Editing Thayer David

{{Short description|American actor (1927–1978)}}
{{about|the U.S. actor|the U.S. artist|David Thayer}}
{{redirect-distinguish|David Thayer Hersey|David Hersey}}

{{cleanup rewrite|date=November 2015}}

{{Infobox person
| name        = Thayer David
| image       = Thayer David.png
| caption     = David in ''Columbo: Now You See Him'' (1976)
| birth_name  = David Thayer Hersey
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1927|03|04}}
| birth_place = [[Medford, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1978|07|17|1927|03|04}}
| death_place = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| spouse      = {{marriage|[[Valerie French (actress)|Valerie French]]|1970|1975|end=div.}}
| yearsactive = 1950&ndash;1978
}}

'''Thayer David''' (born '''David Thayer Hersey'''; March 4, 1927&nbsp;– July 17, 1978) was an American film, stage, and television actor. He was best known for his work on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] serial ''[[Dark Shadows]]'' (1966–1971), as Dragon, the Albino ex-Nazi Director of C-2 in ''[[The Eiger Sanction (film)|The Eiger Sanction]]'' (1975) and as the fight promoter Miles Jergens in ''[[Rocky]]'' (1976). He also appeared as Count Saknussemm in the film ''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959 film)|Journey to the Center of the Earth]]'' (1959), as the Reverend Silas Pendrake in ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' (1970), as Charlie Robbins in ''[[Save the Tiger]]'' (1973) and as Deacon in ''[[Fun with Dick and Jane (1977 film)|Fun with Dick and Jane]]'' (1977). His raspy, distinctive voice lent itself to voice-over work in commercials and instructional films.

==Early life==
Thayer David was born March 4, 1927, in [[Medford, Massachusetts]]. His father, Thayer Frye Hersey, was an executive in the paper pulp industry. David attended [[Harvard University]] in the 1940s but did not graduate, concentrating instead upon a career on the stage. With financial support from his father, he co-founded the [[Brattle Theatre|Brattle Theater]] Company (1948–1952) in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], and established himself in the professional theatre.<ref>Pace, Eric, "Thayer David Dead; A Character Actor"; ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 20, 1978</ref><ref>[http://brattlefilm.org/history/first-100-years/ Brattle Theatre, The First Hundred Years] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007224110/http://brattlefilm.org/history/first-100-years/ |date=2011-10-07 }}' retrieved October 4, 2011</ref>

==Stage career==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2015}}
He went on to act in ''The Relapse'' 1950 (Sir Tunbelly Clumsey); ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'' 1951 (Grumio);  ''[[The Way of the World]]'' 1954 (Petulant); '' The Carefree Tree '' 1955 (The Sixth Son); ''[[King Lear]]'' 1956 (Duke of Cornwall); ''Mister Johnson'' 1956 (Gollup); ''[[Saint Joan (play)|Saint Joan]]'' 1956 (The Inquisitor); ''Protective Custody'' 1956 (Dr. Steidl); ''[[Oscar Wilde (play)|Oscar Wilde]]'' 1957 (Oscar Wilde); ''The Golden Six'' 1958 (Tiberius); ''[[A Man for All Seasons (play)|A Man for All Seasons]]'' 1961 (Cardinal Wolsey); ''La Belle'' 1962; ''Andorra'' 1963 (pub keeper); ''[[The Seagull]]'' 1964 (Sorin); ''[[The Crucible]]'' 1964 (Danforth); ''Baker Street'' 1965 (Moriarty); ''[[The Royal Hunt of the Sun]]'' 1965 (Miguel Estete); ''[[Ring Round the Moon]]'' 1966 (Messerchann); ''Those That Play the Clowns'' 1966 (Henning); ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (musical)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'' 1966 (Rusty Trawler); ''[[Romulus Linney (playwright)|The Sorrows of Frederick]]'' 1967; ''The Bench'' 1968 (Phillipi); ''[[Uncle Vanya]]'' 1971 (Serebryakov); ''The Jockey Club Stakes'' 1973 (Sir Dymock Blackburn); and ''The Dogs of Pavlov'' 1974.

