Liam Dunn

The New Jersey native's{{Citation needed |date=September 2023}} early career was spent on television in series such as Bonanza, Room 222, Alias Smith and Jones, Mannix, Emergency! [S5Ep18] as "Amos", and Gunsmoke.

Dunn's breakout role was as the judge (and Barbra Streisand's character's father) in the 1972 film What's Up, Doc?, for which he was noticed by Mel Brooks, who was in the process of forming a stock company of actors.{{Citation needed |date=September 2023}} Dunn went on to appear in Brooks films, including Blazing Saddles (1974) as Rev. Johnson, Young Frankenstein (1974) as Mr. Hilltop, and as the Newsvendor in Silent Movie (1976). He also appeared in several Walt Disney productions, such as The World's Greatest Athlete (1973), Charley and the Angel (1973), Herbie Rides Again (1974) and Gus (1976).

He frequently portrayed characters who were verbally and/or physically abused in a slapstick way.{{Citation needed |date=September 2023}} Additional television credits include Twigs, All in the Family, Barney Miller, McMillan & Wife, Rhoda, Sanford and Son, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, S4Ep6. Additional film credits included roles in Catch-22 (1970), The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972), A Reflection of Fear (1972), Emperor of the North Pole (1973), Papillon (1973), Killer Bees (1974), Bank Shot (1974), At Long Last Love (1975), The Night That Panicked America (1975), Peeper (1976) and High Velocity (1976).

Dunn collapsed on the set of Disney's The Shaggy D.A. (1976) during the filming of the roller rink sequence, and as soon as he was hospitalized, died on April 11, 1976, from emphysema in Granada Hills, California.{{cite book|title=John Willis' Screen World|volume=28|year=1977|author=Willis, John|author-link=John A. Willis|location=New York|publisher=Crown Publishers, Inc|access-date=20 March 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLALAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Liam+Dunn%22}} John Fiedler was brought in to complete the role as dog catcher. Though only 59 at the time of his death, Dunn always looked much older than he was,{{cite book|last1=Leszczak|first1=Bob|title=The Odd Couple on Stage and Screen: A History with Cast and Crew Profiles and an Episode Guide|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476615394|page=46|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xe1ZBAAAQBAJ&q=%22Liam+Dunn%22&pg=PA46|access-date=29 May 2018|language=en}} and he was cast accordingly.

{{Portal|Biography|Film|Television}}

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• {{IMDb name|0242668}}
• {{tcmdb name|id=54359|name=Liam Dunn}}

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Category:1916 births

Category:1976 deaths

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:Deaths from emphysema

Category:Male actors from New Jersey

Category:20th-century American male actors

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