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Dick Gautier dies at 85
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Travoltron
Jan 14, 2017, 1:43:08 PM1/14/17
to
This poor guy. A long time ago IMDB.com had both Dick Gautier and
Richard Gautier listed as separate people. I merged them and decided to
go with Richard Gautier as the main name, because I guess I the name
Dick seemed silly to me.
Much later, I read an article where he said, "Why is everyone calling me
Richard all the time lately?" I tried to get IMDB.com to use Dick
Gautier as his main name, but they just won't switch it.
******************************************************************
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dick-gautier-dead-get-smart-actor-was-85-964369
Dick Gautier, Hymie the Robot on 'Get Smart,' Dies at 85
The actor started out as a stand-up comic and received a Tony
nomination for playing the Elvis-like singer in the original production
of 'Bye, Bye Birdie.'
Dick Gautier, who starred on Broadway in the original production of Bye,
Bye Birdie and then famously played Hymie the Robot on the sitcom Get
Smart, has died. He was 85.
Gautier died Friday night at an assisted living facility in Arcadia,
Calif., after a long illness, his daughter Denise told The Hollywood
Reporter.
Gautier, who started his career as a stand-up comic, received a Tony
nomination for playing Conrad Birdie, the character based on Elvis
Presley, in the memorable, original 1960 production of Bye, Bye Birdie,
starring Dick Van Dyke.
The handsome actor appeared as Hymie on just six episodes of Get Smart
over four seasons, yet he was one of the spy spoof's most popular
characters.
Hymie, who was incredibly strong and had a supercomputer for a brain and
wires and components in a compartment in his chest, originally was built
for the evil organization KAOS but came over to CONTROL (the good guys)
because Max (Don Adams) was the first one to treat him like a real person.
"When I met with the powers that be, I told them that when I was a kid
in Canada I saw a man in a storefront window acting like a manikin to
drum up business," he said in 2013. "If you could make him smile, you’d
get $10. So, I tried, but not by acting crazy — I merely imitated his
movements. I didn’t win the $10, but I got the part of Hymie, which was
a little better."
Eventually, Max picked Hymie to be his best man for his wedding with
Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), and Gautier returned as the robot for a 1989
Get Smart TV movie.
In 1975, Gautier starred as Robin Hood on the short-lived ABC series
When Things Were Rotten, co-created by Mel Brooks, who, of course, had
launched Get Smart as well.
Gautier was a veteran stand-up performer and working at The Blue Angel
nightclub in New York as an opener for headliner and singer Margaret
Whiting when he was spotted by Bye, Bye Birdie director Gower Champion
and Charles Strouse, who did the music for the production.
"They asked me to read for this thing," he recalled in a 2014 interview
with Kliph Nesteroff. "I was a little put off because I didn't like rock
and roll. Not at that point. I said, 'I don't think it's for me. I like
Jerome Kern and George Gershwin.'
"They said, 'Will you at least come in and audition?' I went in and they
said, 'Would you sing an Elvis song?' I said, 'I don't know any Elvis
songs.' So they just played some blues and I ad-libbed and I guess they
liked it. Couple months later they called.
Gautier told his agent, "'It's not for me. I feel very inhibited and
very intimidated by this whole Elvis thing because it's not me.' He
said, 'It's a satire.' Then I went, 'Ohhhhh.' When he said that, then I
got it. Suddenly it was OK. I got the part, got a Tony nomination, and
my career was in a whole different place. I didn't work nightclubs anymore."
Gautier was born on Oct. 30, 1931, in Culver City, and his father, a
French-Canadian, worked as a grip at MGM. He spent some time growing up
in Montreal and sang and did a comedy act with a band that wound up on a
local TV show in L.A.
He served in the U.S. Navy, where he booked acts, including a young
Johnny Mathis. When he got out of the service in San Francisco, he hung
out at the hungry i nightclub and decided to try stand-up. He and the
legendary Mort Sahl were among the first comics to be booked at the
club, which would go on to become a renowned breeding ground for stand-ups.
