Richard Erdman

Richard Erdman June 1 1925 March 16 2019 was an American film and television actor and director In a career that has spanned seven decades his best known roles are that of the barracks chief Hoffy in Stalag 17 and McNulty in the classic Twilight Zone episode A Kind of a Stopwatch In Tora Tora Tora he played Colonel Edward F French the officer who responded to the failure to transmit the warning to Pearl Harbor using Army radio to instead use commercial telegraph rather than using the Navy or FBI radio systems Erdman appeared as the blackmailer Arthur Binney in the Perry Mason first season TV episode The Case Of The Gilded Lily aired May 24 1958 In 1960 he costarred with Tab Hunter in the shortlived The Tab Hunter Show on NBC which aired opposite The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS and Lawman with John Russell on ABC He was very funny when he appeared as a Broadway wardrobe man named Buck Brown on The Dick Van Dyke Show In 1962 Erdman had a recurring role as Klugie the photographer in the shortlived Nick AdamsJohn Larkin NBC series Saints and Sinners