R.I.P. R.G. Armstrong

Actor R.G. Armstrong, an actor whose face, if not his name, is familiar to nearly everyone who watched TV in the 50’s and 60’s, has died at age 95.

Armstrong was born and raised on a small farm near Birmingham, Alabama. He came from a family of religious fundamentalists, and his mother wanted him to be a pastor. Armstrong initially enrolled at Howard College. While there, he became interested in acting, and transferred to the University of North Carolina, where he began acting on stage with the Carolina Playmakers. One of his classmates was Andy Griffith. Upon graduating, he attended the Actors' Studio.

Armstrong appeared as Dr. Baugh in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. He also appeared in the original Broadway cast of Orpheus Descending and took over the role of Captain Keller in Broadway’s The Miracle Worker. His last Broadway appearance was in the short-lived 1960 play The Leon Dream.

His best known work is probably in television, where he appeared in dozens of series, mostly westerns, such as Have Gun - Will Travel, The Californians, The Big Valley, The Rifleman, Zane Grey Theater, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Westerner, Bonanza, Maverick, Gunsmoke, Rawhide and Wagon Train. He also appeared on The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Andy Griffith Show, The Fugitive, Perry Mason, T.H.E. Cat, Hawaii Five-O, Starsky and Hutch, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dynasty and Millenium.

He also had a long movie career, again, mostly in westerns, or playing coaches, military officers or good old country boys. Between 1959 and 1999 he appeared in the following:

The Fugitive Kind
Ride the High Country
Major Dundee
El Dorado
The Great White Hope
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
White Lightning
White Line Fever
Race with the Devil
Stay Hungry
The Car
Heaven Can Wait
The Time Machine
Reds
Lone Wolf McQuade
Children of the Corn
The Best of Times
Red Headed Stranger
Predator
Jocks
Dick Tracy
Purgatory