Richard Schaal dies at 86; character actor was a Second City pioneer

[joeybee12]

Actor Richard "Dick" Schaal, a pioneer at the Second City comedy theater in Chicago and a familiar face from character roles on movies and television, including "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Rhoda," has died. He was 86.

Schaal died Tuesday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, said his daughter, actress Wendy Schaal. The cause was not disclosed.

Born in Chicago in 1928, Schaal (pronounced SHAWL) was in the second cast of Second City, beginning in 1962. At the famed theater, he was known, in sketch-comedy parlance, as a "space man." In other words, whereas the fledgling company had more than its share of University of Chicago graduates prized for their wit and verbosity, Schaal not only had a more blue-collar sensibility but was also the rare but crucial guy who could physically enliven the scenes.

"Using mime, Dick could place 40 objects within a scene, remember where they all were, and then modify them," said Jeffrey Sweet, who wrote extensively about Schaal in "Something Wonderful Right Away," a history of the early years of Second City. "He was a great genius at that. You'd swear he could actually see the objects."

"His whole body was an instrument," Wendy Schaal said. "He was the one who really took off on working in the space. That was where the work could make the visible invisible. In his workshops, he would teach performers to explore what would happen to their body when handling objects."

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-dick-schaal-20141106-story.html

Very familiar name and face for those of us watching TV in the 70's...RIP

[Bluenorthwest]

1. Aw, man. He was the real deal.

One of the originals.

[Iggo]

2. Richard "Dick" Schaal.

[Orsino]

3. Chuckles the Clown is dead. n/t

[Ryano42]

4. Oh Heavens Nevans!!! I loved him in Hollywood Knights!

VOOOOOOLARRE!!!

[Kaleva]

5. While never a major star, he added, in a big way, to the shows and movies he was in.

[PoliticAverse]

6. Perhaps his best role...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cube_%28film%29

Entire episode online at archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/TheCube-JimHenson-1969

[Cooley Hurd]

7. Kick and rec - great in everything I've seen him in...

Cross gently, Dick.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Can't believe this isn't on The Greatest Page...

He was in everything. And he was Rhoda's actual husband.

Dick Schaal, Who Appeared on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ Dies at 86
http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/dick-schaal-who-appeared-on-the-mary-tyler-moore-show-dies-at-86-1201351047/

[joeybee12]

9. I remember hearing that when the show was on the air...

That they were actually husband and wife in real life...it surprised me.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. I thought it was particularly weird, too, especially since on the show he dated Mary...

p.s. My little guy is getting much more comfortable:

[joeybee12]

11. Good! He really is handsome...

And he looks very content...glad you got him!