Howard Hesseman

Howard Hesseman
Hesseman in 2014
Born	(1940-02-27)February 27, 1940 Lebanon, Oregon, U.S.
Died	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1968–2018

Howard Lex Hesseman (27 February 1940 – 29 January 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as malcontent disk jockey "Dr. Johnny Fever" on WKRP in Cincinnati, and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class. He appeared regularly on television and in film from the 1970s to 2010s, with other noteworthy roles including Sam Royer (the husband of lead character Ann Romano) in the last two seasons of One Day at a Time, and a supporting role as Captain Pete Lassard in the film Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment.

Early life

Hesseman was born in Lebanon, Oregon, on February 27, 1940. His parents divorced when he was five, and he was raised by his mother and stepfather, a police officer. He graduated from Silverton High School in 1958. Hesseman attended the University of Oregon, and was later a founding member of the San Francisco-based improvisational comedy troupe The Committee with fellow actor David Ogden Stiers. Early in his acting career, he used the alias Don Sturdy, the name he also used as a radio DJ on underground FM station KMPX in San Francisco in the late 1960s.

Career

Under the alias of Don Sturdy, Hesseman made his first television appearances, including the episode Public Affairs: DR-07 of the show Dragnet in 1968. He portrayed a hippie named Jesse Chaplin, the editor of an underground newspaper. In this Dragnet episode, his character was a panelist on a TV show opposite Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon.

He played a bit part in two final-season episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. In the episode "Sam for Town Council," Hesseman has an exchange with Emmett Clark (Paul Hartman), who is running for town council against Sam Jones played by Ken Berry. Hesseman plays a character named Harry seen preparing fishing tackle outside a sporting goods store and complaining to Emmett how poor the fishing has been at a nearby fishing spot. Emmett promises to stock the pond with big perch in exchange for Harry's vote. Harry agrees and wears a campaign button supporting Emmett in the race. In the episode "Goober Goes to an Auto Show", Hesseman, also credited as Don Sturdy, plays the Counterboy, serving hot dogs and root beers to Goober and his old trade school rival Roy Swanson, played by Noam Pitlik. Hesseman made several appearances as Mr. Plager, a member of the group therapy ensemble on The Bob Newhart Show, who was later revealed to be gay. He became a playwright in the sixth season of the show, writing a play about the characters in the group. In several other episodes of the show, Hesseman's voice can be heard as a TV announcer. On July 18, 1969, he appeared with the improv comedy group The Committee in several sketches on The Dick Cavett Show, and appeared in one sketch with guest Janis Joplin.

The handprints of Howard Hesseman in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

Hesseman is best known for his role as anti-disco disc jockey John "Dr. Johnny Fever" Caravella on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati from 1978 to 1982, a role Hesseman prepared for by working as a DJ in San Francisco at KMPX-FM for several months. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1980 and 1981 for his portrayal of Fever. He reprised the role of Caravella in nine episodes of The New WKRP in Cincinnati, and also directed several episodes of the 1991-93 series revival.

Hesseman played teacher Charlie Moore on the ABC series Head of the Class for four seasons from 1986 to 1990. He also played Sam Royer, the man who married Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin) on One Day at a Time from 1982 to 1984.

In 1986, he was in the Disney film Flight of the Navigator.

In 1994, Hesseman introduced lost footage of Joplin in a documentary on Woodstock. He made three appearances on Saturday Night Live: one in which he paid tribute to, and told jokes about, the recently deceased John Belushi and the other in which NBC showed a picture of U.S. president Ronald Reagan, which Hesseman mooned off-camera. He also encouraged the viewing audience to moon the picture and send pictures in to NBC.

In 1995, Hesseman played the role of the Marquis de Sade in Quills at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, California, which included one scene in which he was fully naked. In 2001, Hesseman had a role on three episodes of That '70s Show. In 2006, he played the unorthodox Judge Robert Thompson in three episodes of Boston Legal, and also appeared in an episode of House. During his appearance as Judge Thompson, Hesseman paid homage to his role as a teacher in his earlier ABC series by hearing a court case while sitting atop the judge's bench, just as the character of Mr. Moore taught his class atop his desk. In 2007, he played The Chemist on HBO's John From Cincinnati. He guest-starred as an announcer at a horse track on Psych, in the episode "And Down the Stretch Comes Murder". Hesseman guest-starred on the 2007 season premiere of NBC's ER, playing a man tripping on magic mushrooms who may or may not have been an orthopedist from another hospital. Hesseman starred in The Sunshine Boys at the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park, Kansas, from September to November 2010. In February 2011, he portrayed Dr. Elliot D. Aden in the eleventh season CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead". Dr. Aden was head of Department of Defense project called Stonewall at W.L.V.U., which did research in fringe psychological concepts such as E.S.P. and out-of-body experiences.

