Howard McNear
- Birthday
- Jan 27, 1905
- Birthplace
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Bio: Character actor Howard McNear made a name for himself on network radio in a vast array of characterizations, from snivelling murderers to dapper French detectives. McNear's best-known radio role was as Doc on Gunsmoke, which ran from 1955 to 1962; his spin on the character was slightly more ghoulish than the interpretation offered by Milburn Stone on television. In… More Bio: Character actor Howard McNear made a name for himself on network radio in a vast array of characterizations, from snivelling murderers to dapper French detectives. McNear's best-known radio role was as Doc on Gunsmoke, which ran from 1955 to 1962; his spin on the character was slightly more ghoulish than the interpretation offered by Milburn Stone on television. In films from 1954, the bespectacled, mustachioed McNear was usually cast as a querulous fussbudget. He was spotlighted as Dr. Dompierre in Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and was prominently featured in three Billy Wilder comedies, Irma La Douce (1963), Kiss Me Stupid (1964) and The Fortune Cookie (1966). He appeared with frequency on TV in the 1950s and 1960s, often as a foil to such comedians as Jack Benny and Burns and Allen. Howard McNear's most beloved TV characterization was as Mayberry barber Floyd Lawson on The Andy Griffith Show; when McNear suffered a debilitating stroke in 1967, Griffith kept him on the payroll, re-writing the scripts to allow "Floyd" to be seated and non-ambulatory without drawing undue attention to McNear's affliction. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Filmography
-
The Fortune Cookie (1966)
- Mr. Cimoli
- 95%
-
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
- Mr. Pettibone
- 71%
-
My Blood Runs Cold (1964)
- Henry
-
Fun in Acapulco (1963)
- Dr. John Stevers
- 57%
-
The Wheeler Dealers (Separate Beds) (1963)
- Mr. Wilson
- See all 21 films
Howard McNear Videos
Bell, Book And Candle
3 minutes 43 seconds
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
1 minutes 48 seconds
Anatomy Of A Murder
4 minutes 19 seconds
The Acapulco Black Film Festival
2 minutes 30 seconds
My Blood Runs Cold
30 seconds
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