==Film and television==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2015}}
David played the dark and menacing role of Count Saknussem in the film ''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959 film)|Journey to the Center of the Earth]]'' ([[1959 in film|1959]]). From 1966 to 1971, David portrayed various characters on ABC's daytime phenomenon ''[[Dark Shadows]]''. His many roles on ''Dark Shadows''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Essential Cult TV Reader|last=Lavery|first=David|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|year=2009|isbn=9780813125688|location=Louisville|pages=87}}</ref> included Matthew Morgan, Ben Stokes, Professor T. Elliot Stokes, Sandor Rakosi, Count Andreas Petofi, Timothy Stokes (Parallel Time), Mordecai Grimes, and Ben Stokes (Parallel Time). David played different roles in each of the spinoff movies - ''House of Dark Shadows'' (1970, playing Professor T. Elliot Stokes); and ''Night of Dark Shadows'' (1971, playing Reverend Strack).

On the big screen, he played Reverend Silas Pendrake in ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' ([[1970 in film|1970]]).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Western Gunslingers in Fact and on Film: Hollywood's Famous Lawmen and Outlaws|last=Rainey|first=Buck|publisher=McFarland|year=1998|isbn=9780786403967|location=Jefferson, NC|pages=214}}</ref> He also played the professional arsonist Charlie Robbins in ''[[Save the Tiger]]'' (1973) with [[Jack Lemmon]], the afflicted spymaster Dragon in ''[[The Eiger Sanction (film)|The Eiger Sanction]]'' ([[1975 in film|1975]]) with [[Clint Eastwood]], and fight promoter Miles Jergens in ''[[Rocky]]'' ([[1976 in film|1976]]) (reunited with Save the Tiger director [[John G. Avildsen]]).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pat Boone: The Hollywood Years|last=Kibbey|first=Richard D.|publisher=Tate Publishing & Enterprises|year=2011|isbn=9781613461341|location=Mustang, Oklahoma|pages=156}}</ref>

He played numerous characters on different TV series, including ''[[The Wild Wild West]]'', ''[[The Rockford Files]]'', ''[[Columbo (TV series)|Columbo]]'', ''[[Ellery Queen (TV series)|Ellery Queen]]'', ''[[Kojak]]'', ''[[Petrocelli]]'', ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'', and ''[[Hawaii Five-O (1968 TV series)|Hawaii Five-O]]''.

David appeared in TV movies such as [[Nikita Khrushchev]] in ''Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident'' ([[1976 in film|1976]]) and ''[[The Amazing Howard Hughes]]'' ([[1977 in film|1977]]), as well as miniseries such as ''[[Roots (1977 miniseries)|Roots]]'', ''[[The Rhinemann Exchange]]'', and ''[[Washington: Behind Closed Doors]]''.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

In 1977, David played the title role in ''[[Nero Wolfe (film)|Nero Wolfe]]'', [[Paramount Television]]'s made-for-TV movie based on the [[Rex Stout]] novel ''[[The Doorbell Rang]]''. David portrayed the corpulent detective [[Nero Wolfe]], who took on clients grudgingly and solved mysteries dazzlingly. Intended to be the pilot for a series, the film was shelved by ABC. It eventually aired December 18, 1979, 17 months after David's death.<ref>Terrace, Vincent, ''Television 1970–1980''. San Diego, California: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1981, {{ISBN|0-498-02539-X}} page 266</ref> He also played an important role as the lead antagonist, Mr. Edward Byron, in the made-for-TV film ''[[Spider-Man (1977 film)|Spider-Man]]'' ([[1977 in film|1977]]), which served as the pilot for the 1978 TV series ''The Amazing Spider-Man''.

