Personal Info

Birth date

1893-05-07 (132 Years)

Day of death

1980-08-25

Gender

Male

Known for

Acting

Place of birth

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Also known as

Harry Lester Dorr

Lester Dorr

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lester Dorr (born Harry Lester Dorr; May 8, 1893 - August 25, 1980) was an American actor who between 1917 and 1975 appeared in well over 500 productions on stage, in feature films and shorts, and in televised plays and weekly series. His extensive filmography attests to his versatility as a supporting actor and reliability as a bit player. Although Dorr's screen roles are at times credited, the great majority of his work is uncredited. Dorr was cast in more than 250 films in just the 1930s alone.

Dorr continued to appear regularly in studio productions throughout the 1940s, but with reduced frequency when compared to the preceding decade; nevertheless, he still added more than 140 Hollywood films to his résumé in that decade. His work on the big screen decreased even further in the 1950s as acting opportunities increased on television. He was, though, cast in at least 45 feature films and shorts during the 1950s. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, programming in the rapidly expanding medium of television attracted the talents of many experienced personnel in the film industry, including Dorr.

As with his film career, Dorr’s 15 years of being cast in television series consisted predominantly of brief appearances on screen and portraying characters who had relatively few lines. Yet, his characterizations on television, like in films, were highly diverse and can be seen in at least 84 episodes of Westerns, crime and detective series, courtroom and hospital dramas, adventure programs, and sitcoms of the period.

Filmography

The Red Skelton Show

7.375

Overview:

The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as well. Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than fifteen years, it actually began and ended on NBC. During its run, the program received three Emmy Awards, for Skelton as best comedian and the program as best comedy show during its initial season, and an award for comedy writing in 1961.

I Love Lucy

7.916

Overview:

Cuban Bandleader Ricky Ricardo would be happy if his wife Lucy would just be a housewife. Instead she tries constantly to perform at the Tropicana where he works, and make life comically frantic in the apartment building they share with landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz, who also happen to be their best friends.

The Lone Ranger

6.7

Overview:

The Lone Ranger is an American western television series that ran from 1949 to 1957, starring Clayton Moore with Jay Silverheels as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr as the episode narrator. Fred Foy served as both narrator and announcer of the radio series from 1948 to its finish and became announcer of the television version when story narration was dropped there. This was by far the highest-rated television program on the ABC network in the early 1950s and its first true "hit".

Perry Mason

7.7

Overview:

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

6.579

Overview:

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a television western series loosely based on the life of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour black-and-white program aired for 229 episodes on ABC from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O'Brian in the title role.

Dr. Kildare

5.5

Overview:

The story of a young intern in a large metropolitan hospital trying to learn his profession, deal with the problems of his patients, and win the respect of the senior doctor in his specialty, internal medicine.

Dennis the Menace

6.5

Overview:

This 1959-1963 television situation comedy series follows the lives of the Mitchell family, Henry, Alice, and their only child Dennis, an energetic, trouble-prone, mischievous, but well-meaning boy, who often tangles with his peace-and-quiet-loving neighbor George Wilson, a retired salesman, or, later, with George's brother John, a writer. Dennis is basically a good, well-intentioned boy who always tries to help people, but who winds up making situations worse – often at Mr. Wilson's expense.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

6.941

Overview:

Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.

The Jack Benny Program

7.813

Overview:

Laugh along with funnyman Jack Benny as he brings his underplayed humor to TV along with regular performers from his radio show days.

Wanted: Dead or Alive

6.894

Overview:

Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television. The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big screen.

Treasury Men in Action

5.5

Overview:

Treasury Men in Action is an American crime drama series broadcast live and which aired from 1950 through 1955 on ABC. The series stars Walter Greaza, Ross Martin, and Tom McKee. It was directed by William Beaudine, Leigh Jason, and Will Jason among others.

The Life Of Riley

6

Overview:

Riley worked in an aircraft plant in California, but viewers usually saw him at home, cheerfully disrupting life with his malapropisms and ill timed intervention into minor problems.