Death

Hesseman died from complications of colon surgery in Los Angeles, California, on January 29, 2022, at the age of 81.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Petulia	Hippie
1969	Some Kind of a Nut	The Bartender	Uncredited
1971	Billy Jack	Drama Teacher #2
	The Christian Licorice Store	Last Party Guest
1972	Cisco Pike	Recording Engineer
1973	Steelyard Blues	Frank Veldini
	Jory	Santa Rosa Bartender	Uncredited
	Kid Blue	Confectionary Man
1975	Shampoo	Red Dog
	Prisoners
	Whiffs	Dr. Gopian
	The Sunshine Boys	Mr. Walsh, Commercial Director
1976	Tunnel Vision	Senator McMannus
	Jackson County Jail	David
	Silent Movie	Executive
	The Big Bus	Jack
1977	The Other Side of Midnight	O'Brien
1978	Loose Shoes	Ernie Piles
1979	Americathon	Kip Margolis
	The Jerk	Carnival Worker	Uncredited
1981	Private Lessons	Lester
	Honky Tonk Freeway	Snapper
1983	Doctor Detroit	"Smooth" Walker
	Focus on Fishko	Sy	Short
1984	This Is Spinal Tap	Terry Ladd
1985	Clue	The Chief	Uncredited
	Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment	Captain Pete Lassard
1986	My Chauffeur	McBride
	Flight of the Navigator	Dr. Louis Faraday
	Inside Out	Jack
	Heat	Pinchus Zion
1987	Amazon Women on the Moon	Rupert King	(segment "Titan Man")
1991	Rubin and Ed	Ed Tuttle
1993	Little Miss Millions	Nick Frost
1994	Munchie Strikes Back	Munchie	Voice
1995	Out-of-Sync	Detective Caldwell
1996	Boys' Night Out	Sheba / Mr. Cabot	Short
1997	Gridlock'd	Blind Man
1998	The Way to Santiago	Johnson	Short
1999	The Sky Is Falling	Yogi Cook
2002	Teddy Bears' Picnic	Ted Frye
	The Mesmerist	Mr. Valdemar
	About Schmidt	Larry Hertzel
2006	Man About Town	Ben Giamoro
	Domestic Import	Lou Kimmelman
2007	Martian Child	Dr. Berg
2008	The Rocker	"Gator"
2009	Halloween II	"Uncle Meat"
	All About Steve	Mr. Horowitz
2012	Bigfoot	Mayor Tommy Gillis
	A Helping Hand	Howard	Short
2016	Wild Oats	Vespucci
	Silver Skies	Billy
	Emmett in Peopleland	Howard Oozman	Short
2018	Dirty Politics	"Big Oil"

