Ron Foster (actor)

Ronald R. "Ron" Foster (born February 19, 1930), is an American actor whose longest-running role was as Dr. Charles Grant from 1991 to 1995 in the defunct CBS soap opera The Guiding Light.^[1][2]

Career

His early work included twenty-four appearances from 1957 to 1959, mostly in the role of Officer Garvey in the Broderick Crawford syndicated television series Highway Patrol. Foster also made five appearances between 1959 and 1960 on CBS's short-lived adventure series Men into Space in the role of Lieutenant Neil Templeton. He appeared three times in different roles from 1959 to 1964 on CBS's Rawhide, starring Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. From 1964 to 1971, he appeared five times in different roles on another western, NBC's Bonanza. He appeared twice in 1957 on separate episodes in the first season of the NBC western Wagon Train.^[1]

One of Foster's most memorable half-hour appearances was as Master Sergeant William Connors on CBS's The Twilight Zone in the 1963 episode "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms", a story of a modern military patrol which encounters shocking evidence from the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana. His co-stars in the segment are Randy Boone and Warren Oates.^[3]

In 1957, Foster played Kenny Hedges in the episode entitled "Jet Flight" of the military series The West Point Story. He appeared at this time on Death Valley Days as Siles Begg in "Rough and Ready".

In 1959, he was cast as Steve in the film Diary of a High School Bride;^[1] and appeared in starring roles in several low budget films for producer Edward Small and director Edward L. Cahn, including Cage of Evil and The Walking Target (both 1960).^[4][5]

Select filmography

• Desert Hell (1958)
• Diary of a High School Bride (1959)
• Ma Barker's Killer Brood (1960)
• Three Came to Kill (1960)
• The Music Box Kid (1960)
• Cage of Evil (1960)
• The Walking Target (1960)
• Operation Bottleneck (1961)
• Secret of Deep Harbor (1961)
• House of the Dammed (1963)
• Private Lessons (1981)
• Ninja III: The Domination (1981)
• The Money Pit (1986)

Other television roles

• Official Detective "Murder In A Girl's School" - Miller Dolce (1958)
• Perry Mason as Fred Pike in "The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor" (1960)
• The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp as Johnny in "Arizona Lottery" (1960)
• Sea Hunt, twice (1959–1960)
• Colt .45 as Tommy Potts in "Bounty List" (1960)^[6]
• Checkmate as Bill in "The Mask of Vengeance" (1960)
• Bat Masterson, twice as Toby Dawson in "Six Feet of Gold" (1960) and as Sheriff Buck Simpson in "Jeopardy at Jackson Hole" (1961)
• Gunsmoke, twice (1961)
• Tales of Wells Fargo as Ken Logan in "Royal Maroon" (1962)
• Alcoa Premiere as Lieutenant Durham in "Seven Against the Sea" (1962)
• Laramie as Lee Taylor in "The Wedding Party" (1963)
• The Virginian as Charlie Dorsey in "The Money Cage" (1963)
• G.E. True as Captain James Dunlop in "Black Market" (1963)
• The Outer Limits as Dr. Robert Richardson in "The Mice" (1964)
• Kraft Suspense Theatre as Reverend Larson in "Portrait of an Unknown Man" (1964)
• Combat! as Private Marshall in "Crossfire" (1965)
• Twelve O'Clock High as Captain Borega in "Gauntlet of Fire" (1966)
• Run for Your Life as Major Conway in "Rendezvous in Tokyo" (1967)
• The High Chaparral as Lieutenant Corey in "The Peacemaker" (1968)
• The Bill Cosby Show as Dr. Madeo in "Let X Equal a Lousy Weekend" (1969)
• O'Hara, U.S. Treasury as Al Ellis in "Operation Crystal Springs" (1970)
• Petrocelli, twice (1974 and 1976)
• Dynasty, as a sheriff in "Colorado Roulette" (1988)
• The Cosby Show, twice (1987 and 1991)^[1]

Most recent work

Foster's last regular role was in segments of NBC's Law and Order as William Jefferson in the 1990 episode "Everybody's Favorite Bagman" and as Councilman Clayton in "Haven" in 1999. He performed voice work between 1995 and 2008 in such video games as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, The Longest Journey, Grand Theft Auto IV and Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne.^[7]

References

External links

• Ron Foster at the Internet Movie Database