==Personal life==
A resident of [[Manhattan]], David collected walking sticks, 18th century European landscape paintings, and Victorian furniture.<ref>Pace, Eric, "Thayer David Dead: A Character Actor"; ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 20, 1978</ref> "He was the most widely educated and best-read actor I've ever encountered," said [[Frank D. Gilroy]], who wrote and directed the 1977 TV movie ''[[Nero Wolfe (film)|Nero Wolfe]]''.<ref>[[Frank D. Gilroy|Gilroy, Frank D.]], ''I Wake Up Screening''. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993, {{ISBN|0-8093-1856-3}} page 147</ref>

He was married to and divorced from film and television actress [[Valerie French (actress)|Valerie French]].<ref>Collins, Glenn, "[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/06/obituaries/valerie-french-59-actress-who-played-english-characters.html?scp=18&sq=Thayer%20David&st=cse Valerie French, 59, Actress Who Played English Characters]"; ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 6, 1990</ref>

David died July 17, 1978, of a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]] in [[New York City]] at the age of 51.<ref>Pace, Eric, "Thayer David Dead; A Character Actor"; ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 20, 1978</ref> He and French had been planning to remarry.<ref>Collins, Glenn, "[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/06/obituaries/valerie-french-59-actress-who-played-english-characters.html?scp=18&sq=Thayer%20David&st=cse Valerie French, 59, Actress Who Played English Characters]"; ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 6, 1990</ref> He was cremated.{{Citation needed |date=May 2023}}

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1957|| ''[[Baby Face Nelson (film)|Baby Face Nelson]]'' || Connelly ||
|-
|1958|| ''[[A Time to Love and a Time to Die]]'' || Oscar Binding ||
|-
|1958|| ''[[Wolf Larsen (film)|Wolf Larsen]]'' || Mugridge ||
|-
|1959|| ''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959 film)|Journey to the Center of the Earth]]'' || Count Saknussemm ||
|-
|1960|| ''[[The Story of Ruth]]'' || Hedak ||
|-
|1966|| ''[[Dark Shadows]]'' || Matthew Morgan ||
|-
|1970|| ''[[House of Dark Shadows]]'' || Professor T. Eliot Stokes ||
|-
|1970|| ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' || Rev. Silas Pendrake ||
|-
|1971|| ''[[Night of Dark Shadows]]'' || Rev. Strack ||
|-
|1972|| ''[[Savages (1972 film)|Savages]]'' || Otto Nurder, a Capitalist ||
|-
|1972|| ''[[The Stoolie]]'' || Lattimore ||
|-
|1973|| ''[[Save the Tiger]]'' || Charlie Robbins ||
|-
|1973|| ''[[Happy Mother's Day, Love George]]'' || Minister Pollard ||
|-
|1973|| ''[[The Werewolf of Washington]]'' || Inspector ||
|-
|1973|| ''[[Fore Play]]'' || General ||
|-
|1975|| ''[[The Eiger Sanction (film)|The Eiger Sanction]]'' || Dragon ||
|-
|1975|| ''[[Hearts of the West (1975 film)|Hearts of the West]]'' || Bank Manager ||
|-
|1975|| ''[https://archive.org/details/the-secret-night-caller-tv-movie-1975 The Secret Night Caller]'' || Mr. Henry ||
|-
|1976|| ''[[Peeper (film)|Peeper]]'' || Frank Prendergast ||
|-
|1976|| ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074545/ Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident]'' || Nikita Khrushchev ||
|-
|1976|| ''[[The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox]]'' || Josiah Widdicombe (Mormon patriarch) ||
|-
|1976|| ''[[Rocky]]'' || Miles Jergens ||
|-
|1977|| ''[[Fun with Dick and Jane (1977 film)|Fun with Dick and Jane]]'' || Deacon ||
|-
|1977|| ''[[Sudden Death (1977 film)|Sudden Death]]'' || Hauser ||
|-
|1977|| ''[[Spider-Man (1977 film)|Spider-Man]]'' || Edward Byron ||
|-
|1978|| ''[[House Calls (1978 film)|House Calls]]'' || Phil Pogostin || Final role
|-
|1979|| ''[[Nero Wolfe (film)|Nero Wolfe]]'' || Nero Wolfe ||
|}

==Further reading==
*Hamrick, Craig & Jamison, R. J. ''[http://barnabasandcompany.com/ Barnabas & Company: The Cast of the TV Classic Dark Shadows]'' Revised (2012) iUniverse, 2012. pp 93–107. {{ISBN|978-1-4759-1034-6}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|203076}}
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{iobdb name|22847}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Thayer}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:American male stage actors]]
[[Category:American male television actors]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:People from Medford, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Nero Wolfe]]
[[Category:Male actors from Massachusetts]]