Willard Waterman was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on August 29, 1914. He is best known for succeeding Harold Peary as the title character, Throckmorton P.
Gildersleeve, in The Great Gildersleeve on radio at the height of the show's popularity. He stayed with the show on radio from 1950 to 1957 and in a short run TV version in 1955. At the same time he was appearing on radio as Gildersleeve, Waterman had a recurring role as Mr. Merriwether in the short-lived radio comedy The Halls of Ivy starring Ronald Colman.
Willard Waterman also found success on television, appearing on such shows as Lawman, My Favorite Martian, The Eve Arden Show, 77 Sunset Strip, The Dick Van Dyke Show, F Troop, and Dennis the Menace, in which he played the local grocer, Mr. Quigley. Between 1957 and 1959 he appeared five times as Mac Maginnis in The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan.
Waterman retired from acting in 1973 but did appear in 1980 in the "Boss and Peterson" radio commercial for Sony, for which he received a Clio Award. He was a founding member in 1937 of the radio union now known as the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Willard Waterman died of bone marrow disease in Burlingame, California, on February 2, 1995, and is interred at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo, California.
Enjoying a radio performance of Gildersleeve right now and remembering your good work.
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