| Allan Melvin |
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ALLAN MELVIN  1923 - 2008 You know his face and you know his voice. He specialized in playing servicemen (most notably in “Sgt. Bilko”) during the first half of his career. He was heard for almost 3 decades in cartoons. He had a 15-year run in a series of commercials. He even became a semi-regular in the legendary “All In the Family.” But somehow it is his mere 8-episode (!) run as “Sam the Butcher” in the surprisingly enduring “The Brady Bunch” that boosts this veteran TV actor up a notch in pop culture history. Allan Melvin passed away on January 17 at the age of 84. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1923. He graduated from Columbia University in New York majoring in journalism. In 1944, he got a job in the sound effects department at NBC and parlayed that into an acting career on radio soap operas. He was also a stand-up impressionist. His excellent voices would pay off in later life as a voice-over actor. In 1951, he was cast in one of his first military parts in the Broadway production of “Stalag 17.” The play ran for over a year and also featured one of his future “Bilko” buddies, Harvey Lembeck. Both Lembeck and Melvin were spotted and signed by Phil Silvers and producer/director Nat Hiken, who were casting their new TV sitcom for CBS. The show revolved around a quirky group of servicemen headed by loveable conman Sgt. Bilko (Silvers) at a Midwest army base.  “You’ll Never Get Rich” debuted on Sept 20, 1955 (becoming “The Phil Silvers Show” after a few airings and subsequently becoming “Sgt. Bilko” in syndication). Melvin played second banana Corporal Henshaw alongside a motley crew of zany character actors (including Lembeck, Herbie Faye, Joe E. Ross, and Paul Ford). Audiences and critics alike immediately loved the mayhem. The show beat out its Tuesday night competition—the once unstoppable Uncle Miltie. The series also won multiple Emmys during its four year run for Best Series, Best Lead Actor, Best Writing, and Best Directing.  In 1962, Melvin began a long career in cartoon voices with a voice-over for Sgt. Snorkel in the Beetle Bailey cartoon series. (1962 –1964). Hanna-Barbera Productions picked him up and started using him in 1963 on “The Flintstones.” In 1964 they gave him his own starring role as the voice of Magilla Gorilla (1964 – 1967). But he continued to step out in front of the camera. Not only did he have one-shot featured parts in many 60s classics (Dr. Kildare, Route 66, McHale’s Navy), but he became a semi-regular in several others. His specialty as a serviceman continued in “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” becoming Sgt. Charlie Hacker from 1965- 1968. Also, he guested in 8 episodes of both “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (most memorably as Rob Petrie’s Army buddy) and assorted characters in “The Andy Griffith Show.” |