Simon Oakland

On television, he was a regular on the cult classic horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-1975), and the military drama Baa Baa Black Sheep (1976-1978)

• Name — Simon Oakland • Born — 28 August 1915 • Birth Name — Simon Weiss • Birthplace — Brooklyn, New York, U.S. • Died — 29 August 1983 • Place of death — Cathedral City, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1951–1983 • Children — 1

Oakland was born in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest of the three sons of immigrant Jewish parents, Jacob Weiss and Ethel Oaklander, born in Romania and the Russian Empire respectively. His father was a plasterer and builder. While he later claimed in media interviews to have been born in 1922 (a date repeated in his New York Times obituary), Social Security and vital records indicate he was born Simon Weiss in 1915; his stage name was derived from his mother's maiden name, Oaklander. He began his performing career as a musician (he was a violinist, an avocation he pursued during his entire career as an actor). Oakland began his acting career in the late 1940s. He enjoyed a series of Broadway hits, including Light Up the Sky, Skipper Next to God, The Shrike, and Inherit the Wind, and theater was one of his lasting passions. He was a concert violinist until the 1940s.

Oakland was married to Lois Lorraine Porta. The couple had one daughter, Barbara.

Oakland continued working up to the year of his death. His last credited acting appearance was in the episode "Living and Presumed Dead" on the CBS television series Tucker's Witch. That episode aired three months before Oakland's death from colon cancer in Cathedral City, California, on August 29, 1983, the day after his 68th birthday.