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In 1947 Reed was asked to play the part of Sergeant Velie in radio's The Adventures of Ellery Queen.
Fannie Brice played Baby Snooks in such a way
that friends (as well as radio audiences) sometimes find it impossible to
seperate the identities of Fannie Brice, the woman, and Baby Snooks, the
invention.
Of course movies beckoned Teddy Bergman was Col. LaMartine in the comedy
The Redhead and the Cowboy (1950), Tony in
Emergency Wedding (1950) and
Walter Godfrey in Here Comes the Groom (1951).
On the dramatic side he was billed as Alan Reed in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946),
Harry Patullo in Perfect Strangers (1950) and many
others.
Perhaps one of his most-remembered dramatic roles was that of the famed Mexican Pancho Villa in Viva Zapata (1952) a movie which had Marlon Brando in the title role. With radio and movies involved, can television be far behind? Teddy by this time officially Alan Reed made appearances in almost every series going: Dr.Kildare, Batman, Petticoat Junction, The Lucy Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Green Acres, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and everything in between including The Johnny Carson Show. His astounding abilities and unusual, rather gravelly voice made him one of the busiest actors on both radio and television and movies, to boot. He was featured in both radio and TV versions of the highly-popular Duffy's Tavern (starring Ed Gardner) on radio as Clancy the Cop and on television as the somewhat dim-witted character Finnegan. He also supplied the voice of "Boris" in Disney's Lady and the Tramp (1955). In 1955 he founded Alan Reed Enterprises, a sales firm specializing in executive gifts, advertising specialties and wholesale giftwares. Kewtee Bear (1955 or 1956) was co-created by Alan Reed, Bert Stout and Truman Quigley, who together created a unified marketing plan for their fuzzy friend. Kewtee dolls were manufactured by the famed Knickerbocker toy company. Alan narrated a record featuring the bear for the Columbia label. ![]() ![]() Above left: Alan Reed and Frankie Laine in He Laughed Last (1956). Above right: Alan Reed plays singer's manager Col. Mapleson in the 1975 episode of Death Valley Days S8E33, "Emma Is Coming". But Alan Reed will always be mostly remembered with delight as the bumbling, pompous, loud-mouthed, blustering "Fred" of The Flintstones on radio and TV. "Fred Flintstone" was allegedly adapted from Jackie Gleason's character "Ralph Kramden" in the now-classic television series The Honeymooners. Fred lived with his wife Wilma (actress Jean VanderPyl) in the prehistoric town of Bedrock with their baby daughter Pebbles. Their next-door neighbors were Barney Rubble (played by the ubiquitous Mel Blanc who was also the voice of Dino, Fred's pet dinosaur) and his wife Betty (Bea Benaderet) and their adopted son "Bamm-Bamm". Originally this Hanna-Barbera creation was called The Flagstones but was changed to avoid confusion with the popular comic strip Hi and Lois (the Flagstons). ![]() Above: Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone, Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone, Bea Benaderet as Betty Rubble and Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble. “When we were up to the 12th show, Alan developed cataracts in both eyes. He couldn’t see. We prepared his scripts with bigger type and more space until, fortunately, his eyesight improved.” Alan began playing the role in 1960, was a perfect "Fred Flintstone" and reveled in the role. There were many spinoffs from the original in which Reed was involved. He did much work for the Hanna-Barbera Studios. And perhaps the strangest-named character he played was in Audrey Hepburn's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, see picture below) where he was known as "Sally Tomato". Although "Puddles Podell" in Marjorie Morningstar, the 1958 Natalie Wood-starring film, can't be far behind in odd names. ![]() Above: In Audrey Hepburn's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) where he was known as "Sally Tomato". ![]() ![]() Above left: In a scene from the 1967 Batman episode "Penguin Sets a Trend" we see Major Beasley played by Bob Hastings (R), who would later go on to voice Gordon in Batman: The Animated Series and General MacGruder played by Alan Reed (L) Above right: One of his last on screen appearances in an episode of Petticoat Junction called "Bad Day at Shady Rest" as Bandit Lawson (1968). Radio playwright and director Norman Corwin cast Reed as Santa Claus in the 1969 KCET television reading of his 1938 play The Plot to Overthrow Christmas. A decade before his death, Reed, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with bladder cancer which was surgically removed. Although this operation was successful, he later developed emphysema and died at the St. Vincent Medical Center near his home in West Los Angeles on June 14. 1977 of multisystem disease, cardiac failure two months before his 70th birthday. His body was donated to medical science (Loma Linda Medical Center). |
![]() Above: A photograph of an older, bearded Reed sitting on a sofa. He is much slimmer than in previous photos, this plus the beard indicates that the photo was taken sometime late in Reed's life. © Alan Reed Collection [digital resource], Pepperdine University Special Collections and University Archives (Used by permission). All of his characters all sounded different, but they had one thing in common: They all had a touch of Abraham Greenberg, Reed’s grandfather. For all the broad comedy and exaggerated accents, Reed realized that at the heart of every immigrant’s story was buried a deep uncertainty, a throbbing anxiety, a certain confusion about preserving the old world’s values in the new one. As a child, Reed had witnessed these emotions overwhelm his grandfather, and he resented the old man and his ways. As an adult, however, he could turn the maddening into the sublime, recreating one Abraham Greenberg after another and giving his creations the gift of warmth and humor. (9) |
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This actor profile is a part of
Ellery Queen a website on deduction.
The actor above played Sergeant Velie in
the
Ellery Queen radio series.
Click Uncle Sam if you think you can help
out...! Many of the profiles on this site have been compiled after very careful research of various sources. Please quote and cite ethically! |
Page first published on Nov 18. 2017 Last updated Jul 24, 2020 |
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