Dabbs Greer

Jonas in Gunsmoke, Coach Ossie Weiss in the sitcom Hank, and Reverend Robert Alden in Little House on the Prairie. Greer's final film role was as the 108-year-old Paul Edgecomb, the character played by Tom Hanks in 1999's The Green Mile.

• Name — Dabbs Greer • Birth Name — Robert William Greer • Born — 2 April 1917 • Birthplace — Fairview, Missouri, U.S. • Died — 28 April 2007 • Place of death — Pasadena, California, U.S. • Resting Place — Peace Valley Cemetery McDonald County, Missouri • Education — Drury University • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1938–2003

Greer was born in Fairview, Missouri, the son of Bernice Irene (née Dabbs), a speech teacher, and Randall Alexander Greer, a druggist. When Greer was an infant, the family moved to the larger Anderson, Missouri, 30 mi southwest. At the age of eight, he began acting in children's theater productions. He attended Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, where he was a member of Theta Kappa Nu.

Greer's film debut was as an extra in the 1939 film Jesse James, which was filmed mainly around Pineville, Missouri. After moving to Pasadena, California in 1943, he became an administrator and acting instructor at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Greer appeared in three episodes of Adventures of Superman, including the inaugural entry, "Superman on Earth" (1952), in which he was cast as the first person to be saved by Superman. He was the major guest star as a man framed for murder in "Five Minutes to Doom" (1954) and as an eccentric millionaire in "The Superman Silver Mine" (1958). Greer made hundreds of appearances in around 200 different television series. He played the role of the marshal in the two-part "King of the Dakotas" (1955) and appeared as Ray in "Paper Gunman" of the NBC Western anthology series Frontier. In the 1956 movie Hot Rod Girl, he played the auto-repair shop owner, Mr. Fry. In 1957, he appeared in the episode "Revenge" on the syndicated crime drama Sheriff of Cochise and as Sanders in the episode "My Horse Ajax" on NBC's children's Western series Fury. About this time, he guest-starred on the syndicated adventure series Whirlybirds and Rescue 8. He also appeared in an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Greer was cast on the syndicated Western series Pony Express and also guest-starred on three CBS Western series: Wanted: Dead or Alive, Trackdown, and Johnny Ringo. Thereafter, he appeared in the NBC Modern Western series Empire and guest-starred on Stoney Burke. Greer appeared on ABC's Tombstone Territory (in the 1957 episode "Ambush at Gila Gulch"), and in the 1957 episode "Rebel Christmas" on the Tod Andrews syndicated series The Gray Ghost. He was then cast as Ed Grimes on the 1958 episode "312 Vertical" of the syndicated series State Trooper. He also appeared in It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958). His other appearances in 1959 include the episode "Peligroso" on NBC's Western series The Restless Gun, episodes of Bat Masterson, and the syndicated Man Without a Gun. From 1956 until 1974, Greer had a recurring role as storekeeper Mr. Jonas on the long-running TV series "Gunsmoke". He appeared in 42 episodes of the series. Occasionally, he would play someone other than Mr. Jonas. In one episode, he was Chester's uncle.

In 1960, Greer appeared in the episode "Dark Fear" on the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He was cast twice in The Twilight Zone, in the 1962 episode "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" and the 1963 episode "Valley of the Shadow". Also in 1963, he was cast in a segment on Jack Palance's ABC circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth. He then appeared as a policeman in the first episode of The Fugitive, "Fear in a Desert City". He would return for five more episodes, making him the most frequently cast guest actor of non-recurring roles on the series (tied with Richard Anderson). The 1960s brought Greer several more recurring roles in popular series, such as track coach Ossie Weiss in Hank, and Sheriff Norris "Norrie" Coolidge in The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. He also made eight appearances on The Rifleman. In 1962, on the ABC/WB Western series Lawman, in an episode titled "The Unmasked", Greer was cast in a fictitious portrayal of Boston Corbett, the Union Army soldier who shot and mortally wounded Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. In 1969, Greer played the minister who married Carol and Mike Brady on the pilot episode of the Brady Bunch.