Burke's Law

6

Overview:

Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.

Bat Masterson

6.1

Overview:

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. The series was produced by Ziv Television Productions, the company responsible for such hit series as Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol.

Cheyenne

5.8

Overview:

Cheyenne Bodie was a big man, a former army scout who went west after the American Civil War and drifted from job to job, here a cowboy, there a lawman, and always a larger-than-life hero. CHEYENNE is an American 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. It was also the first series to be made by a major Hollywood film studio which did not derive from its established film properties, and the first of a long chain of Warner Brothers original series produced by William T. Orr.

December Bride

5.5

Overview:

December Bride is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network from 1954 to 1959, adapted from the original CBS radio network series that aired from June 1952 through September 1953.

The Untouchables

7.9

Overview:

Special Agent Eliot Ness and his elite team of incorruptible agents battle organized crime in 1930s Chicago.

The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse

NYR

Overview:

The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse is an American dramatic anthology series that aired on ABC from 1953 to 1955, sponsored by Pepsi-Cola. The show was hosted by Arlene Dahl, Anita Colby, and, finally, Polly Bergen

Father Knows Best

6.5

Overview:

Family man Jim Anderson copes with the everyday problems among his wife Margaret and their three children as they experience day-to-day changes.

Trackdown

6.4

Overview:

Trackdown is an American Western television series starring Robert Culp that aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959. More than seventy episodes of this series were produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television and filmed at the Desilu-Culver Studio. The series was itself a spin-off of Powell's anthology series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.

Alcoa Theatre

6.5

Overview:

Alcoa Theatre is a half-hour American anthology series telecast on NBC at 9:30 pm on alternate Monday nights from October 7, 1957 to September 16, 1960. The program also aired under the title Turn of Fate, with the stories depicting the difficulties faced by individuals who are suddenly thrust into unexpected and perilous dangers. Alcoa Theatre was syndicated together with Goodyear Theatre as Award Theatre. In 1955, The Alcoa Hour premiered in a one-hour format aired on Sunday nights, but it was reduced to 30 minutes, retitled Alcoa Theatre, and moved to Monday evening in 1957. The show employed an alternating rotating company of actors: David Niven, Robert Ryan, Jane Powell, Jack Lemmon and Charles Boyer. Each appeared in dramatic and light comedic roles through the first season.

Tombstone Territory

6

Overview:

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. The third and final season aired in syndication from 1959 until 1960.

The Millionaire

5

Overview:

An anthology series that explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better or for worse. It told the stories of people who were given one million dollars from a benefactor who insisted they never know him, with one exception.

Adventures of Superman

6.7

Overview:

Announcer: "The Adventures of Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!" Voices: "Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!" Announcer: "Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands; and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way."

The Adventures of Boston Blackie

4

Overview:

Lawman

5.6

Overview:

Lawman is an American western television series originally telecast on ABC from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during 1879 and the 1880s. Warner Bros. already had several western series on the air at the time, having launched Cheyenne with Clint Walker as early as 1955. The studio continued the trend in 1957 with the additions of Maverick with James Garner and Jack Kelly, Colt .45 with Wayde Preston, and Sugarfoot with Will Hutchins. One year later, Warner Bros. added Lawman and Bronco with Ty Hardin. Prior to the beginning of production, Russell and Brown and producer Jules Schermer made a pact to maintain the quality of the series so that it would not be seen as "just another western." At the start of season two, Russell and Brown were joined by Peggie Castle as Lily Merrill, the owner of the Birdcage Saloon, and a love interest for Dan.

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon

5.7

Overview:

Canadian Mountie Sgt. Preston patrols the wilds of the Yukon with his horse Rex and his faithful dog Yukon King, battling both the elements and criminals.

Medic

5.7

Overview:

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. Created by its principal writer James E. Moser, Medic tried to create realism which would typify medical shows from then on. Moser had previously written for the radio shows Dragnet and Dr. Kildare. He went on to write the television series Ben Casey.

