Richard Norman Anderson (August 8, 1926 – August 31, 2017) was an American film and television actor. Among his best-known roles was his portrayal of Oscar Goldman, the boss of Steve Austin (Lee Majors) and Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman television series between 1974 and 1978 and their subsequent television movies: The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989) and Bionic Ever After? (1994).

Spouses:

Carol Lee Ladd (m. 1955; div. 1956)

Katharine Thalberg (m. 1961; div. 1973)

Children: 3

Parents: Harry and Olga (née Lurie) Anderson

Early life

Anderson was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, the son of Olga (née Lurie) and Harry Anderson. Anderson served a tour of duty in the United States Army.

Career

On the big screen, his many films included The Student Prince as Lucas (1954), Forbidden Planet (1956), as Chief Engineer Quinn, and the World War I drama Paths of Glory (1957) directed by Stanley Kubrick, in which Anderson played the prosecuting attorney. He was Don Diego De La Vega's joke-playing best friend and romantic rival, Ricardo Del Amo, on the Disney television series Zorro (1958-1959). He was the object of the unrequited love of Clara Varner (Joanne Woodward) in The Long, Hot Summer (1958) and a suspicious military officer in Seven Days in May (1964).

In the 1960s, Anderson made appearances in 23 episodes of Perry Mason during the series' final season as Police Lieutenant Steve Drumm, replacing the character of Lt. Tragg, played by Ray Collins who died in 1965. Before he became a Perry Mason regular, he made guest appearances in two 1964 episodes: as defendant Edward Lewis in "The Case of the Accosted Accountant", and Jason Foster in "The Case of the Paper Bullets".

He also appeared on The Untouchables, Stagecoach West, The Rifleman, Daniel Boone, Thriller, The Eleventh Hour, Redigo, Combat!, Twelve O'Clock High, I Spy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Fugitive (as varied characters in several episodes; in the series' 1967 finale he played the brother-in-law to the protagonist Dr. Richard Kimble), Bonanza, The Green Hornet, The Invaders, and The Big Valley. In 1961–62, Anderson co-starred with Marilyn Maxwell in an ABC production of Bus Stop. He guest-starred in the last episode of season 1 of Mission: Impossible (1966) as Judge Wilson Chase.

In 1965, he played Judge Lander, who clashes over courtroom fairness and frontier justice with a young woman, Kate Melville (Gloria Talbott), the daughter of a sheriff, Will Melville (Dick Foran), in the episode "Kate Melville and the Law" of the syndicated series, Death Valley Days.

Anderson first appeared as Oscar Goldman in episode 2 ("Wine, Women, and War") of The Six Million Dollar Man in 1974. He would portray the character through the series' end in 1978 as well as on the spinoff series The Bionic Woman for its entire run from 1976 to 1978. In addition, Anderson guest-starred on other TV series in the 1970s, including Hawaii Five-O, Gunsmoke, Ironside, Columbo and The Love Boat.

He appeared in the television movie, The Night Strangler as the villain, Dr. Richard Malcolm. Anderson was just as busy in the 1980s on Charlie's Angels, Matt Houston, Knight Rider, Remington Steele, Cover Up, The A-Team, The Fall Guy, Simon & Simon, and Murder, She Wrote. In 1985, he played murderer Ken Braddock in the first two-hour episode of Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr, titled "Perry Mason Returns". Anderson had a recurring role as Senator Buck Fallmont on Dynasty from 1986 to 1987. He portrayed President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1987 miniseries, Hoover vs. The Kennedys.

In the 1990s, he served as narrator and a recurring guest star for Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He served also as a commercial spokesperson for the Shell Oil Company in the United States, known as The Shell Answer Man. "The Shell Answer Man" appeared in commercials from 1976-82.

In 2007, Anderson was honored with a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.

Anderson died on August 31, 2017 in Beverly Hills, aged 91.

Partial filmography

• The Pearl (1947)
• The Vanishing Westerner (1950) as Deputy Sheriff Jeff Jackson
• A Life of Her Own (1950) as Hosiery Man (uncredited)
• The Magnificent Yankee (1950) as Reynolds, Secretary
• Grounds for Marriage (1951) as Tommy
• Storm Warning (1951) as Interne (uncredited)
• Payment on Demand (1951) as Jim Boland
• Cause for Alarm! (1951) as Lonesome Sailor
• Go for Broke! (1951) as Lieutenant (uncredited)
• No Questions Asked (1951) as Detective Walter O'Bannion
• Rich, Young and Pretty (1951) as Bob Lennart
• The People Against O'Hara (1951) as Jeff Chapman
• Across the Wide Missouri (1951) as Dick Richardson
• The Unknown Man (1951) as Bob Masen
• Just This Once (1952) as Tom Winters
• Scaramouche (1952) as Philippe de Valmorin
• Holiday for Sinners (1952) as Father Victor Carducci
• Fearless Fagan (1952) as Capt. Daniels - Company J
• The Story of Three Loves (1953) as Marcel (segment "Equilibrium")
• I Love Melvin (1953) as Harry Flack
• Dream Wife (1953) as Henry Malvine
• Give a Girl a Break (1953) as Burton Bradshaw
• Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) as Lieutenant Beecher
• The Student Prince (1954) as Lucas
• Betrayed (1954) as John (uncredited)
• Hit the Deck (1955) as Lt. Jackson
• It's a Dog's Life (1955) as George Oakley
• Forbidden Planet (1956) as Engineering Officer Quinn
• A Cry in the Night (1956) as Owen Clark
• The Search for Bridey Murphy (1956) as Dr. Deering
• Three Brave Men (1956) as Naval Lt. Bill Horton
• The Buster Keaton Story (1957) as Tom McAffee
• Paths of Glory (1957) as Major Saint-Auban
• Merry Andrew (1958) as Ugo (uncredited)
• The Long, Hot Summer (1958) as Alan Stewart
• Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) as Dr. Paul Mallon
• Compulsion (1959) as Max Steiner
• The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959) as Dave Rudabaugh
• The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960) as Lt. Dennis M. Foster
• A Gathering of Eagles (1963) as Colonel Ralph Josten
• Johnny Cool (1963) as Correspondent
• Seven Days in May (1964) as Colonel Ben Murdock
• Kitten with a Whip (1964) as Grant
• Seconds (1966) as Dr. Innes
• The Ride to Hangman's Tree (1967) as Steven Carlson
• The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk (1967) as Fenton Hardy
• Macho Callahan (1970) as Officer
• Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) as Navy Captain John B. Earle
• Doctors' Wives (1971) as D.A. Douglas
• The Astronaut (1972) as Dr. Wylie
• The Honkers (1972) as Royce Owens
• Play It as It Lays (1972) as Les Goodwin
• The Night Strangler (1973) as Dr Richard Malcolm
• Black Eye (1974) as Dole
• Never Give Up (1978) as US Green Beret Officer
• The Immigrants (1978) as Thomas Seldon
• The French Atlantic Affair (1979) as Terrence Crown
• Condominium (1980) as Henry Churchbridge
• Kane & Abel (1985) as Alan Lloyd
• The Stepford Children (1987) as Lawrence Denton
• Hoover vs. The Kennedys (1987) as Lyndon B. Johnson
• The Player (1992) as Himself
• Gettysburg (1993) as General George G. Meade
• The Glass Shield (1995) as Watch Commander Clarence Massey
• The Blood Trail (2015)