Greer had a recurring role in the NBC series Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1983 as Reverend Alden. Often cast as a minister, he performed the marriages of Rob and Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mike and Carol Brady on the first episode of The Brady Bunch.

From 1992 to 1996, he tended to the spiritual needs of the townsfolk in fictional Rome, Wisconsin, as Reverend Henry Novotny in Picket Fences. He also had a guest appearance on an episode of Charles in Charge in the role of Buzz Powell. In the May 9, 1991, episode of L.A. Law, titled "On the Toad Again", Greer played a character addicted to a "high" produced by licking the skin secretions of psychoactive toads. In the 1997 film Con Air, Greer appeared as an old man discovered hiding under a pick-up truck at "Lerner Field". Greer's final feature film was a prominent role as 108-year-old Paul Edgecomb in The Green Mile (1999) starring Tom Hanks as the younger Edgecomb. Greer's last television performance was in a 2003 episode of Lizzie McGuire. Most of Greer's approximately 700 movie and television appearances had been in supporting roles, but he told the Albany Times Union in an interview in 2000, that "every character actor, in their little sphere, is the lead."

Greer died on April 28, 2007, at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena from kidney failure and heart disease. He is interred in Peace Valley Cemetery in McDonald County, Missouri.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1950 — Dick Tracy — Shaky — 2 episodes • 1950–1954 — Fireside Theatre — Various characters — 14 episodes • 1951 — Space Patrol — Paul Marin — Episode: "The Lost City of the Carnacans" • 1952 — The Doctor — Pierson — Episode: "No Gods to Serve" • The Lone Ranger — Toby Durbin — Episode: "Through the Wall" • 1952–1954 — Cavalcade of America — Mark Wilson / Johann / John Adams — 3 episodes • 1952–1955 — Big Town — Sergeant Jim Ward — 4 episodes • 1952–1958 — Adventures of Superman — Episode 1- Played 2 people. Mr. Pebbles and Dan Dobey / Episode 2 - Joe Winters / Episode 3 - Man Saved from Dirigible Fall — 3 episodes • 1953–1955 — Big Town — Colonel Venable / Dave / General Charles S. Venable — 3 episodes • 1954 — Waterfront — Phil Harvey — Episode: "Stand by All Stations" • Topper — Jack — Episode: "Preparations for Europe" • The Lone Wolf — Sheriff Ketton — Episode: "The Wife Story" • Climax! — Adams — Episode: "The After House" • Your Favorite Story — Unknown character — Episode: "The Waltz" • 1954–1960 — Letter to Loretta — Various characters — 9 episodes • 1954–1965 — Lassie — Casey Howell / Joe Baker — 3 episodes • 1955 — Father Knows Best — Mr. Collins — Episode: "Father Delivers the Papers" • The Man Behind the Badge — Detective Merrick — Episode: "The Case of the Capital Crime" • The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp — Marshal Crawford — Episode: "Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal" • Schlitz Playhouse of Stars — Charlie — Episode: "A Gift of Life" • Frontier — Marshal / Ray — 2 episodes • General Electric Theater — Tom — Episode: "Prosper's Old Mother" • Navy Log — Mr. Sayres — Episode: "Navy Corpsman" • 1955–1956 — Science