Dick Gautier, the handsome character actor who spent decades on television — after starring in Broadway on “Bye Bye Birdie” as the Elvis-like Conrad Birdie — passed away in Arcadia, Calif. after a long illness.
Starting out as a stand-up comic, Gautier’s all-American looks soon had him landing regular roles on TV, including his recurring role as Hymie the Robot on the spy spoof “Get Smart.”
The character became his most beloved role, despite the android only making four appearances over the show’s four seasons.
Celebrity Death Watch: Stars Struggling Through 2017!
Gautier also worked as a screenwriter, and even wrote his own guest-starring turns on the ’70s anthology show “Love, American Style.”
Mel Brooks was a fan, and cast Gautier in the lead role while producing his small-screen ’70s Robin Hood parody “When Things Were Rotten.”
The self-effacing actor worked steadily right through the ’90s, before (mostly) retiring and writing memoirs about his own career — where he enjoyed blasting old co-stars while looking back at his self-described “semi-stardom.”
That included calling out Buddy Hackett as “mean from the ground up,” adding that even Carol Burnett (who “never knocks anybody” couldn’t stand the comic legend.
