LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Allan Melvin, a character actor known for appearances in such TV staples as “The Phil Silvers Show,” “All in the Family” and “The Brady Bunch,” has died, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday.
Melvin succumbed to cancer on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles, the paper said, quoting his wife, Amalia. He was 84.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in New York City, Melvin got his big break on “The Phil Silvers Show,” which ran from 1955 to 1959, playing Cpl. Henshaw, the right-hand man to Silvers’ Sgt. Ernie Bilko.
He went on to play Archie Bunker’s neighbor Barney in “All in the Family,” and different roles on at least eight episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show.” Fans of “The Brady Bunch” knew him as Sam the butcher, the boyfriend of Alice the housekeeper.
Melvin also worked in cartoons, providing the voices of Magilla Gorilla in the Hanna-Barbera series of the same name and Bluto on “Popeye,” the Times said.
(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Vicki Allen)
Aside from his most famous role as Sam the Butcher, Melvin was also hidden from our view as Drooper, one of the Banana Splits; as well as voices in The Flintstones, The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour, The Smurfs, Spider-Man and Friends, Foofur, Ducktales, Talespin, and others.
