A Bionic Career For Actor

Richard Anderson

By Gordon Lore

Richard Anderson has enjoyed a remarkable, rewarding Hollywood and television career spanning more than 60 years. He has co-starred with the creme-de-la-crème of Hollywood stars appearing in more than 200 films and TV shows. His wife Katherine is the daughter of early movie wunderkind Irving Thalberg and actress Norma Shearer. As Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978) and The Bionic Woman (1976-1978), he became the first actor to play the same character on two television series on two different networks. And, at age 89, he’s still on the go.

All of this and much more are included in a recent book, Richard Anderson: At Last…A Memoir From the Golden Years of M-G-M To The Six Million Dollar Man To Today as told to Alan Doshna and published in 2015 by Bear Manor Media. The relatively sparse book packs a lot of information about Anderson and his interaction with a huge host of Hollywood celebrities.

“I’m Still Living It”

For years, loyal fans had been urging Anderson to write an autobiography about his life and work, but he deferred with the words: “I’m still living it!” This began to change when he met Alan Doshna in the Spring of 2008 at an American Cinemathique autograph-signing event at the Hilton Hotel in Burbank, California.

Doshna approached Anderson about the possibility of working with him on a book about his life and career. Richard resisted at first, but finally agreed. This was followed by several years of hard work in a successful attempt to fashion a readable, fast-paced book about the actor, who remains a handsome, slim six-foot-three man reminiscent of his role as Oscar Goldman.

The Curse of the Faceless Man

Doshna had been particularly impressed by the only movie in which Richard had top star billing. The Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) is a low budget horror film directed by Edward L. Kahn, who also had been at the helm of such films as Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) and The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959). The movie had its initial release as a double feature with It! The Terror from Beyond Space.

Anderson played Dr. Paul Mallon, who is embroiled in a story about the petrified body of a Roman gladiator discovered in the ancient city of Pompeii. Maria Fiorillo (Adele Mara) believes the body is still alive since anyone who is left alone with it dies of crushed skulls. Essentially, the film was a remake of The Mummy (1932) starring Boris Karloff. Anderson said the film’s poster is the only one he has on his wall because the movie “meant so much to so many people and the pleasure it’s brought me in discussing it with them.”

Cary Grant and Betsy Drake

One of the most intriguing and readable parts of the book involves Anderson’s relationship with superstar Cary Grant and his wife, Betsy Drake. Drake told her husband she wanted to meet Richard because she thought he was “terrific” in an early TV test screening. This led to a test screening with top producer Dore Schary. Later, Cary and Betsy invited Richard to small dinner parties that included such luminaries as Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger.

Anderson was also given a career boost when Grant introduced him on a radio program, New Talent, with the words: “I want to tell you about a wonderful new actor you’ll be hearing about: Richard Anderson!” Cary also asked Richard to appear with him in a comedy, Dream Wife (1953), with Deborah Kerr.

The Early Years

After seeing Gary Cooper in a movie, the young Anderson—born in Long Branch, New Jersey—decided he wanted to be an actor. When his family moved to Los Angeles, he began his training at the Actor’s Laboratory, which later became the famed Actor’s Studio in New York. Along the way, Richard was spotted by a talent scout from M-G-M and was successfully screen-tested. He was signed as a contract player and gained valuable experience in films starring Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, and William Holden, among many others. He appeared in 29 films over a six-year period.

As the studio star system began its decline, Richard asked to be released from his contract to appear in director Stanley Kubric’s masterful Paths of Glory (1957), which he and his co-author consider the greatest anti-war film ever made. Richard was proud of his role as Major Saint-Aubin, adding that, due to the role, “I was suddenly taken seriously as an actor in a new way…”

The Bionic Actor

From 1974 to 1978, Anderson was particularly noted by millions of TV fans as Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man with Lee Majors and its spinoff, The Bionic Woman, with Lindsay Wagner, for which he was nominated for an Emmy. Richard was particularly impressed with Lee Majors, calling him “one of the brightest, quickest and smartest people that I’ve ever known.”

Anderson was also instrumental in persuading the top executives to produce two highly-regarded TV features on which he was executive producer: The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987) and Bionic Ever After: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1994). He also reprised his Oscar Goldman role in Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989), which introduced future Oscar winner Sandra Bullock.

A Gala of Films and TV Shows

All of the films and TV series Richard Anderson had supporting roles in are too numerous to mention, but a few more of his own favorites include:

  • The Long Hot Summer (1958);
  • Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958-1961);
  • Compulsion (`1959);
  • The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959); and
  • The Night Strangler (1973).

Anderson said: “I did a lot of work on The Fugitive” (1963-1967) and he was also in The Green Hornet (1966), Dan August (1970-1971) and Perry Mason (1957-1966) with Raymond Burr. In 1985, he appeared in Perry Mason Returns with Burr in what he called “a great, great part.”

Giving Back

Richard Anderson was also generous in giving back to the California and Hollywood community from which he received so much. He became a board member of the California Manpower Consortium in Sacramento educating American Indiansand helping them develop their own businesses. Richard was also involved in building a Veterans Conservancy Park at a Soldier’s Home in Los Angeles. And he is a part of the Fragile X Foundation involved in studying learning disabilities and cognitive impairment in children.

Conclusion

Richard Anderson has appeared in numerous Comic-con and other conventions and he hasn’t stopped yet. In 2016, he is slated to appear at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland, on September 15-17, where he will be reunited with his co-stars Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner.

Overall, this book is a good, fast, snappy read. Anderson wanted it to be that way and he succeeded with the help of Al Doshna, a writer, actor and producer with a true yeoman’s love of classic Hollywood horror and sci-fi films. Doshna is also a contributing writer for FILMFAX.

Gordon Lore has been a well-published editor-writer for more than 50 years on a variety of subjects.His latest book is The Earle Family of Newfoundland and Labrador, published in 2015 by DRC Publishers, St. John’s Newfoundland.