Dabbs Greer was a very familiar face in films and especially on TV. He was a sort of "everyman" in his roles and played merchants, preachers, businessmen, and other "pillars of the community" types as well as assorted villains. With his plain looking face, wavy hair and mellow, distinctive voice he was a solid supporting actor. He was born on April 2, 1917, in Fairview, Missouri, but reared in Anderson, Missouri. He was the only child of a pharmacist father and a speech therapist mother. His first acting experience was on stage in a children's theatre production when he was eight years old. He attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, where he earned a BA and headed the drama department and Little Theatre in Mountain Grove, Missouri, from 1940-43. He then moved on to the famed Pasadena Playhouse in California as actor, instructor and administrator from 1943-50. He made his film debut in _Reign of Terror .
He played the first person saved by Superman in the very first episode of the "Adventures of Superman" (1952) television series. His role was uncredited. He was brought back to appear in a major role as an innocent man about to go to the electric chair in the first episode of the second season. He appeared for a third time in one of the final episodes of the series.
Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Actors Branch).
In the 1940s, he was an instructor at the famous Pasadena Playhouse and was also their Dean of Men.
He got his stage name "Dabbs" from his grandmother because that was her maiden name.
"Married" two of the most well-known couples on television. On "The Dick Van Dyke Show" he played the army chaplain who married Rob and Laura Petrie, and on "The Brady Bunch" he played the minister who married Mike and Carol Brady.
Twice portrayed characters who worked on death row, in I Want to Live! and The Green Mile .
Bore a strong resemblance to Capt. Frederick Benteen, who was a member of the 7th Cavalry under Gen. George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876 and who survived the battle with Maj. Reno.
Every character actor, in their own little sphere, is the lead.
I guess sometimes the past just catches up to you, whether you want it,to or not. .