The charming Gautier played clubs all over the country and for a time
toured with the folk act The Kingston Trio. When he was looking for
material for an act in Las Vegas, he paid Jay Leno and David Letterman
$100 an hour to write jokes for him, he said in the chat with Nesteroff.
Gautier appeared in a guest stint on The Patty Duke Show and was in the
Joshua Logan-directed Ensign Pulver (1964), and he had regular roles on
the short-lived series Mr. Terrific and Here We Go Again, starring Larry
Hagman. He also played an amorous sportscaster on an episode The Mary
Tyler Moore Show.
He co-wrote the 1968 pot movie Maryjane (1968) with future Hollywood
Squares host Peter Marshall and the 1972 film Wild in the Sky (1972),
starring Georg Stanford Brown.
Gautier also appeared in such films as Divorce American Style (1967) —
playing Van Dyke's attorney — Fun With Dick and Jane (1977) and Billy
Jack Goes to Washington (1977) and on TV shows like Charlie's Angels,
The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, Silk Stalkings and Nip/Tuck.
He also was a guest on many game shows, including Tattletales, on which
he appeared with his then-wife, actress Barbara Stuart.
Starting in the mid-1980s, Gautier worked often as a voice actor, heard
on such shows as Galtar and the Golden Lance, G.I. Joe, The
Transformers, The New Yogi Bear Show and The Addams Family.
An accomplished artist, Gautier also wrote and illustrated several books
about drawing and how to become a cartoonist.
"Cartooning has been my hobby, my therapy, a delicious pastime and on
occasion my salvation — it got me through some tight financial spots
when I was a struggling actor," he wrote in the introduction to his 1989
book, The Creative Cartoonist.
In addition to Denise, survivors include his former wife Tess; daughter
Chris and son Rand; grandchildren Darby, Brandon, Megan and Elisa; and
great-grandchildren Reya, Bella, Odette, Jade and Avery.
Richard Gautier listed as separate people. I merged them and decided to
go with Richard Gautier as the main name, because I guess I the name
Dick seemed silly to me.
Much later, I read an article where he said, "Why is everyone calling me
Richard all the time lately?" I tried to get IMDB.com to use Dick
Gautier as his main name, but they just won't switch it.
******************************************************************
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dick-gautier-dead-get-smart-actor-was-85-964369
Dick Gautier, Hymie the Robot on 'Get Smart,' Dies at 85
The actor started out as a stand-up comic and received a Tony
nomination for playing the Elvis-like singer in the original production
of 'Bye, Bye Birdie.'
Dick Gautier, who starred on Broadway in the original production of Bye,
Bye Birdie and then famously played Hymie the Robot on the sitcom Get
Smart, has died. He was 85.
Gautier died Friday night at an assisted living facility in Arcadia,
Calif., after a long illness, his daughter Denise told The Hollywood
Reporter.
Gautier, who started his career as a stand-up comic, received a Tony
nomination for playing Conrad Birdie, the character based on Elvis
Presley, in the memorable, original 1960 production of Bye, Bye Birdie,
starring Dick Van Dyke.
The handsome actor appeared as Hymie on just six episodes of Get Smart
over four seasons, yet he was one of the spy spoof's most popular
characters.
Hymie, who was incredibly strong and had a supercomputer for a brain and
wires and components in a compartment in his chest, originally was built
for the evil organization KAOS but came over to CONTROL (the good guys)
because Max (Don Adams) was the first one to treat him like a real person.
"When I met with the powers that be, I told them that when I was a kid
in Canada I saw a man in a storefront window acting like a manikin to
drum up business," he said in 2013. "If you could make him smile, you’d
get $10. So, I tried, but not by acting crazy — I merely imitated his
movements. I didn’t win the $10, but I got the part of Hymie, which was
a little better."
