Richard Sanders (actor)

{{Infobox person

| name = Richard Sanders

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1940|8|23|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| alma_mater = Carnegie Institute of Technology

| known_for = {{hlist|WKRP in Cincinnati}}

| occupation = Actor, screenwriter

| years_active = 1971–2006

| spouse = Marilynn Marko-Sanders

}}

Richard Sanders (born August 23, 1940){{cite news |title=August 23: On this day in history |url=https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2021/08/23/august-23-on-this-day-in-1944-paris-freed/ |access-date=August 23, 2024 |work=Brooklyn Eagle |date=August 23, 2021}} is a retired American actor and screenwriter. He played quirky news anchorman Les Nessman on the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982). Most of his acting career has been on television.

Early life and education

Sanders was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Thelma S. and Henry Irvine Sanders. After graduating from Leavenworth High School in Leavenworth, Kansas, he was enrolled in the Fine Arts Department at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now known as Carnegie Mellon University) as an acting major. There, he was a classmate of René Auberjonois and Aubrey Wilson, among others.{{Citation needed |date=March 2024}}

Career

After graduating from college, Sanders studied Shakespearean theatre in England on a Fulbright Scholarship, and served a stint with the Peace Corps in the states of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.{{Citation needed |date=March 2024}}

Sanders joined Gordon Jump and Frank Bonner in reprising his original WKRP role on The New WKRP in Cincinnati in the early 1990s. He has guest-appeared on other television shows, including Lou Grant, Kojak, The Rockford Files, Alice, Newhart, Murder, She Wrote, Designing Women, and Married... with Children, and has also acted in the mini-series Roots: The Next Generations, the animated series Inhumanoids, the horror film Lovers Lane, and the Robert De Niro/Cuba Gooding Jr. film Men of Honor.

Besides being an actor, Sanders is a screenwriter, having written, among other works, several episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati. In 1993, he starred in the computer game Day of the Tentacle as the voice of Bernard Bernoulli.{{Cite web |title=Bernard |url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/video-games/Day-of-the-Tentacle/Bernard/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Behind The Voice Actors |language=en-US}}

Personal life

Sanders resides in Woodinville, Washington.{{cite news| url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/woodinvilles-richard-sanders-talks-about-wkrp-in-cincinnati/?fbclid=IwAR0F68bqoZcOElDVJCMzzcOq-wbn1FYo4flfqE4HrLqIeez8jSKxFm-MFMo |title=Woodinville's Richard Sanders talks about "WKRP in Cincinnati"| newspaper=Seattle Times| date=April 27, 2007| first=Mark| last=Rahner| accessdate=February 5, 2022}} He is married to Marilynn Marko-Sanders.{{Citation needed |date=March 2024}}

Filmography

= Film =

class="wikitable sortable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1977

| Billy Jack Goes to Washington

| Jerry

1980

| The Nude Bomb

| German Delegate

1983

| Valley Girl

| Drivers' Ed Teacher

1991

| Neon City

| Dickie Devine

1994

| The Beans of Egypt, Maine

| Lee, Earlene's Father

1997

| Black Circle Boys

| Mr. Dunkel

1999

| Anoosh of the Airways

| Burton Lloydhammer

1999

| Lovers Lane

| Dr. Jack Grefe

2000

| Men of Honor

| Donny Moor, The Bartender

2000

| Nowheresville

| Duane

2006

| Expiration Date

| Municipal Cemetery Administrator

= Television =

class="wikitable sortable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1971

| They've Killed President Lincoln!

| Dr. Leale

| rowspan="2" | Television film

1974

| Lincoln: Trial by Fire

| Minister John Adams

1974

| The Doctors

| The Bartender

| 4 episodes

1977

| McCloud

| Matt Clayton

| Episode: "London Bridges"

1977

| Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn

| Travis

| rowspan="2" | Television film

1977

| Good Against Evil

| The Doctor

1977

| Lou Grant

| Richard T. Harvey

| Episode: "Hostages"

1977

| Barnaby Jones

| Joe Keller

| Episode: "The Wife Beater"

1977

| Kojak

| Drunk

| Episode: "A Strange Kind of Love"

1977

| Rafferty

| Reverend Campbell

| Episode: "The Wild Child"