Green Acres

7.3

Overview:

Green Acres is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a rural country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was first broadcast on CBS, from September 15, 1965 to April 27, 1971. Receiving solid ratings during its six-year run, Green Acres was cancelled in 1971 as part of the "rural purge" by CBS. The sitcom has been in syndication and is available in DVD and VHS releases. In 1997, the two-part episode "A Star Named Arnold is Born" was ranked #59 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

Hey, Jeannie!

5.5

Overview:

Hey, Jeannie! is an American situation comedy starring Jeannie Carson as a young Scottish woman living in New York City. Twenty-six episodes aired on CBS from September 8, 1956 to May 4, 1957 in the Saturday slot following The Gale Storm Show and preceding the western series Gunsmoke. Six additional episodes aired in 1958 in syndication. Reruns of Hey, Jeannie! aired during the summer of 1960 under the title The Jeannie Carson Show.

Acting

TBAAliens from Space as Station Attendant

1975At Long Last Love as Doorman

1969Hello, Dolly! as Workman (uncredited)

1967Hotel as Cy - Elevator Operator (uncredited)

1965Green Acres (1 Episode) as Mr. Collins

1963Mary, Mary as Husband in Elevator (uncredited)

1963Burke's Law (1 Episode) as Lovely's Butler

1961Dr. Kildare (1 Episode) as Mr. Benson

1960Stagecoach West (1, 2 Episode) as Station Agent, McGonigle

1960Inherit the Wind as Dr. John (uncredited)

1959Vice Raid as Malone's Secretary

1959The Untouchables (1 Episode) as Certified Public Accountant (uncredited)

1959Dennis the Menace (1 Episode) as Forestry Dept. Clerk (uncredited)

1959Arson for Hire as Cab Dispatcher

1958Bat Masterson (1 Episode) as Land Office Clerk

1958Lawman (2, 1, 1 Episode) as Hotel Clerk (uncredited), Charlie the Hotel Laramie Desk Clerk (uncredited), Charlie (uncredited)

1958Wanted: Dead or Alive (1 Episode) as Will Grey

1958Hot Rod Gang as Dryden Philpott

1958The Bonnie Parker Story as Informant (uncredited)

1958Marjorie Morningstar as Elevator Operator (uncredited)

1958Missile Monsters as Male Secretary (bit)

1957Tombstone Territory (1 Episode) as Bartender

1957Harbor Command (1 Episode) as Unknown

1957Trackdown (1 Episode) as Doctor (uncredited)

1957Alcoa Theatre (1 Episode) as Buyer #1

1957Perry Mason (1, 1, 1 Episode) as Bailiff, Bartender, Photographer

1956Hey, Jeannie! (1 Episode) as Bailiff

1956So Your Wife Wants to Work as Harry (uncredited)

1956So You Want to Be Pretty as Eddie the Bartender (uncredited)

1955Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (1 Episode) as Unknown

1955Cheyenne (2 Episodes) as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)

1955The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (7, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 Episode) as Hotel Clerk (uncredited), Telegrapher (uncredited), Sam - Hotel Clerk, Charlie the Hotel Clerk (uncredited), Hotel Clerk - Emmett, Tony (uncredited), Mose

1955East of Eden as City Official at Parade (uncredited)

1955The Millionaire (1 Episode) as Court Clerk

1954December Bride (1 Episode) as Unknown

1954Father Knows Best (2 Episodes) as Poker player (uncredited)

1954Medic (1 Episode) as Bartender

1954Killers from Space as Gas Station Attendant

1953Take the High Ground! as Army Doctor (uncredited)

1953The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (1 Episode) as Unknown

1953General Electric Theater (1 Episode) as Drummer

1953The Life Of Riley (1 Episode) as Unknown

1952Adventures of Superman (1, 1 Episode) as Bus Driver, Man at Well

1952Chevron Theatre (2 Episodes) as Unknown