Fiction Theatre — Professor Horst Reimers / MacNamara / Arthur Kern — 3 episodes • Lux Video Theatre — Shammy / Maguire — 4 episodes • 1955–1957 — Fireside Theatre — Boggs / Germie / Henry Blaine / Jeremy — 2 episodes • 1956 — The Man Called X — Josef — Episode: "For External Use Only" • The Star and the Story — Dr. Carlson — Episode: "Payment in Kind" • NBC Matinee Theater — Various characters — 2 episodes • The Millionaire — Stoolie — Episode: "The Ed Murdock Story" • Alfred Hitchcock Presents — Theodore the Milkman / The Sheriff — Season 1 Episode 25: "There Was an Old Woman" as Theodore the Milkman Season 1 Episode 33: "The Belfry" as the Sheriff • TV Reader's Digest — Captain Larsen / Paul Diamond / Dr. Rayborn / Tad Duncan, Sr. / Dr. Petrie — 5 episodes • Chevron Hall of Stars — John — Episode: "Family Affair" • The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show — Dr. J. L. Hendricks / Bert Keith — 2 episodes • The Joseph Cotten Show — Mr. Erwin — Episode: "We Who Love Her" • Studio 57 — Sheriff Barton — Episode: "Swing Your Partner, Hector" • 1956–1961 — Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre — Various characters — 6 episodes • 1956–1974 — Gunsmoke — Wilbur Jonas (storekeeper) / Joe Bean / Uncle Wesley — 43 episodes • 1957 — The New Adventures of Charlie Chan — Zac West — Episode: "The Lost Face" • How to Marry a Millionaire — Mr. Blandish — 3 episodes • Broken Arrow — Joe Randolph — Episode: "Legacy of a Hero" • Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal — Tom Denby / Pete Maxwell — 2 episodes • Fury — Sanders — Episode: "My Horse Ajax" • Sheriff of Cochise — Charlie Jackson — Episode: "Revenge" • The West Point Story — Tom Nolan — 2 episodes • Code 3 — Louis Johnson / Bill Rockwell — 2 episodes • The Web — Unknown character — Episode: "Man with a Choice" • The Gray Ghost — Cooper — Episode: "Rebel Christmas" • Tombstone Territory — Jim Edwards, Sr. — Episode: "Ambush at Gila Gulch" • 1957–1958 — Whirlybirds — Jim Burdette / Dan Malloy — 2 episodes • Trackdown — Mike Kilroy / Sheriff Chet Farrow / Ward Barrett / Ethan Phelps — 4 episodes • 1958 — Official Detective — James — Episode: "The Cover-Up" • The Court of Last Resort — Sheriff Cass Baker — Episode: "The Joel Sheldon Case" • State Trooper — Ed Grimes — Episode: "312 Vertical" • Target — Kirby — Episode: "Backfire" • Westinghouse Studio One — Lewis — Episode: "Image of Fear" • The Restless Gun — Roy Stanton — Episode: "Peligroso" • 1958–1959 — Wanted Dead or Alive — Bartender / Elder Luke Boone / Tom Wade — 3 episodes • Walt Disney Presents — Will / Fort Supplier — 2 episodes • 1958–1966 — Perry Mason — Various characters — 8 episodes • 1959 — Pony Express — Sheriff Barnett — Episode: "Wrong Rope" • Steve Canyon — Ben Moore — Episode: "The Bomb" • Playhouse 90 — Clayton Beard — Episode: "The Day Before Atlanta" • The Thin Man — Amboy - Hotel Clerk — Episode: "Anonymity Anyone?" • The Rough Riders — Sheriff Jenkins — Episode: "Paradise Gap" • Alcoa Theatre — Policeman — Episode: "Christabel" • Man Without a Gun — Ben McLaren — Episode: "Hangtree Inn" • The Troubleshooters — Lepage — Episode: "The Law and the Profits" • Tightrope! — Skeet — Episode: "Thousand Dollar Bill" • Bat