
John Anderson
Department: Acting
Biography
John Robert Anderson (October 20, 1922 – August 7, 1992) A tall, sinewy, austere-looking character actor with silver hair, rugged features and a distinctive voice, John Robert Anderson appeared in hundreds of films and television episodes. Immensely versatile, he was at his best submerging himself in the role of historical figures (he impersonated Abraham Lincoln three times and twice baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, men whom he strongly resembled). He was a familiar presence in westerns and science-fiction serials, usually as upstanding, dignified and generally benign citizens (a rare exception was his Ebonite interrogator in The Outer Limits (1963) episode "Nightmare"). He had a high opinion of Rod Serling and was proud to be featured in four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959), most memorably as the tuxedo-clad angel Gabriel in "A Passage for Trumpet" (doing for Jack Klugman what Henry Travers did for James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)).
Known For

Psycho
1960

Heaven with a Gun
1969

5 Card Stud
1968

The Satan Bug
1965

Eight Men Out
1988

I-Man
1986

Executive Action
1973

Soldier Blue
1970

Ride the High Country
1962

Geronimo
1962

Scalplock
1966

Young Billy Young
1969

24 Hour Psycho
1993

Namu, the Killer Whale
1966

Zoot Suit
1981

Smile Jenny, You're Dead
1974

The Animals
1970

The Stepmother
1972

The Lincoln Conspiracy
1977

Manhunter
1974

The Force of Evil
1977

The Great Bank Robbery
1969

Man and Boy
1971

In Broad Daylight
1991

Welcome to Hard Times
1967

The Quest
1976

Daddy
1991

A Covenant with Death
1967

Follow Your Heart
1990

Last Train from Gun Hill
1959

In Search of Historic Jesus
1979

Heatwave!
1974

The Dark Side of Innocence
1976

Molly and Lawless John
1972

Set This Town on Fire
1973

The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
1951

A Man Called Gannon
1968

The Wackiest Ship in the Army
1960

The Fortune Cookie
1966

Smokey and the Bandit II
1980

Missing Children: A Mother's Story
1982

Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion
1977

The Last Hurrah
1977

Day of the Evil Gun
1968

The Andersonville Trial
1970

Cotton Comes to Harlem
1970

The True Story of Lynn Stuart
1958

The Specialist
1975

The Dove
1974

Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone
1994

Babe Ruth
1991

Never Too Young to Die
1986

The Hallelujah Trail
1965

Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal
1989

Deadly Innocents
1989

Counselor at Crime
1973

Call to Danger
1973

Walk on the Wild Side
1962

American Harvest
1987

Donner Pass: The Road to Survival
1978

The Deerslayer
1978

Sins of the Past
1984

Scorpion
1986

Bed of Lies
1992

For the Love of Willadean
1964

Bridger
1976

Out of the Blue
1981

Dead Man on the Run
1975

Hitched
1973

The First Time
1982

Rebel Range
—

Lincoln: Trial by Fire
1974

Death Among Friends
1975

The American Adventure
—

M*A*S*H
1972

Cheyenne
1955

Trackdown
1957

Cain's Hundred
1961

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
1980

Star Trek: The Next Generation
1987

Kung Fu
1972

The Great Adventure
1963

Little House on the Prairie
1974

Kraft Suspense Theatre
1963

The F.B.I.
1965

Silver Spoons
1982

Matlock
1986

Hawaii Five-O
1968

Route 66
1960

The Bob Newhart Show
1972

The Twilight Zone
1959

The Twilight Zone
1959

The Twilight Zone
1959

Scarecrow and Mrs. King
1983

MacGyver
1985

Quantum Leap
1989

Gunsmoke
1955

Perry Mason
1957

Hart to Hart
1979

Lassie
1954

Voyagers!
1982

Cannon
1971

Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951

Hunter
1984

The Twilight Zone
1959

Backstairs at the White House
1979

Dallas
1978

Sea Hunt
1958

The Tall Man
1960

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955

87th Precinct
1961

Redigo
1963

The Quest
1976

Outlaws
1960

Aaron's Way
1988

Rawhide
1959

Have Gun, Will Travel
1957

Cimarron Strip
1967

The Fugitive
1963

The Virginian
1962

Lancer
1968

Thriller
1960

Yancy Derringer
1958

Peter Gunn
1958

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955

Matt Houston
1982

Richard Diamond, Private Detective
1957

The Big Valley
1965

Here Come the Brides
1968

Adventures in Paradise
1959

Bronco
1958

Tarzan
1966

The Sixth Sense
1972

Occasional Wife
1966

Black Saddle
1959

Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958

The Rifleman
1958

The Rebel
1959

Ben Casey
1961

Bat Masterson
1958

Laramie
1959

The Rat Patrol
1966

Law of the Plainsman
1959

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956

The Detectives
1959

Heart of the City
1986

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956

Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected
1977

Stoney Burke
1962

Johnny Ringo
1959

The Legend of Jesse James
1965

Annie McGuire
1988

Dr. Kildare
1961

The Walter Winchell File
1957

The Outer Limits
1963

The Fugitive
1963

Panic!
1957

Dream West
1986

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956

North and South
1985

Law of the Plainsman
1959

Rawhide
1959

The F.B.I.
1965

Gunsmoke
1955

Gunsmoke
1955

The Virginian
1962

The Virginian
1962

The Virginian
1962

The Virginian
1962

Law of the Plainsman
1959

Gunsmoke
1955

Gunsmoke
1955

Gunsmoke
1955

Gunsmoke
1955

Gunsmoke
1955

Gunsmoke
1955

Gunsmoke
1955

Gunsmoke
1955

Harrigan and Son
1960

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956

Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II
1976

Perry Mason
1957

The Rat Patrol
1966

Perry Mason
1957

Quincy, M.E.
1976

The Rifleman
1958

Bearcats!
1971

Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951

The Virginian
1962

The Rockford Files
1974

Jake and the Fatman
1987

Murder, She Wrote
1984

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955

Kung Fu
1972

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955

Quincy, M.E.
1976

Emergency!
1972

My Favorite Martian
1963

The Incredible Hulk
1977

Quincy, M.E.
1976

Stagecoach West
1960

The Westerner
1960

Bonanza
1959

The Rifleman
1958

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962

Kung Fu
1972

Bonanza
1959

Trackdown
1957

Bret Maverick
1981

The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo
1979

Bronk
1975

Inside Detective
1950

Lou Grant
1977

Peter Loves Mary
1960

Sam Benedict
1962

Petrocelli
1974

Have Gun, Will Travel
1957

Mannix
1967

The Lieutenant
1963

Lawman
1958

$weepstake$
1979

Sam Benedict
1962

Felony Squad
1966

Steve Canyon
1958