1977

| The Rockford Files

| Samuel Romney

| Episode: "The Mayor's Committee from Deer Lick Falls"

1978

| Ruby and Oswald

| FBI Agent Kelley

| rowspan="4" | Television film

1978

| Keefer

| Bemmel

1978

| The Gypsy Warriors

| German Scientist

1978

| Bud and Lou

| The Doctor

1978–1982

| WKRP in Cincinnati

| Les Nessman

| 88 episodes

1979

| Roots: The Next Generations

| Captain

| Episode: "Part III (1914–1918)"

1979

| Ike

| Correspondant

| Episode: "Part II"

1979

| Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker

| Mr. Fogarty

| rowspan="2" | Television film

1980

| Trouble in High Timber Country

| Lester

1980

| Fantasy Island

| The Race Track Announcer

| 2 episodes

1982

| ABC Weekend Special

| Mr. Lester Little

| Episode: "The Joke's on Mr. Little"

1982

| Gloria

| Barry Farnum

| Episode: "The Taxman Cometh"

1983

| It Takes Two

| Arthur Frain

| Episode: "Anniversary"

1983

| The Invisible Woman

| Orville

| Television film

1983

| Alice

| Arnold

| Episode: "Alice's Blind Date"

1983

| Goodnight, Beantown

| Chester

| Episode: "Peace on Earth"

1984

| Simon & Simon

| Ed Laughlin

| Episode: "The Wrong Stuff"

1984

| Newhart

| Cecil Breech

| Episode: "Leave It to the Beavers"

1984–1985

| Spencer

| Benjamin Beanley

| 13 episodes

1984-1987

| Murder, She Wrote

| Gerald Richards, Arnold Megrim

| 2 episodes

1985

| Berrenger's

| Frank Chapman

| 8 episodes

1985

| Who's the Boss?

| Bob Wormser

| 2 episodes

1986

| Riptide

| Pierce Fenner

| Episode: "A Matter of Policy"

1986

| Knots Landing

| Harry Nold

| Episode: "The Legacy"

1986

| ALF

| Hogarth

| Episode: "Pennsylvania 6-5000"

1986

| Inhumanoids

| Dr. Derek Bright

| Voice, 8 episodes

1986-1989

| Growing Pains

| Dr. Rosenfeld, Luther

| 2 episodes

1987

| Easy Street

| Ravenkeep

| Episode: "The Mad Gardener"

1987

| Nothing in Common

| Dooley

| Episode: "Gone Fishing"

1987

| Married... with Children

| Mr. Conner

| Episode: "Sixteen Years and What Do You Get"

1987–1988

| You Can't Take It with You

| Paul Sycamore

| 4 episodes

1988

| The Law & Harry McGraw

| Burton Rumley

| Episode: "Beware the Ides of May"

1988

| Duet

| Bob

| Episode: "Funny Valentine"

1988

| Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace

| Chester Lackberry

| Television film

1989

| Night Court

| City Auditor Clark Edwards

| 2 episodes

1989

| The Magical World of Disney

| Dr. Dark

| Episode: "The Absent-Minded Professor: Trading Places"

1990

| 227

| Dean Thurston

| Episode: "Nightmare on 227"

1990

| Charles in Charge

| Professor Smalley

| Episode: "Let's Quake a Deal"

1990

| Coach

| Warren Graustark

| Episode: "The Break-Up"

1990

| Designing Women

| Dr. Elliot Newhouse, Elmer Peace

| 2 episodes

1990

| Gravedale High

| Ben Franklin

| Episode: "Goodbye Gravedale"

1991–1993

| The New WKRP in Cincinnati

| Les Nessman

| 46 episodes

1995

| Simon & Simon: In Trouble Again

| Dr. Budwig

| Television film

1997

| Unhappily Ever After

| Mr. Peabody

| Episode: "Teacher of the Year"

1999

| Batman Beyond

| Mr. Deakins

| Voice, episode: "Spellbound"

2000

| The John Report with Bob

| Bob's Dad

| Episode #1.2

2001

| The Fugitive

| Judge

| Episode: "And in That Darkness"

2002

| Rose Red

| Mr. Stanton

| 2 episodes

References

External links

{{IMDb name|id=0761687|name=Richard Sanders}}

Category:Living people

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:American male voice actors

Category:Male actors from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni

Category:1940 births