Walker Edmiston

Walker Edmiston was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 6, 1926, to William Sherman Edmiston (1894–1976) and Anna Edmiston (née Anderson, 1887–1967)."United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KWH-4GPF : Tue Feb 25 14:51:18 UTC 2025), Entry for Walker R Edmiston and William S Edmiston. Edmiston participated in local theater productions during his high school years.{{cite news |last1=McLellan |first1=Dennis |title=Walker Edmiston, 81; voice artist, puppeteer was host of early L.A. children's TV show |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55951194/walker-edmiston/ |access-date=July 24, 2020 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=February 27, 2007 |page=54|via = Newspapers.com}} He later studied at the Pasadena Playhouse.{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Margaret |title=TV 'Voice' On The Go Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55951998/walker-edmiston/ |access-date=July 24, 2020 |work=Arizona Republic |date=September 30, 1962 |location=Arizona, Phoenix |page=40|via = Newspapers.com}}

In the 1950s, Edmiston worked on puppet shows on KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title=Sid and Marty Krofft: A Critical Study of Saturday Morning Children's Television, 1969-1993 |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0784-9 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8uUyBwAAQBAJ&q=%22Walker+Edmiston%22+actor&pg=PA24 |access-date=July 24, 2020 |language=en}} His voice was heard on the puppet programs The Buffalo Billy Show{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=144|edition=2nd}} and Time for Beany{{r|etvs|page1=1085}} and on Dumbo's Circus, which included live action and animation.{{r|etvs|page1=292}} He was also a member of the cast of Lidsville{{r|etvs|page1=599}} and voiced characters on Pandamonium.{{r|etvs|page1=807-808}} He appeared in character roles on several TV programs during the 1950s through the '70s, including the Star Trek episode The Corbomite Maneuver as the voice of Balok. He also appeared in Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Knots Landing, Adam-12, The Bob Newhart Show and The Dukes of Hazzard. He also played a character based on "Chester" in "Gun-Shy," the Maverick parody of Gunsmoke starring James Garner.{{cite book |last1=Garner |first1=James |last2=Winokur |first2=Jon |title=The Garner Files: A Memoir |date=2012 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4516-4261-2 |page=63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6jiYnyLRgoC&q=%22Walker+Edmiston%22+actor&pg=PA63 |access-date=July 24, 2020 |language=en}} In 1966, Edmiston had a recurring role as Regan in the short-lived ABC comedy western series The Rounders with co-stars Ron Hayes, Patrick Wayne, and Chill Wills.

Edmiston also did many television commercials and animated character voices, such as Ernie the elf in hundreds of commercials for the cookie products of the Keebler Company, and voices for characters on H.R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos from the studios of Sid and Marty Krofft, as well as a recurring role as Enik the Altrusian in Land of the Lost.{{r|etvs|page1=579-580}} He also did many character voices on the Focus on the Family radio program, Adventures in Odyssey, in which he played Tom Riley, Bart Rathbone, and numerous other one-shot characters for more than twenty years. Following Edmiston's death, both characters were retired from the show.

Some of his voice credits were under the stage name Walter Edmiston. In 1985, he voiced the Autobot Inferno in The Transformers.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, he hosted The Walker Edmiston Show, a children's television program in Los Angeles, California. The program featured puppets of his own creation including Kingsley the Lion, Ravenswood the Buzzard, and Callie the Cat.

In 1962, Edmiston and his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he began a daily puppet show on KOOL-TV. He was also a stage director at Children's Theater in Phoenix.{{cite news |title=Vet Coaches Youngsters |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55952751/walker-edmiston/ |access-date=July 24, 2020 |work=Arizona Republic |date=January 4, 1963 |location=Arizona, Phoenix |page=27|via = Newspapers.com}}

Edmiston married Evelyn in 1950, and together they had two children, daughters Andria and Erin. Evelyn died in 1998.

Edmiston died from cancer in Woodland Hills, California on February 15, 2007.

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name}}
• {{Memory Alpha}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303214431/http://conelrad.com/newswire_m.php?id=262_0_4_0 CONELRAD Appreciation] (archived)
• [https://www.newsfromme.com/?s=Walker+Edmiston Walker Edmiston] at Mark Evanier's News From Me (14 articles, from 1996 through to 2007 obituary)
• {{AIOWiki|id=Walker_Edmiston|name=Walker Edmiston}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edmiston, Walker}}

Category:1926 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:American male radio actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:American male voice actors

Category:Deaths from cancer in California

Category:Male actors from Los Angeles

Category:Male actors from St. Louis

Category:20th-century American male actors