William Schallert, 1922-2016

Veteran character actor William Schallert died over the weekend at the age of 93. Schallert was probably best known for the voluminous TV work he did, such as playing Patty Duke's father on The Patty Duke Show, as well as appearing in the Star Trek episode "The Trouble With Tribbles". However, he did a reasonable amount of film work, too. Probably his most notable film roles were as the mayor in In the Heat of the Night, and as the doctor in Will Penny.

In fact, I was going to use Schallert's death as an opportunity to do a full-length post on Will Penny, which I just happened to have watched over the weekend, before learning of Schallert's death. Unfortunately, the movie seems to be out of print on DVD. Amazon list a small number of copies available at a higher price, as well as the option to rent or buy it via streaming. It doesn't seem to be available at the TCM Shop at all. That's a shame, since it doesn't seem to be coming on any time soon.