Eventually, Max picked Hymie to be his best man for his wedding with
Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), and Gautier returned as the robot for a 1989
Get Smart TV movie.
In 1975, Gautier starred as Robin Hood on the short-lived ABC series
When Things Were Rotten, co-created by Mel Brooks, who, of course, had
launched Get Smart as well.
Gautier was a veteran stand-up performer and working at The Blue Angel
nightclub in New York as an opener for headliner and singer Margaret
Whiting when he was spotted by Bye, Bye Birdie director Gower Champion
and Charles Strouse, who did the music for the production.
"They asked me to read for this thing," he recalled in a 2014 interview
with Kliph Nesteroff. "I was a little put off because I didn't like rock
and roll. Not at that point. I said, 'I don't think it's for me. I like
Jerome Kern and George Gershwin.'
"They said, 'Will you at least come in and audition?' I went in and they
said, 'Would you sing an Elvis song?' I said, 'I don't know any Elvis
songs.' So they just played some blues and I ad-libbed and I guess they
liked it. Couple months later they called.
Gautier told his agent, "'It's not for me. I feel very inhibited and
very intimidated by this whole Elvis thing because it's not me.' He
said, 'It's a satire.' Then I went, 'Ohhhhh.' When he said that, then I
got it. Suddenly it was OK. I got the part, got a Tony nomination, and
my career was in a whole different place. I didn't work nightclubs anymore."
Gautier was born on Oct. 30, 1931, in Culver City, and his father, a
French-Canadian, worked as a grip at MGM. He spent some time growing up
in Montreal and sang and did a comedy act with a band that wound up on a
local TV show in L.A.
He served in the U.S. Navy, where he booked acts, including a young
Johnny Mathis. When he got out of the service in San Francisco, he hung
out at the hungry i nightclub and decided to try stand-up. He and the
legendary Mort Sahl were among the first comics to be booked at the
club, which would go on to become a renowned breeding ground for stand-ups.
The charming Gautier played clubs all over the country and for a time
toured with the folk act The Kingston Trio. When he was looking for
material for an act in Las Vegas, he paid Jay Leno and David Letterman
$100 an hour to write jokes for him, he said in the chat with Nesteroff.
Gautier appeared in a guest stint on The Patty Duke Show and was in the
Joshua Logan-directed Ensign Pulver (1964), and he had regular roles on
the short-lived series Mr. Terrific and Here We Go Again, starring Larry
Hagman. He also played an amorous sportscaster on an episode The Mary
Tyler Moore Show.
He co-wrote the 1968 pot movie Maryjane (1968) with future Hollywood
Squares host Peter Marshall and the 1972 film Wild in the Sky (1972),
starring Georg Stanford Brown.
Gautier also appeared in such films as Divorce American Style (1967) —
playing Van Dyke's attorney — Fun With Dick and Jane (1977) and Billy
Jack Goes to Washington (1977) and on TV shows like Charlie's Angels,
The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, Silk Stalkings and Nip/Tuck.
He also was a guest on many game shows, including Tattletales, on which
he appeared with his then-wife, actress Barbara Stuart.
Starting in the mid-1980s, Gautier worked often as a voice actor, heard
on such shows as Galtar and the Golden Lance, G.I. Joe, The
Transformers, The New Yogi Bear Show and The Addams Family.
An accomplished artist, Gautier also wrote and illustrated several books
about drawing and how to become a cartoonist.
"Cartooning has been my hobby, my therapy, a delicious pastime and on
occasion my salvation — it got me through some tight financial spots
when I was a struggling actor," he wrote in the introduction to his 1989
book, The Creative Cartoonist.
In addition to Denise, survivors include his former wife Tess; daughter
Chris and son Rand; grandchildren Darby, Brandon, Megan and Elisa; and
great-grandchildren Reya, Bella, Odette, Jade and Avery.
