Created by its principal writer James E...

and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...

as well as such feature films as Chief Crazy Horse, Seven Angry Men, and The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (film)
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell is a 1955 film directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Gary Cooper as Billy Mitchell, Charles Bickford, Ralph Bellamy, Rod Steiger and Elizabeth Montgomery in her film debut.-Plot:...

. Actress Elizabeth Montgomery
Elizabeth Montgomery
Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. She is perhaps best remembered for her roles as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched, as Ellen Harrod in A Case of Rape and as Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden.-Early life:Born in Los...

, who would later play Simon's daughter-in-law, Samantha, on Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...

, made her film debut in The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell.

In 1956, Simon achieved his first significant film role as Dave Goodman, the father of musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...

, in The Benny Goodman Story
The Benny Goodman Story
The Benny Goodman Story is a biographical film starring Steve Allen and Donna Reed, directed by Valentine Davies and released by Universal Studios in 1956. The film is based on the life of famed clarinetist Benny Goodman, who recorded most of the clarinet solos used in the film...

. Between 1953 and 1956, Simon appeared in four episodes of Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J...

and twice in the anthology series Studio One.

In 1956 and 1957, he appeared in episodes of State Trooper
State Trooper (TV series)
State Trooper is a half-hour television crime drama set in the 1950s American West, starring Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, an officer of the Nevada State Troopers. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from September 25, 1956, to June 25, 1959...

, The Millionaire and M Squad
M Squad
M Squad is an American police drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. Its format would later inspire the creation of spoof TV show Police Squad! Its sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during the...

. In 1957, he appeared as George Nordmann in the feature film Edge of the City
Edge of the City
Edge of the City is a 1957 drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. It was Ritt's debut film as a director...

, starring John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...

 and Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...

. In 1958, Simon guest-starred as Captain Woods in "The Coward of Fort Bennett" on General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...

. In 1957 and 1958, he appeared in four episodes of the anthology series, Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...

. In 1959, he appeared on Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...

and Adventures in Paradise
Adventures in Paradise
Adventures in Paradise is an American television series which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962. It starred Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. The show was created by James Michener...

.

Westerns

There were few television westerns in which Simon did not guest star. From 1956 to 1970, he appeared in Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow (TV series)
Broken Arrow is a Western series which ran on ABC-TV in prime time from 1956 through 1958 on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Repeat episodes were shown by ABC on Sunday afternoons during the 1959–60 season...

, Disneyland, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...

, Laramie
Laramie (TV series)
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. Laramie was a Revue Studios production which originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert Crawford, Jr...

, Black Saddle
Black Saddle
Black Saddle is an American Western series that ran for forty-four episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The series was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide playing Culhane.For...

, Law of the Plainsman
Law of the Plainsman
Law of The Plainsman is a Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on the NBC television network from October 1, 1959, until May 5, 1960. The character of Native American U.S...

, Johnny Ringo
Johnny Ringo (TV series)
Johnny Ringo is a Western television series starring Don Durant that aired on CBS from October 1, 1959, until June 30, 1960. It was loosely based on the life of the notorious gunfighter Johnny Ringo, who tangled with Wyatt Earp, John "Doc" Holliday, and "Buckskin" Franklin Leslie.This fictional...

, Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...

, Wichita Town
Wichita Town
Wichita Town is a half-hour western television series starring Joel McCrea, Jody McCrea, Carlos Romero, and George Neise that aired on NBC from September 30, 1959, until April 6, 1960....

, The Man From Blackhawk
The Man From Blackhawk
The Man From Blackhawk is a Western television series starring Robert Rockwell that aired on the ABC television network from October 9, 1959, until September 9, 1960. The Man From Blackhawk was created by Academy Award winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant.In The Man From Blackhawk, Rockwell...

, The Texan
The Texan (TV series)
The Texan is a Western television series starring popular B movie star Rory Calhoun. It aired on the CBS television network from 1958-1960.-Production notes:...

, Tombstone Territory
Tombstone Territory
Tombstone Territory is an American Western series starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. The series' first two seasons aired on ABC from 1957 to 1959...

, Tate
Tate (TV series)
Tate was a Western television series that aired on the NBC television network from June 8, 1960 until September 14, 1960. It was created by Harry Julian Fink and produced by Perry Como's company, Roncom Video Films, Inc...

, and Shotgun Slade
Shotgun Slade
Shotgun Slade is an American western television series starring Scott Brady that aired in syndication from October 24, 1959, until 1961. Created by Frank Gruber, the stories were written by John Berardino, Charissa Hughes, and Martin Berkeley...

, Stagecoach West
Stagecoach West (TV series)
Stagecoach West is a highly-acclaimed Western drama television series which ran for thirty-eight episodes on the ABC network from October 4, 1960, until June 27, 1961. Characters Luke Perry and Simon Kane operate the Timberland Stage Line from Missouri to San Francisco...

, Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson (TV series)
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...

, Lawman
Lawman (tv series)
Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros....

, Klondike
Klondike (TV series)
Klondike is a 17-episode half-hour Western television series that aired on NBC. The series premiered on October 10, 1960 and ran until February 13, 1961. It faced stiff competition from The Danny Thomas Show on CBS and the second half of the first-season detective series Surfside 6 starring Troy...

, Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...

and Frontier Circus
Frontier Circus
For the NBC program similarly named, see Frontier .Frontier Circus is a short-lived Western television series about a traveling circus roaming the American West in the 1880s...

, Have Gun - Will Travel, Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...

