Tol Avery was an American film and television character actor with more than a hundred screen appearances between 1950 and 1974. Noted for his enormous girth and cultured voice, Avery usually played sophisticated and articulate villains, including the featured nemesis in seven episodes of Maverick

Maverick (TV series)

Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...

between 1957 and 1962, as well as "Ben Weaver" on 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...

and "Speaker Bert Metcalf" on the short-lived television series 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...

in 1964. He appeared five times on the long running western series 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...

in the 1960s.

Avery also appeared as "Dennison" in an episode of the 1953-1954 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...

 situation comedy

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

, The Pride of the Family

The Pride of the Family

The Pride of the Family was a half-hour situation comedy starring Paul Hartman, Fay Wray, Natalie Wood, and Robert Hyatt, which aired for forty episodes on ABC in the 1953–1954 season....

. Fay Wray

Fay Wray

Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...

 played Catherine Morrison, and Paul Hartman

Paul Hartman

Paul Hartman was an American dancer, stage performer and television character actor.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, Hartman, like Fred Astaire, began performing as a dancer with his sister...

 portrayed her husband, Albie Morrison. Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...

 and Robert Hyatt played their children, Ann and Junior Morrison, respectively. Larry J. Blake

Larry J. Blake

Larry J. Blake was an American actor from Brooklyn, New York City. In 1947 he starred in the film Backlash.Blake was also among the stars of 1953-1954 ABC situation comedy, The Pride of the Family, appearing in the role of Frank. Fay Wray played Catherine Morrison, and Paul Hartman played her...

filled the role of "Frank".

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