Famous gays - Dick Sargeant (second Darrin on Bewitched)
PErthGUY:Mmv
Wow, both of your most popular sitcoms had gays in, Brady Bunch (the actor
playing the dad was gay) and Bewitched(the second Darrin)
Biography for
Dick Sargent
Birth name
Richard Cox
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Height
6' 1½" (1.87 m)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Mini biography
Sargent was a trim, handsome man with a longish chin. He played a variety of
gawky businessmen roles in feature films before finding a niche in tv
history as the second Darrin on "Bewitched". Shortly before his death,
Sargent publicly proclaimed he was gay, and became what he called "a
retroactive role model" in the battle for gay rights.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
IMDb mini-biography by
Ray Hamel
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Mini biography
Congenial, mild-mannered Dick Sargent was a reliably bemused foil on film
and TV for nearly four decades. He was born Richard Cox on April 19, 1930 in
Carmel, California. His mother, Ruth McNaughton, was a minor actress who
went by the stage name of Ruth Powell; his father, Colonel Elmer Cox, served
in WWI and later became a business manager to such Hollywood alumni as
Douglas Fairbanks and Erich Von Stroheim. Dick attended the San Rafael
Military Academy in Menlo Park, California before majoring in drama at
Stanford University. He finally got things rolling debuting in an uncredited
role in the movie Prisoner of War (1954) starring Ronald Reagan. Using the
stage moniker Richard Sargent, he would build up a reliable resume over the
years on TV both in drama and comedy including work on "Gunsmoke, "Wagon
Train," "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Adam-12." Regular co-starring roles in the
series "One Happy Family" (1961) and "Broadside" (1964) kept him temporarily
busy if not memorable. Now known as "Dick Sargent," the actor was a friendly
but rather bland performer. On occasion he found redeeming support work in
such hit movie comedies as Operation Petticoat (1959) and That Touch of Mink
(1962) both with Cary Grant, but mixed in were mostly bottom-of-the-barrel
"comedies" such as Fluffy (1965) with Tony Randall, Billie (1966) with Patty
Duke, the Don Knotts vehicle The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), the Elvis
Presley starrer Live a Little, Love a Little (1968), and The Private Navy of
Sgt. O'Farrell with Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller. Most of his films ranged
from fair to abysmal and Dick never advanced into the upper echelon of top
players. A big chance for stardom dissolved after being paired with Tammy
Grimes on her failed TV show in 1966. It lasted four weeks. It wasn't until
1969 when Dick, who was the original choice to play Darrin Stephens on the
hit show "Bewitched," was given a second chance to play the bemused mortal
husband of Elizabeth Montgomery after an ailing Dick York had to be
replaced. The switch was done without any explanation. Dick's three seasons
on the show (1969-1972) made him a household face, if not a household name.
He continued on TV throughout the 70s and 80s with guest parts on "Taxi,"
"Alice, "Fantasy Island" and "Three's Company" without much fanfare. A
better role came to him in George C. Scott's film Hardcore (1979) about
pornography in which he played a not-so-reputable character. He also played
a role in another witch-themed story line called Teen Witch (1990). In
between he did voice work for commercials and performed occasionally on
stage. In 1989, 'the second Darrin" was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He
later revealed to the world he was homosexual after tabloid papers began to
refer to his illness as AIDS-related. Sargent died in 1994, having lived out
his last few years openly and contentedly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
IMDb mini-biography by
Gary Brumburgh / gr-...@pacbell.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Trivia
Dick appeared on the game show "Tattletales" with Fanny Flagg in the 1970's.
Apparently they were dating at the time.
His father, Elmer Cox, was a World War I hero and a Hollywood business
manager. His mother, Ruth McNaughton, was a film actress.
Sargent's companion from 1989-1994 was writer/producer Albert Williams.
His role on "Bewitched" was first offered to him in 1964, but he was under a
contract with Universal Studios, so Dick York was hired instead. By the time
an illness caused York to discontinue the role, Sargent was free enough to
take over.
He was never married, but had a long-time companion whom he was with for 20
years before the man's death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1979. He had
"manufactured" a wife to the press in the early productive days, to protect
his career.
His grandfather, John McNaughton, founded Los Angeles's Union Stockyards.
Lived in Mexico and ran and import/export business in his early years. His
love for Mexican art and culture stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Coincidentally, Dick Sargent and Tammy Grimes were said to have been
original choices for the roles of Darrin and Samantha Stephens during the
initial casting of the pilot episode of "Bewitched" in 1964. Sargent bowed
out due to a contractual committment to Universal. Grimes also had
contractual problems. Later, Sargent went on to play Tammy's brother on her
short-lived series "The Tammy Grimes Show" in 1966. Grimes' lead character's
name happened to be Tamantha.
By chance became a "retroactive role model" for gays when he outed himself
in 1991, after decades of keeping his personal life hidden. Suffering from
prostate cancer, Sargent was compelled by a tabloid article indicating he
had AIDS to "come out" and set the record straight, for which he received
considerable public support. In 1992, his old friend and ex-TV wife,
Elizabeth Montgomery, joined him as a co-Grand Marshall of the Los Angeles
Gay Pride Parade. It was their last appearance together.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Personal quotes
"Occasionally, I wonder about "Bewitched." But I guess we all wonder about
something or other. Most working actors don't get a role where they become
household faces. They may not know my name, I may be Darrin to people out
there, but if people see you and smile at you and act like you're an old
friend, I think that's a pretty swell accomplishment."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Death
"PErthGUY:Mmv" <Tuten...@Egypt.com> wrote in message
>
> Birth name
> Richard Cox
Dick Dicks ? LOL