Lon Leonard Chapman (October 1, 1920 – October 12, 2007) was an American actor best known for his numerous guest star appearances on television drama series.
Early years
Chapman was the son of Elmer and Eunice Chapman,
He was born on October 1, 1920,
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but lived thereafter in Joplin, Missouri. He graduated from Joplin High School and, in 1940, from Joplin Junior College. He enlisted in the
USMC the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served in the South Pacific during World War II. He served for 5 years.
[ In 1947, Chapman graduated with a BFA degree from the University of Oklahoma][ Lonny Chapman, 87; theater company's artistic director ]Los Angeles Times'' via Internet Archive. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
Television
Chapman's first role on television was in 1951 on the series
Starlight Theatre, playing the part of an arrogant high-school football player in an episode titled "Miss Bruell". Throughout the remainder of the 1950s, he continued to be cast in other series and gain experience in supporting roles. In 1958 he portrayed detective Jeff Prior in the NBC series
The Investigator. He appeared twice on the CBS series
The Defenders from 1961 to 1965. Seven years later, he played another detective, Frank Malloy, in the CBS series
For the People.
Some of the other series in which Chapman appeared in supporting roles or as a guest star include Gunsmoke, Harbourmaster, The Rifleman, The Lloyd Bridges Show, The Everglades, Decoy, Dundee and the Culhane, , Storefront Lawyers, Quincy, M.E., The A-Team, The Virginian, Matlock, NYPD Blue, Bonanza and Murder, She Wrote. In 1964 he also performed on Perry Mason, portraying a murderer, Jack Talley, in "The Case of the Tandem Target". He appeared as well in the 1966 episode "Lone Woman" of The Road West. Between 1972 and 1975, he guest-starred in three episodes of NBC's McCloud, which starred his friend Dennis Weaver, whom Chapman had originally urged to go into show business. In the late 1970s, he appeared in the episode "The Waterhole" on The Oregon Trail (1977), the episode "Now You see Her..." on The Eddie Capra Mysteries (1978), and as the character L. Patrick Gray in the miniseries Blind Ambition (1979).
Film
Chapman first film role was "Ernie the plumber" in the 1955 movie
Young at Heart. During his lengthy career, his appearances included roles in
East of Eden (1955),
Baby Doll (1956),
The Birds (1963),
The Cowboys (1972),
Where the Red Fern Grows (1974),
Norma Rae (1979),
52 Pick-Up (1986) and
Reindeer Games (2000).
Stage
Chapman debuted as a professional actor on stage in Chicago, where he portrayed Wiley as in a company presenting
Mr. Roberts.
His first Broadway appearance was as a guard in
The Closing Door (1949).
He also portrayed Tom in a revival of
The Time of Your Life on Broadway and at the Brussels World's Fair.
From 1956 to 1961, he taught acting in New York.
Plays that he wrote included The Buffalo Skinner (1958), Cry of the Raindrop (1960), Hoot Sudie (1970), Go Hang the Moon (1974), Night at the Red Dog (1979), and Happy Days Are Here Again Blues (1979).
During the summers of 1959 through 1967, Chapman directed and produced more than 80 plays in Fishkill, New York, and he acted in more than 30 of them.
Recognition
In the fall of 2005, Chapman was named "Outstanding Alumnus" at Missouri Southern State University, in his hometown of Joplin.
Chapman's best friend since his university days, fellow actor
Dennis Weaver, had previously received that honor.
[
]
Personal life and death
In 1944, Chapman married the former Erma Dean Gibbons of Joplin, Missouri. The couple remained married for 63 years and had two children: a daughter, Linda Dean, and a son, Wyley.[ On October 12, 2007, at the age of 87, Chapman died of complications from heart disease at a care facility in North Hollywood.]
Filmography
|
|
| |
| Uncredited |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| Uncredited |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| (final film role) |
External links
