Godspeed Roger Perry

Roger Perry, who guest starred on many television shows from the Fifties to the Nineties, died on July 12 2018 at the age of 85. The cause was prostate cancer.

Roger Perry was born on May 7 1933 in Davenport, Iowa. In the early Fifties he served in intelligence in the United States Air Force. He signed with Desliu, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's legendary studio that produced I Love Lucy and would go onto produce The Untouchables, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix. He made his television debut in an episode of Westinghouse Desliu Playhouse in 1959. In the late Fifties he guest starred on such shows as December Bride, Whirlybirds, The Texans, and U.S. Marshal. He was one of the stars of the short-lived show Harrigan and Son. He made his movie debut in The Flying Fontaines in 1959.

In the Sixties Mr. Perry was one of the stars of the short-lived drama Arrest and Trial, a show that could be seen as a forerunner of Law & Order. He guest starred on such shows as Dr. Kildare, The Eleventh Hour, Sam Benedict, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Broadside, The Munsters, 12 O' Clock High, The Andy Griffith Show, Star Trek, Combat!, The Invaders, The Felony Squad, Judd for the Defence, Lancer, Adam-12, Dan August, The New Doctors, and Insight. He appeared in the movies Follow The Boys (1963), The Cat (1966), You've Got to Be Smart (1967), Heaven with a Gun (1969), and Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).

In the Seventies Roger Perry guest starred on such show as Alias Smith and Jones; Nanny and the Professor; Love, American Style; Ironside; Tenafly; The F.B.I.; The Bob Newhart Show; Mannix; Marcus Welby M.D.; Hawaii Five-O; The Six Million Dollar Man; Wonder Woman; Quincy M.E.; and Barnaby Jones. He appeared in the movies The Return of Count Yorga (1971), The Thing with Two Heads (1972), and Roller Boogie (1979).

In the Eighties Roger Perry was a regular on The Facts of Life and Falcon Crest. He guest starred on the show B.J. and the Bear, Here's Boomer, and The Fall Guy. He appeared in the movie Operation Warzone (1988). He later appeared in the movies Dirty Love (2005) and Wreckage (2010).

Roger Perry was also a composer. He wrote the song "A Kid Again" and composed the scores for Make a Promise, Keep a Promise and a musical version of Shaw's You Never Can Tell. He appeared on stage with then wife Jo Anne Worley in such productions as The First Hundred Years, Hanging by a Thread, and The Happiness Bench.

There should be little wonder that Roger Perry made so many guest appearances on television as he was a marvellous actor. He could play a wide variety of roles, from a young man who develops an interest in Marilyn on The Munsters to Captain John Christopher, the 1960s Air Force pilot who is inadvertently beamed aboard the Enterprise on Star Trek to corrupt  Tuscany Valley Board of Supervisors member John Costello on Falcon Crest. Over the years he played everything from lawyers to police officers to military officers to criminals, and he did all of them well.