Harlan Warde

Harlan Warde (born Harlan Ward Lufkin; November 6, 1917 – March 13, 1980) was a character actor active in television and movies. During World War II, he served in Special Forces. Warde showed up in supporting roles as detectives, doctors, and ministers. Warde made five guest appearances on Perry Mason between 1958-1966, primarily in law enforcement roles, such as Assistant District Attorney Harold Hanley in "The Case of the Haunted Husband", and Sgt. Roddin in the only color episode in 1966 entitled, "The Case of the Twice Told Twist". From 1958–62, he joined Chuck Connors in The Rifleman. Warde played John Hamilton, President of the North Fork Bank. He appeared in eighteen episodes of The Rifleman, making his debut in episode 8, “The Safeguard.” Over his 40-year-career in Hollywood, Warde appeared in over 180 films and television series, including multiple westerns. Warde was cast in the historical role of future United States Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in the 1961 episode, "The Stolen City," on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Stanton works with apothecary Zacharias Gurney (Darren McGavin) to prove that a Mexican document transferring San Francisco to a man named Limantour (Gregory Morton) is fraudulent. From 1962 to 1971, Warde was a member of the cast of the TV Western series The Virginian in the recurring role of Sheriff Brannon. Warde also appeared on The Big Valley in 1967 as a politician who is murdered in the episode entitled "Night Of The Executioner" and as Simon Winkler in "Opie and the Spoiled Kid" (1963), an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. Warde's last role was in the 1979 Rockford Files episode "A Different Drummer" playing an aging father of a shady doctor.