Masterson — Will — Episode: "Wanted: Dead" • Law of the Plainsman — Wesley — Episode: “The Hostiles” • Richard Diamond, Private Detective — Scooter Jaffee — Episode: "The Adjuster" • The Rifleman — Brett Conway — Episode: "Panic" Marcus Trimble Episode: "Outlaw's Inheritance" • Wichita Town — John Matthews — Episode: "The Devil's Choice" • 1959–1960 — Black Saddle — Owen Edwards / Denver Pollock — 2 episodes • Goodyear Theatre — Matty Burton / Policeman — 2 episodes • 1959–1965 — Wagon Train — Hiram Snow / Mr. Finley / Tanner — 3 episodes • 1960 — Rescue 8 — Harvey — Episode: "Quicksand" • Johnny Ringo — Sam — Episode: "Killer, Choose a Card" • The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis — Mr. Walter Gilroy — 2 episodes • The DuPont Show with June Allyson — Dr. Meeker — Episode: "Dark Fear" • Shirley Temple's Storybook — Samuel — Episode: "The Reluctant Dragon" • Klondike — Piano Delivery Man — Episode: "Keys to Trouble" • Tales of Wells Fargo — Ben Wilson — Episode: "The Bride and the Bandit" • Perry Mason — Charles Knudsen, night watchman — S4, E5 "The Case of the Lavender Lipstick" • Two Faces West — Willie Medford — Episode: "The Proud Man" • The Rifleman — Farley — Episode: “The Jailbird” • 1960–1961 — Death Valley Days — Slim Newell / Leo Harris — 2 episodes • 1960–1962 — Laramie — Elmo Regis / Mr. Colby / Samuel Clemens — 3 episodes • 1961 — The Rifleman — Finny — Episodes: "The Wyoming Story: Part 1" & "The Wyoming Story: Part 2" • Shotgun Slade — Ed Brandon — Episode: "A Gun and a Prayer" • The Law and Mr. Jones — Unknown character — Episode: "Indian War" • The Jack Benny Program — 1st Desk Clerk — Episode: "Jack Goes to Las Vegas" • Stagecoach West — Foster / Reider — 2 episodes • The Asphalt Jungle — Al Stehl — Episode: "The Friendly Gesture" • The Aquanauts — Oscar / Haber — 2 episodes • Adventures in Paradise — Reverend Forbes — Episode: "Errand of Mercy" • Hawaiian Eye — Harry Wilson — Episode: "Thomas Jefferson Chu" • Cain's Hundred — Willie Beal — Episode: "The Penitent: Louis Strode" • Dr. Kildare — Mr. Willis — Episode: "Holiday Weekend" • Bus Stop — Jefty — Episode: "A Lion Walks Among Us" • Ichabod and Me — Mr. Halliday — Episode: "Teenage Journalist" • 1961–1962 — Checkmate — Hokey / Henry Creasy — 2 episodes • Lawman — Joe Brockway / Les Courtney — 2 episodes • The Detectives — Ed Foster / Mr. Blane / Todd Adams / Helm Merriwether — 4 episodes • 1961–1963 — The Untouchables — Brower / Agent Ned Ferber / Thomas B. Randall — 3 episodes • 1961–1964 — Rawhide — Sheriff / Jebidiah Haddlebird / Townsman — 3 episodes • 1961–1965 — The Andy Griffith Show — Mr. Sims / Naylor / Sales Clerk / Councilman Dobbs — 4 episodes • 1961–1971 — Bonanza — Various characters — 8 episodes • 1962 — Have Gun – Will Travel — Doc Halop — Episode: "Lazarus" • Surfside 6 — Finney Tate — Episode: "The Surfside Swindle" • Follow the Sun — Fulton — Episode: "Marine of the Month" • Alcoa Premiere — Herb Raymond — Episode: "The Very Custom Special" • The Dick Powell Theatre — Gavin — Episode: "Pericles on 31st Street" • Don't Call Me Charlie! — Dr. Martin — Episode: "Vive Judson McKay" • The Eleventh Hour — Ed Crain — Episode: "Angie, You Made My Heart Stop" • Saints