PARLEY BAER

August 5, 1904

Parley Baer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He studied drama at the University of Utah. Early in his career, Baer was a circus ringmaster and publicist before entering military service in World War II. In the 1950s, he had a job training wild animals at Jungleland and was a docent at the Los Angeles Zoo. The highlight of his radio career was originating the role of Chester in the radio version of “Gunsmoke”, a role played by Dennis Weaver on television. Baer is perhaps best known for his recurring roles as Mayor Stoner on “The Andy Griffith Show” and Doc Appleby in “The Dukes of Hazzard.”  

“Radio is the most nearly perfect medium for an actor. If you have an audience of 5 million people listening to you, you’re giving 5 million performances.” ~ Parley Baer

On radio, he did four episodes of “Grandby’s Green Acres” starring Gale Gordon and Bea Benadaret, a summer fill-in for Lucille Ball’s “My Favorite Husband.”  Baer would also later appear in four episodes of the television version, “Green Acres” (1965-71). 

Baer’s first collaboration with Lucille Ball was playing MGM’s Mr. Reilly in “Ricky Needs an Agent” (ILL S4;E29). 

Disguised as Miss McGillicuddy, Ricky’s agent, Lucy is determined to see Dore Schary herself, but remembers that they previously met, so she meets with another Metro executive Reilly instead.

Baer returned to the series as Connecticut furniture salesman Mr. Perry in “Lucy Gets Chummy with the Neighbors” (ILL S6;E18). Neighbor Betty Ramsey (Mary Jane Croft) takes Lucy to her favorite showroom, where Lucy mistakes stock numbers for price tags and goes over the budget Ricky allowed her. 

Baer made five appearances on “The Lucy Show.”  In his first appearance he is Mr. Evans, who sells Lucy Carmichael a sheep to help maintain her lawn in “Lucy Buys a Sheep” (TLS S1;E5) in 1962.

Two years later (finally in color) Baer returns to “The Lucy Show” to play Jack T.  Kasten, a humorless Danfield judge that has to tolerate an overzealous “Lucy the Meter Maid” (TLS S3;E7) in 1964. 

In “Lucy and the Undercover Agent” (TLS S4;E10) in 1965, Baer played Colonel Dietrich (codename HIM) of US Intelligence. 

After seeing a James Bond film, Lucy, the Countess and Mr. Mooney find themselves embroiled in a spy caper that ends up with Lucy disguised as Carol Channing.  

When Lucy develops super strength in “Lucy the Superwoman” (TLS S4;E26) in 1966, she is examined by Dr. Davis (Baer) to determine the source of her sudden power. 

Baer once again dons judge’s robes when “Lucy Sues Mooney” (TLS S6;E12) in 1967. This would be his last appearance on the series, but not his last with Ball…

On “Here’s Lucy” he played Dr. Cunningham, Harry Carter’s psychiatrist, in “Lucy’s Vacation” (HL S3;E17)…

 and in “Lucy’s Bonus Bounces” (HL S4;E16). There may have been intentions to make Dr. Cunningham a recurring character, but this never came to pass. 

ON THE DESILU LOT…

Between 1952 and 1955, Baer made three appearances on “Our Miss Brooks” starring Gale Gordon and Eve Arden.  

In 1956, he made an appearance on the Desilu sitcom “December Bride” starring Verna Felton. 

In May 1959, he did an episode of Desilu’s “Whirlybirds” a series about helicopter pilots.  He shared the screen with Herb Vigran, who Baer is sometimes mistaken for and who also did several Lucy-coms. 

That same year, Baer did “The Hanging Judge” a non-Lucy-Desi episode of “The Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse”.  The show was hosted by Desi Arnaz. 

From 1956 to 1960, Baer did three episodes of “The Danny Thomas Show” aka “Make Room for Daddy”, a show that moved to CBS in 1959 and did a crossover episode with “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”. In one episode, Baer acted with Mary Wickes (Madame Lamond), and in another he appeared opposite Shirley Mitchell (Marion Strong). The series was not produced by Desilu, but it was shot at their studio. 

In 1960, Baer did one episode of the short-lived Desilu series “Harrigan and Son” about a father / son law firm. 

In April 1961, Baer did an episode of “Angel” shot on the Desilu lot. In his episode, he played the title character of “The Dentist” and acted opposite Doris Singleton (Carlolyn Appleby), a recurring character on the short-lived series.

Perhaps his most famous work on the Desilu backlot was as Mayberry Mayor Roy Stoner in seven episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” from 1962 to 1963. 

Back on the bench as a Judge on “My Living Doll” on the Desilu backlot for an episode aired in February 1965. The short-lived series was about a psychiatrist (Bob Cummings) entrusted with the care of a sexy robot (Julie Newmar). 

In 1966 and 1967, Baer did two episodes of “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C” on the Desilu backlot. In 1966, Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) turned up in a cameo on “The Lucy Show.”  At the end of 1967, Lucille Ball sold Desilu to Paramount and Gulf + Western. 

In 1946, Baer married Ernestine Clarke and they had two children. Baer died in November 2002 after a stroke.