FRED SHERMAN

May 14, 1905

Fred Sherman was born as Clarence E. Kolegraff in South Dakota. He began his career in tent shows and vaudeville. 

He made his screen debut in 1942′s Too May Women (not to be confused with Too Many Girls), playing Charlie Blakewell.  That same year he appeared with William Frawley (aka Fred Mertz) in Wildcat (not to be confused with Lucille Ball’s 1960 Broadway musical).  

On January 3, 1951 he made his small screen debut in an episode of “Stars Over Hollywood” for NBC. 

He appeared on “I Love Lucy” (mostly with his back to the camera) playing the Drunk in “The Diner” (ILL
S3;E27) filmed on March 19, 1954 and first aired on  April 26, 1954.

Unusually for a supporting character, the Drunk gets the last laugh by giving the enterprising Mr. Watson (James Burke) a pie in the face for making a buck off the Ricardos and the Mertzes. 

He also played a drunk with Lucy and Desi on “Sunday Showcase: The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special” on November 1, 1959. His drunk act was so good that he was also cast as the drunk in Some Like It Hot (1959), “Northwest Passage” (1959), and on “Laramie” (1961).  

In between “Lucy” and “Milton” Sherman appeared in two episodes of Desilu’s “December Bride” (1956 & 1957), three episodes of Desilu’s “Cavalcade of America” (1954-1956), an episode of Desilu’s “The Adventures of Jim Bowie” (1957), four episodes of “The Lineup” (1954-57) filmed at Desilu Studios, an episode of “The Californians” (1957) filmed at Desilu Studios, and seven episodes of “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” (1955-58) filmed at Desilu Studios. 

In October 1961, he did an episode of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” filmed at Desilu Studios. He played a bored party-goer, husband to Eleanor Audley.  Coincidentally, while Sherman is playing bored, Dick Van Dyke is playing drunk!  

In February 1962, he appeared on an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” playing Mr. Goss, a dry-cleaner / tailor.  The series was filmed on the Desilu backlot. He returned to play the character once more two months later.  After completing the episode, he suffered a stroke which confined him to hospitals and then to the Motion Picture Country Home, where he died on May 20, 1969 at age 64. His final screen appearance was on a May 2, 1962 appearance on “Wagon Trail.”