and Sinners — Walter Hines — Episode: "A Night of Horns and Bells" • 1962–1963 — The Twilight Zone — Evans / Scanlan — 2 episodes • 1962–1965 — The Dick Van Dyke Show — Mr. Brumley / Mr. Waring / Chaplain Berger — 4 episodes • 1963 — Empire — Joseph Williams — Episode: "End of an Image" • Stoney Burke — Dr. John Banner — Episode: "Image of Glory" • Make Room for Daddy — Impatient Postal Customer — Episode: "Rusty's Birthday" • I'm Dickens, He's Fenster — Charlie Piedmont — Episode: "Senior Citizen Charlie" • Temple Houston — Marshal Cloud — Episode: "Gallows in Galilee" • Kraft Suspense Theatre — Newton Yort — Episode: "A Hero for Our Times" • The Greatest Show on Earth — Unknown character — Episode: "Lady in Limbo" • 1963–1967 — The Fugitive — Various characters — 6 episodes • 1964 — Grindl — Sladowski — Episode: "Grindl, Private Eye" • Perry Mason — Larsen Halstead — S7, E16 "The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands" • Destry — Dr. Forbes — Episode: "Destry Had a Little Lamb" • Arrest and Trial — J.H. Salomon — Episode: "The Black Flower" • The Rogues — Madigan — Episode: "The Personal Touch" • The Outer Limits — E.F. Larkin / Mr. Bishop — 2 episodes • 1965 — Wendy and Me — Orville Beaumont — Episode: "A Bouquet for Mr. Bundy" • The Bill Dana Show — Mr. Clark — Episode: "The Court Jester" • The Cara Williams Show — Fuliner — Episode: "Pawn Ticket for a Ticker" • Peyton Place — Parole Officer / E.J. Taggart — 2 episodes • Profiles in Courage — Taylor / Dr. Fenner — 2 episodes • 1965–1966 — Hank — Coach Ossie Weiss — 21 episodes • 1965–1967 — The Virginian — Ed Harger / Doc — 2 episodes • Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. — Policeman / Harper Caldwell — 2 episodes • 1966 — Laredo — Ira — Episode: "Road to San Remo" • 1966–1973 — The F.B.I. — Various characters — 10 episodes • 1967 — The Invaders — The Minister — Episode: "The Experiment" • Rango — Sheriff Simmons — Episode: "Gunfight at the K.O. Saloon" • The Road West — Thomas Grimmer — Episode: "Elizabeth's Odyssey" • Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. — Police Officer — Episode: "The Prize Boat" • Cimarron Strip — Judge Quayle — Episode: "Nobody" • The Big Valley — Matt Carson — Episode: "Night of the Executioner" • 1967–1969 — Mannix — Mr. Coombs / Petey O'Grady / Dan Turpin — 3 episodes • 1968 — The Second Hundred Years — General Craven — Episode: "For Whom the Drums Beat" • Petticoat Junction — Mr. Peck — Episode: "Ring-A-Ding-Ding" • The Wild Wild West — Captain Lyman Butler / Senator Seth Buckley — 2 episodes • 1968–1969 — Judd, for the Defense — Dr. Fred Zellmer / Mr. LeBow — 2 episodes • The Ghost & Mrs. Muir — Norrie Coolidge — 6 episodes • 1969 — The Brady Bunch — Minister — Episode: "The Honeymoon" • Lancer — Sheriff — Episode: "The Kid" • 1969–1973 — Ironside — Old Librarian / Mr. Carew / Thomas Gibbs — 3 episodes • 1970 — The Boy Who Stole the Elephant — Stilts — Television film • Bracken's World — Man on Bus — Episode: "Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon" • The Name of the Game — Victor Bychek — Episode: "Echo of a Nightmare" • The Interns — Edgar Jarvis — Episode: "Death Wish" • The Young Lawyers — Jacobi — Episode: "MacGillicuddy