, The Legend of Jesse James
The Legend of Jesse James (TV series)
The Legend of Jesse James is a 34-episode western television series starring Christopher Jones in the tile role of notorious outlaw Jesse James which aired on ABC from September 13, 1965, to May 9, 1966...

, The Road West
The Road West
The Road West is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1966 to May 1, 1967 for twenty-nine episodes with rebroadcasts continuing until August 28. The hour-long series, sponsored by Kraft Foods, aired in the 9 p.m...

, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....

, Laredo
Laredo (TV series)
Laredo is an NBC Western television series starring Neville Brand, William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey as Texas Rangers. The program premiered on September 16, 1965, and the final new episode was broadcast on April 7, 1967. The series was produced by Universal Television.-Synopsis:Laredo...

, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...

, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

, and The Guns of Will Sonnett
The Guns of Will Sonnett
The Guns of Will Sonnett is a Western television series set in the 1870s which ran on the ABC television network from 1967 to 1969. The series was the first production collaboration between Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas, who would later go on to produce one of ABC's most-memorable hits, The Mod...

.

Simon appeared as Handy Strong in the acclaimed feature film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart and John Wayne. The black-and-white film was released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a short story written by Dorothy M...

.

Drama

In 1956, he appeared in Crusader
Crusader (TV series)
Crusader is a half-hour black-and-white American adventure/drama series that aired on CBS for two seasons from October 7, 1955 to December 28, 1956.-Synopsis:...

, Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...

, Dante
Dante (TV series)
Dante is a short-lived NBC adventure/drama television series starring Howard Duff as Willie Dante, a former gambler who operates Dante's Inferno, a San Francisco, California, nightclub. Alan Mowbray co-starred as Stewart Styles, the Maitre d'; Tom D'Andrea as Biff, Dante's "man Friday", and Mort...

, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...

, Johnny Midnight
Johnny Midnight (TV series)
Johnny Midnight is an American crime drama that aired for one season in syndicated from January to December 1960. The series stars Edmond O'Brien as the title character.-Synopsis:...

, The Asphalt Jungle, The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties (TV series)
The Roaring 20s is an American drama series that aired on the ABC network beginning on October 15, 1960, and ending on September 21, 1962.-Synopsis:...

and Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt was an American adventure television series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced...

. In the 1961-62 season, he appeared on episodes of The Dick Powell Show
The Dick Powell Show
The Dick Powell Show is an American anthology series that ran on NBC from 1961- 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company. It was hosted by longtime film star Dick Powell until his death from lymphatic cancer on January 2, 1963, then by a series of guest hosts until the series ended...

, 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:...

, Cain's Hundred
Cain's Hundred
Cain's Hundred is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC from 1961 to 1962. The series was produced by Vanadas Productions, Inc. in association with MGM Television.-Synopsis:...

, The Defenders, and Sam Benedict
Sam Benedict
Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman....

.

Simon guest-starred three times on Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...

. In 1965, Simon appeared in episodes of Slattery's People
Slattery's People
Slattery's People is a 1964-1965 American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Connor and Warren Oates in a couple of episodes each. James E. Moser was...

, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the...

, and Dr. Kildare
Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...

.

Comedy

In addition to Bewitched and Nancy, Simon appeared in other sitcoms, such as McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy is an American television sitcom series which ran for 138 half-hour episodes from October 11,1962, to August 31, 1966, on the ABC network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated in a one-hour drama called Seven Against the Sea, broadcast on April 3, 1962...

, Mrs. G. Goes to College
Mrs. G. Goes to College
Mrs. G. Goes To College is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from October 4, 1961 to April 5, 1962...

, Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...

and The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...

.

In 1967, Simon appeared as "Cervantes" in The Reluctant Astronaut
The Reluctant Astronaut
The Reluctant Astronaut is a Universal Pictures feature film starring Don Knotts in a story about a kiddie-ride operator who is hired as a janitor at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston and is eventually sent into space. The film was produced and directed by Edward J...

. He appeared in a 1970 episode of Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...

, in a 1971 episode of Nichols, and a 1973 episode of The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...

. In 1973, he made three guest appearances as Gen. Maynard M. Mitchell on M*A*S*H.

Later roles

From 1969 to 1985, Simon appeared in Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...

, The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad is a television series that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. This series starred Michael Cole, Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III, and Tige Andrews...

, The Interns
The Interns (television series)
The Interns is an American medical drama series that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1971. It was based on the 1962 film The Interns and the 1964 sequel The New Interns.-Overview:...

, Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. A spin-off from Cannon, the show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement...

, Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...

, Cannon
Cannon (TV series)
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976.The primary protagonist was the title character, Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad....

, Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen (TV series)
Ellery Queen is an American television detective mystery series that ran for one season from 1975 to 1976 on NBC. It starred Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen, and David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen...

, Columbo, McCloud
McCloud
McCloud is an American television police drama that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1977. The title role was played by Dennis Weaver as Marshal Sam McCloud, a law officer from Taos, New Mexico on semi-permanent "special assignment" with the New York City Police Department.-History:The first choice for...

, Quincy M.E. and Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name...

. His last television appearance was in a 1985 episode of Airwolf
Airwolf
Airwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme....

.

Death

Simon died of a heart attack in Tarzana, California on November 29, 1992, three days before what would have been his 84th birthday. He is interred at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
The Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 22601 Lassen Street, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California. It has been used as a cemetery since 1924, and there was a Native American graveyard next to the cemetery before a fire destroyed the old wooden crosses that marked the site. The Old...

 in Chatsworth, California.

External links

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