William Schallert

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William Schallert
Schallert at the 1990 Academy Awards. Photo by Alan Light.
Born	July 6, 1922 Los Angeles, California
Years active	1947 - present]
Notable roles	Martin Lane in The Patty Duke Show Leander Pomfritt in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis Nilz Baris in Star Trek

William Schallert (born July 6, 1922 in Los Angeles, California), is a very tall actor who has appeared in many movies and television series such as The Smurfs, The Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke, and Get Smart.

He is best known as patriarch Martin Lane on The Patty Duke Show and as teacher Leander Pomfritt on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

He is also very well known for playing the role of Nilz Baris on the Star Trek episode entitled "The Trouble with Tribbles". In a departure from his typical gentle and fatherly screen persona, he played a comically irritating bureacrat. He also appeared in the archive footage of that episode which was used in the popular Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". Schallert appeared in DS9 himself, in the second season episode "Sanctuary", in which he played Varani, a Bajoran musician.

Schallert starred in an innovative 1964 TV pilot for ABC called Philbert, which combined live action camera work and animation. Created by Friz Freleng and directed by Richard Donner, ABC backed out of the series shortly before full production was to begin, though the completed pilot was released in theatres as a short subject.

He was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1979 to 1981 (his former co-star, Patty Duke would succeed him between 1985 and 1988).

He is currently in semiretirement, though his distinctive voice still brings him work for commercial and animation voiceovers.

[edit] Career

William Schallert has appeared in supporting roles on numerous television programmes since the early 1950's. He has also appeared in several movies, including The Jerk with Steve Martin, and Innerspace with Martin Short.

His extensive television appearances include:
The Adventures Of Jim Bowie
The Andy Griffith Show
Arroyo
The Barretts Of Wimpole Street
Bewitched
Bonanza
The Boys
Commando Cody
Death Sentence
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Donna Reed Show
The Duck Factory
The F.B.I.
Father Knows Best
Get Smart
Gidget's Summer Reunion
The Girl With Something Extra
The Grace Kelly Story
Gunsmoke
Hazel
Have Gun, Will Travel
Hennesey
Held Hostage
Here Comes The Brides
How I Met Your Mother
The Incident
Leave It To Beaver
Little House On The Prairie
Lobo
The Loretta Young Theater
Love American Style
The Lucy Show
The Man From Denver
Man On A String
Maverick
McKeever And The Colonel
The Misadventures Of Sheriff Lobo
Mission Impossible
My Sister Eileen
Owen Marshall, Counselor At Law
The Partridge Family
Perry Mason
Peege
Room 222
Santa Barbara
Telephone Time
Through Naked Eyes
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The Wild Wild West