"I've done some pretty good acting for a buck and a half," said Parley Baer of his early radio acting days. He would go on to earn much more on television, playing "Ozzie & Harriet" neighbor Darby, as well as Mayor Roy Stoner on "The Andy Griffith Show."
He also chipped in the most guest appearances of any actor on "The Addams Family," as Arthur J. Henson for six episodes. Henson served many vocations on the show — insurance company owner turned city commissioner turned mayor, which all got him snared in the crosshairs of his well-intentioned neighbors, the Addams, which didn't help his already thinning hairline. He re-teamed with most of the original "Addams" cast for that Halloween special in 1977.
A stable presence on many TV sets thereafter, he was seen in everything from "Hogan's Heroes," to "The Dukes of Hazzard," to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." As he grew older, so did the roles, including playing a grandfather in "License to Drive," the Senate Majority Leader opposite Kevin Klein in 1993's "Dave," and Miles Dugan on the soap opera "The Young and The Restless."
The former circus ringmaster and Keebler Elf suffered a stroke in 1997, which slowed his career down, then died from complications of another stroke in 2002 at age 88.