Television

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Dragnet	Jesse Chaplin	Episode: "Public Affairs: DR-07"
1971	The Feminist and the Fuzz	Hippie	TV movie (uncredited)
1973	The Blue Knight		TV movie
1974	Firehouse	Hanley	Episode: "The Hottest Place in Town"
	Another April	Dennis Webber	TV movie
	Rhoda	Kirk Stevens	Episode: "I'll Be Loving You, Sometimes"
1975	Mannix	Ray Bennett	Episode: "A Ransom for Yesterday"
	Hustling	Detective	TV movie
	Sanford and Son	Professor Stoneham	Episode: "The Family Man"
	The Blue Knight	Resident	Episode: "Pilot"
	Harry O	Senator Lawler	Episode: "Tender Killing Care"
1976	Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur	AP Man	TV movie
	Family	Store Manager	Episode: "A Special Kind of Loving"
	Switch	M.W.	Episode: "Pirates of Tin Pan Alley"
	Baretta	Walker	Episode: "Street Edition"
	Laverne & Shirley	Dr. Grayson	Episode: "Oh Hear the Angels' Voices"
1976-1977	Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman	Dr. Robert Williams	13 episodes
1977	Delvecchio	"Goldie"	Episode: "Dying Can Be a Pleasure"
	Tail Gunner Joe	Lieutenant Ted Cantwell	TV movie
	Westside Medical	"Buzz" Canfield	Episode: "The Witch of Four West"
	The Amazing Howard Hughes	Jenks	TV movie
	The TVTV Show	Ralph Buckler	TV movie
	Blansky's Beauties	Dr. Berg	Episode: "Nancy Breaks a Leg"
	Quincy, M.E.	District Attorney Jerry Douglas	Episode: "A Dead Man's Truth"
	Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo	Fred	TV movie
1974-1978	The Bob Newhart Show	Craig Plager / Augie	6 episodes
1978	The Ghost of Flight 401	Bert Stockwell	TV movie
	The Rockford Files	Al Steever	Episode: "The House on Willis Avenue"
	Husbands, Wives & Lovers	Dave	Episode: "Ron Moves in and Helene Steps Out"
	Soap	Mr. Franklin	7 episodes
	The Comedy Company	Roger Dustleman	TV movie
	More Than Friends	Avery Salminella	TV movie
	Outside Chance	David	TV movie
1979	You Can't Take It with You	Wilbur C. Henderson	TV movie
1980	Gridlock	Senor Smooth (voice)	TV movie
	Skyward	Koup Trenton	TV movie
1978-1982	WKRP in Cincinnati	Dr. Johnny Fever	86 episodes
1982	Victims	Charles Galloway	TV movie
	One Shoe Makes It Murder	Joe Hervey	TV movie
	9 to 5		Episode: "Home Is Where the Hart Is"
1983	Love, Sidney		Episode: "The Shrink"
	Likely Stories, Vol. 4	Seymour Z. Fishko	TV movie
1982-1984	One Day at a Time	Sam Royer	16 episodes
1984	Mister Roberts	Doc	TV movie
	Best Kept Secrets	Jim Osborne	TV movie
	Silence of the Heart	Carl Lewis	TV movie
1985	George Burns Comedy Week		Episode: "The Honeybunnies"
1986	Faerie Tale Theatre	King	Episode: "The Princess Who Had Never Laughed"
1987	Six Against the Rock	Joseph "Dutch" Cretzer	TV movie
1988	The Diamond Trap	Detective Rollings	TV movie
1986-1990	Head of the Class	Charlie Moore	96 episodes
1990	Call Me Anna	John Ross	TV movie
1991	Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story	Paul Maggioto	TV movie
1992	Black Death	Calvin Phillips	TV movie
	The Ray Bradbury Theatre	Bayes	Episode: "Downwind from Gettysburg"
	Hot Chocolate	Mr. Cassidy	TV movie
1991-1993	The New WKRP in Cincinnati	Dr. Johnny Fever	10 episodes
1993	Lethal Exposure	Taylor	TV movie
1995	Burke's Law	Chuck Mason	Episode: "Who Killed the Gadget Man?"
1996	Innocent Victims	Smithline	TV movie
1997	The Outer Limits	Dr. Emory Taylor	Episode: "Music of the Spheres"
	High Stakes	Wayne Dreyer	TV movie
	On the 2nd Day of Christmas	David	TV movie
1998	Two Guys and a Girl	Mr. Bergen	Episode: "Two Guys, a Girl and a Dad"
1999	The Practice	Judge C. Williams	Episode: "A Day in the Life"
	Tracey Takes On...	Todd	Episode: "Drugs"
	Family Law	Howard Thomas / Randall	Episode: "The Fourth Trimester"
	The Pretender	Landlord	Episode: "Extreme"
2000	Touched by an Angel	Flynn Hodge	Episode: "Monica's Bad Day"
2001	Level 9	General Richard Scheffer	Episode: "Wetware"
	Three Sisters	Jerry Keats	Episode: "The In-Laws"
	That '70s Show	Max	3 episodes
	Thieves	Hal Bloomberg	Episode: "Jack's Back"
	Crossing Jordan	Barney Reynolds	Episode: "Sight Unseen"
2002	Maybe It's Me	Mr. Finn	Episode: "The Crazy-Girl Episode"
2003	It's All Relative	Monty	Episode: "Road Trippin'"
	Boomtown	Mel Castle	Episode: "The Big Picture"
2004	Oliver Beene	Dr. Fenniger	Episode: "Superhero"
2005	Crazy for Christmas	Fred Nickells	TV movie
2006	House	Henry Errington	Episode: "Sex Kills"
2006-2007	Boston Legal	Judge Robert Thompson	3 episodes
2007	Psych	Barry Saunder	Episode: "And Down the Stretch Comes Murder"
	John from Cincinnati	Erlemeyer	2 episodes
	ER	Dr. James Broderick	Episode: "The War Comes Home"
2010	Lie to Me	Sam Hendricks	Episode: "Beat the Devil"
2011	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Dr. Aden	Episode: "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead"
	Drop Dead Diva	Cole Lamburt	Episode: "The Wedding"
2012	Mike & Molly	Otis	Episode: "Mike Likes Lasagna"
2013	HitStreak
2015	The Homeless Detective	Howard Oozman	TV movie
2016	Chicago Med	Clyde Glickman	Episode: "Withdrawal"
	A Christmas in Vermont	Nick Harper	TV movie
2017	Fresh Off the Boat	Mr. Royce	2 episodes

External links

• Howard Hesseman at the Internet Movie Database
• Howard Hesseman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Howard Hesseman discography at Discogs