# Character Actor ID. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840 "2019-05-12T01:33:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/101 "2019-05-16T15:10:49Z")
John Larch? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/102 "2019-05-16T15:44:36Z")
> [@Steven\_Maven](#): > > Verbal descriptions and random guesses aren’t working. If only you were a police sketch artist, you could draw a picture. > > Wait - there’s an app for that! Download the free version of Ultimate Flash Face (no link). If you can come up with a reasonable likeness, add it to this thread. Somebody is likely to know him. We already know who he “kinda looks like” (James Daly, Frank Marsh, Barry Atwater, _inter alia_). I doubt a composite sketch would be of much help now, unless you got the police artist who drew the Jenningses in _ **The Americans** _. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/103 "2019-05-16T16:03:31Z")
I think I might have it. Kenneth Tobey. [https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1172&bih=859&ei=d4jdXPSSIoOGsAW31ZrABw&q=kenneth+tobey&oq=kenn&gs\_l=img.1.0.35i39j0l9.1818.2517..4511...0.0..2.160.449.3j1......2....1..gws-wiz-img.....0.OJz1Z55AMmo](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1172&bih=859&ei=d4jdXPSSIoOGsAW31ZrABw&q=kenneth+tobey&oq=kenn&gs_l=img.1.0.35i39j0l9.1818.2517..4511...0.0..2.160.449.3j1......2....1..gws-wiz-img.....0.OJz1Z55AMmo) If this isn’t him, it’ll take seeing “the guy” in something to make me realize it. Plus, I’ve seen a lot of stuff with this guy in it. The “Mob accountant” look may have been the “Strange invaders” pic. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/104 "2019-05-16T16:18:50Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I think I might have it. Kenneth Tobey. > > [kenneth tobey - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1172&bih=859&ei=d4jdXPSSIoOGsAW31ZrABw&q=kenneth+tobey&oq=kenn&gs_l=img.1.0.35i39j0l9.1818.2517..4511...0.0..2.160.449.3j1......2....1..gws-wiz-img.....0.OJz1Z55AMmo) > > If this isn’t him, it’ll take seeing “the guy” in something to make me realize it. Plus, I’ve seen a lot of stuff with this guy in it. The “Mob accountant” look may have been the “Strange invaders” pic. “Chuck” from _ **Whirlybirds** _! Hell, why didn’t you say so?!? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/105 "2019-05-16T16:25:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > “Chuck” from _ **Whirlybirds** _! Hell, why didn’t you say so?!? 😛 And yes, it was a \*\*Desilu \*\*production! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO3UBIjU8ZA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO3UBIjU8ZA)😛 God, how I loved this show when I was a preschooler (and still do)! :o ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/106 "2019-05-16T17:12:18Z")
Thanks to all for you guesses. I found him by running an old TV movie called “The Cops are Robbers”, came up blank on that one, but it reminded me of another old TV movie called Death Squad and there he was. Never saw “Whirlybirds”. I also kind of remember the guy wearing some kind of weird headgear but never mentioned that tidbit as I was uncertain. He did do an appearance on DS9 so that was where that came from. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/107 "2019-05-16T17:21:01Z")
So, not gray haired after all? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/108 "2019-05-16T17:22:41Z")
I’ll be damned! He was in _ **DS9** _ and _ **Airplane!** _ too! > **[Kenneth Tobey](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Kenneth_Tobey)** > > Kenneth Tobey (23 March 1917 – 22 December 2002; age 85) was a veteran character actor from Oakland, California who appeared as Rurigan in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine second season episode "Shadowplay". Tobey was no stranger to science fiction,... [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xlDXQdgx_QU/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AHUBoAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgYShJMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDepiv3Zx8ihd2LKzdQrrcAhMaMDA "Airplane Classic Scenes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlDXQdgx_QU) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/109 "2019-05-16T17:37:00Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Never saw “Whirlybirds”. Had one of the best kick-ass TV themes ever. I had no trouble remembering it when somebody asked me to sing it 30 years later. Helicopters were quite the thing back in the '50s. I had my first ride in one at the age of five or six out at Flying Cloud Airport in Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/110 "2019-05-16T18:31:39Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I think I might have it. Kenneth Tobey. > > [kenneth tobey - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1172&bih=859&ei=d4jdXPSSIoOGsAW31ZrABw&q=kenneth+tobey&oq=kenn&gs_l=img.1.0.35i39j0l9.1818.2517..4511...0.0..2.160.449.3j1......2....1..gws-wiz-img.....0.OJz1Z55AMmo) > > If this isn’t him, it’ll take seeing “the guy” in something to make me realize it. Plus, I’ve seen a lot of stuff with this guy in it. The “Mob accountant” look may have been the “Strange invaders” pic. Wait just cause you’re the OP you get to say? I don’t think that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/111 "2019-05-16T18:32:59Z")
I am saying so but not with total certainty. I remain open to having my mind changed if another submitted guess hits the mark even closer. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/112 "2019-05-16T21:06:53Z")
Now that we have a picture of him, or someone who looks like him, I’ll offer up Van Heflin. He was the guy with the bomb in _Airport_ (1970). [https://www.google.com/search?q=van+heflin&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiT246H-KDiAhXCl54KHVnWD8UQ\_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=654](https://www.google.com/search?q=van+heflin&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiT246H-KDiAhXCl54KHVnWD8UQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=654) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/113 "2019-05-17T00:00:06Z")
Not Van Heflin or Van Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/114 "2019-05-17T00:40:46Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Not Van Heflin or Van Johnson. How about Bobby Van? ---
**Author:** ![jadielyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jadielyn/32/8808_2.png) [@jadielyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jadielyn)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/115 "2019-05-18T02:10:10Z")
My SO had suggested Charles Martin Smith, a bit late now I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/116 "2019-05-18T02:47:54Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Had one of the best kick-ass TV themes ever. I had no trouble remembering it when somebody asked me to sing it 30 years later. And you can sing [“lovely Spam, wonderful Spam”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KgPC5RkYFo) to it. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840/117 "2019-05-18T13:47:29Z")
> [@jadielyn](#): > > My SO had suggested Charles Martin Smith, a bit late now I suppose. Too young anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-actor-id/833840.md?page=5)