Willard Waterman

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Willard Waterman (b. Willard Lewis Waterman, August 29, 1914 in Madison, Wisconsin; d. February 2, 1995 in Burlingame, California) was a character actor on movies, television and radio, remembered best for succeeding Harold Peary as the title character of The Great Gildersleeve at the height of that show's popularity.

Waterman landed such a plum role after Peary---unable to convince sponsor Kraft Foods to allow him an ownership stake in the show, and impressed with better capital-gains deals CBS was willing to offer performers in the high-tax late 1940s---decided to move from NBC to CBS during the latter's famous talent raids. Unfortunately for Peary, Kraft refused to move the show to CBS and hired Waterman to take over as the stentorian Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve.

There was no small irony involved. Waterman began his radio career in Chicago and had met and replaced Peary there on another show in the 1930s, Tom Mix, Ralston Sharpshooter. Not only did the two men become longtime friends but Waterman's own booming voice resembled Peary's almost exactly, though he refused to appropriate Peary's famous Gildersleeve laugh. Waterman stayed with Gildersleeve from 1950-1955, on radio and in an ill-fated 1955 television version.

Waterman's later career included supporting roles in numerous films and television shows, including appearances in such shows as Lawman, 77 Sunset Strip, The Dick Van Dyke Show, F Troop, and Vacation Playhouse. He was all but retired from acting after 1973, though in 1980 he appeared in a radio commercial for Sony.