Always Was a Pain in the Neck" • 1971 — The Bold Ones: The New Doctors — Casey — Episode: "Angry Man" • O'Hara, U.S. Treasury — Billy Jack — Episode: "Operation: Moonshine" • 1972 — Nichols — Harrigan — Episode: "Sleight of Hand" • The Mod Squad — Store Owner — Episode: "Taps, Play It Louder" • 1972–1973 — The Rookies — Billy Levinson / Studio Guard — 2 episodes • 1973 — Ghost Story — Harry Bell — Episode: "Earth, Air, Fire and Water" • Winesburg, Ohio — Parcival — Television film • Barnaby Jones — Andy Spake — Episode: "Murder-Go-Round" • Adam-12 — Dave Carlson — Episode: ”Venice Division” • 1973–1974 — Cannon — Walt Fox / Windom Salter — 2 episodes • 1974 — Chopper One — Motel Manager — Episode: "Strain of Innocence" • Chase — Parino — Episode: "Out of Gas" • The Greatest Gift — Deacon Hurd — Television film • Paper Moon — Orville — Episode: "Bonnie and Clyde" • The Manhunter — Harry Bell — Episode: "The Lodester Ambush" • 1974–1983 — Little House on the Prairie — Reverend Alden — 76 episodes • 1975 — Shazam! — Seldom Seen Slim — Episode: "Fool's Gold" • Saturday Night Live — Man at Veterinary Clinic — Episode: "Candice Bergen/Esther Phillips" • 1976 — The Rockford Files — Peter Preli — Episode: "Where's Houston?" • The Streets of San Francisco — Watchman — Episode: "Dead or Alive" • 1977 — Green Eyes — Mr. Cousins — Television film • Emergency! — Dr. Hubert Nippert — Episode: "Upward and Onward" • 1978 — The Incredible Hulk — Dr. Malone — Episode: "The Beast Within" • The Winds of Kitty Hawk — Ace Hutchin — Television film • 1981 — Charlie's Angels — Bluford Catlin — Episode: "Moonshinin' Angels" • 1982 — The Greatest American Hero — Supervisor — Episode: "Train of Thought" • Matt Houston — Henry — Episode: "Who Would Kill Ramona?" • 1983 — Little House: Look Back to Yesterday — Reverend Alden — Television film • 1984 — Little House: The Last Farewell — Reverend Alden — Television film • 1986 — Starman — Ralph Wollery — Episode: "Fever" • 1987 — Werewolf — Russell — Episode: "Friendly Haven" • 1988 — Charles in Charge — 'Buzz' Powell — Episode: "Poppa, the Sailor Man" • Bonanza: The Next Generation — Sills — Television film • First Impressions — Milt — Episode: "Pilot" • 1989 — Roseanne — Joe — Episode: "Lobocop" • Ann Jillian — Unknown character — Episode: "Buddy System" • 1990 — The Bradys — Minister — Episode: "The Brady 500" • 1990–1991 — In the Heat of the Night — J.L. Lambry — 2 episodes • 1991 — L.A. Law — Chester Mead — Episode: "On the Toad Again" • Empty Nest — Mr. Sobel — Episode: "Almost Like Being in Love" • 1992 — The Secret of Lost Creek — Henry "Grandpa" Fogel — Unknown episodes • 1992–1996 — Picket Fences — Reverend Henry Novotny — 20 episodes • 1994 — Rebel Highway — Gary — Episode: "Runaway Daughters" • 1997 — George and Leo — Uncle Dick — Episode: "The Thanksgiving Show" • 1998 — Ally McBeal — Vincent Robbins — Episode: "Alone Again" • 2000 — Spin City — Dr. Marsh Laughlin, DDS — Episode: "Smile" • 2001 — Diagnosis: Murder — Danny McNamara — 2 episodes • Family Law — Frank Watson — Episode: "The Gay Divorcee" • 2001–2002 — Maybe It's Me — Grandpa Fred Stage — 21 episodes • 2003 — Lizzie McGuire — Moe — Episode: "My Fair Larry" (final acting role)