Zobovor
Jan 14, 2017, 4:32:21 PM1/14/17
to
On Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 11:43:08 AM UTC-7, Travoltron wrote:
> This poor guy. A long time ago IMDB.com had both Dick Gautier and
> Richard Gautier listed as separate people. I merged them and decided to
> go with Richard Gautier as the main name, because I guess the name
> This poor guy. A long time ago IMDB.com had both Dick Gautier and
> Richard Gautier listed as separate people. I merged them and decided to
> Dick seemed silly to me.
There's a whole generation of names that basically goes entirely unused now. They'll eventually become trendy again and our grandchildren will all be named Dick and Rod and Agnes and Ethel. (There's also a whole subset of names that we never use because they've become exclusively reserved for media characters, like Kermit and Alvin and Morris, but that's an entirely separate observation.)
> An accomplished artist, Gautier also wrote and illustrated several books
> about drawing and how to become a cartoonist.
I've always thought it was super cool when people are multi-talented. Like, Caroll Spinney is the puppeteer for Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch but he's also an artist. As if one talent just wasn't enough.
Zob (has Muppets on the brain, apparently)
Travoltron
Jan 15, 2017, 7:06:09 PM1/15/17
to
I'd really like to know what was going on at Marvel/Sunbow in 1986.
The concept was to replace Optimus with a young, hip new leader. So they
cast Judd Nelson and Ted Schwarz as Rodimus.
Then, apparently somebody panicked and bailed on the idea and hired a
mature 55 year old Mr. Gautier to play the character.
The concept was to replace Optimus with a young, hip new leader. So they
cast Judd Nelson and Ted Schwarz as Rodimus.
Then, apparently somebody panicked and bailed on the idea and hired a
mature 55 year old Mr. Gautier to play the character.
Zobovor
Jan 15, 2017, 8:18:40 PM1/15/17
to
On Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 5:06:09 PM UTC-7, Travoltron wrote:
> The concept was to replace Optimus with a young, hip new leader. So they
> cast Judd Nelson and Ted Schwarz as Rodimus. Then, apparently somebody
> panicked and bailed on the idea and hired a mature 55 year old Mr. Gautier to
> play the character.
I'll bet it was because Gautier was already playing Serpentor. Sunbow probably wanted an experienced actor for the Rodimus Prime character because they anticipated him being at the forefront of most episodes the way Optimus was. Besides, Rodimus is supposed to be wiser and more mature than Hot Rod so maybe having a youthful-sounding voice performer wasn't a consideration.
> The concept was to replace Optimus with a young, hip new leader. So they
> cast Judd Nelson and Ted Schwarz as Rodimus. Then, apparently somebody
> panicked and bailed on the idea and hired a mature 55 year old Mr. Gautier to
> play the character.
Considering that they had already cast cartoon voice actors to play the 1986 movie characters in toy commercials and in "Five Faces of Darkness," they should have just stuck with Jack Angel, John Stephenson, etc. for the movie roles as well. Casting celebrity voices was a dumb idea. Did they seriously expect moviegoers to say, "Well, normally I wouldn't watch some dumb cartoon about a children's robot toy line, but wait, did you say Leonard Nimoy is in it? Now I've absolutely GOTTA go see it...!"
Zob (had no idea Robin Williams was in A Wish for Wings That Work until, like, two weeks ago)
Travoltron
Jan 15, 2017, 9:23:18 PM1/15/17
to
On 1/15/2017 5:18 PM, Zobovor wrote:
> Casting celebrity voices was a dumb idea.
Well, I agree. But isn't that the way the industry ended up going,
> Casting celebrity voices was a dumb idea.
though? All the animated stuff now is voiced by celebrities.
Billy West laments the trend in this article:
http://www.avclub.com/article/billy-west-13937
If you watch the ending credits of today's animated features real
closely, you may see some veteran voice actors relegated together as
"additional voices".
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