Character actors are often noticed but rarely identified. It's time to pay our respect to actor John Fiedler. You may not recognize his name, but his face and voice are indelible. This is...
james & kim's fun page tribute to
John Fiedler
1925-2005
Few character actors have both integrated so seamlessly into the fabric of our culture and yet made such a significant and noticeable contribution to it. John Fiedler made a habit of playing the mousy milquetoast buddy to the lead actors, yet his warmth and likeability always made him stand out. I can't think of another actor who has been in support of headliners in as many pivotal films as John Fiedler. Mr. Fiedler left us earlier this year with a generous oeuvre. The rest of this page is culled from other sources. If you wrote it and want it removed from here please write me. I just wanted to have as much as I could find in one place. All of the original sources are credited below.
Typical of busy character actors, John Fielder has made his face—and voice—recognizable to millions. Many would know the bald-pated Fiedler as therapy patient Mr. Peterson on TV's "The Bob Newhart Show"; others might first recognize him for the 1968 movie and spin-off TV series "The Odd Couple" (or perhaps even from the Broadway play that preceded them). Even kids would know that helium-high voice from animated Disney features like "Robin Hood," "The Fox and the Hound" and the "Winnie the Pooh" stories in which he voices Piglet. The son of an Irish-German beer salesman, Fiedler knew he wanted to be an actor from the childhood days when he had a full head of reddish-yellow hair. He made his first professional appearances on stage, branched out into live TV in New York and then, during the 20 years he lived in Hollywood (1960-80), turned up in many films and an ever greater number of popular TV series. He now resides in Brooklyn, New York.
source: the Internet Movie Database
Anyone who's ever seen John Fielder remembers him as he's one of those unique types you never forget. Small in stature, slight in physique, balding with a quizzical, bespectacled face and a high pitched voice he was most often cast as Casper Milquetoast-Walter Mitty types. Born on February 3, 1925 in Platteville, Wisconsin, his family moved to Milwaukee when he was 7. After graduation from high school he served a term in the Navy and when his hitch was terminated he spent two years at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. He graduated from there in 1947 and worked in stock companies and in television in its early days. His TV debut was in 1950 on the "Henry Aldrich" series and he alternated between off-Broadway and Broadway shows and television. He made his film debut in 1957 in the classic film "12 Angry Men" as Juror # 2 and he shone in a brilliant ensemble cast. Among his other film credits were: "Stage Struck" (1958) as Adrian; "A Raisin in the Sun" (1961) as Mark Lindner; "That Touch of Mink" (1962) as Mr. Smith; "The World of Henry Orient" (1964) as Sidney; "A Fine Madness" (1966) as Daniel K. Papp; "Fitzwilly" (1967) as Mr. Morton Dunne; "The Ballad of Josie" (1967) as Simpson; and one of my favorites "The Odd Couple" (1968) as Vinnie, Felix & Oscar's pal; "True Grit" (1969) with John Wayne, as Lawyer J. Noble Dagett; "Making It" (1971) as Ames; "Skyjacked" (1972) as Robert Grandig; "Cannonball Run" (1981) as Desk Clerk; "Sharkey's Machine" (1981) as Barrett; "Seize the Day" (1986) as Carl and "Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin" (1997) as voice of Piglet. On TV he was best known as Mr. (Emil) Peterson on "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972-78) but he was also a regular on "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" (1954-56) as Cadet Alfie Higgins; "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" (1974-75) as Gordy Spangler; "Buffalo Bill" starring Dabney Coleman, as Woody and the soap "One Life to Live" (1987) as Gilbert Lange. He appeared in many made for TV movies and guest starred on such series as: "Twilight Zone"; "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"; "Pete and Gladys"; "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis"; "The Fugitive"; Star Trek"; "The Munsters"; "Bewitched"; "Cheers" and "L.A. Law."
Kathleen Kettering's Interview with John Fiedler on 2/8/96
Q: I understand you attended the Neighborhood Playhouse.
JF: Yes I did.
Q: Do you feel that the training that you got there has been helpful to
your career?
JF: Oh, yeah. Not only did I learn a lot, but I made some good friends
there. Also they had showcases. Agents would come to see us. I got a
really good start there.
Q: Where did you go from there?
JF: I started working on stage and on the early days of television in New
York. It was done live and I did an awful lot of television. I also did
some films. My first film was 12 Angry Men.
Q: I heard that some of your live television was actually done at a
department store?
JF: It was done at Wannamakers, which is no longer there. They had some
rooms that were used for some of the very first television shows.
Q: What about 12 Angry Men? That's quite something, to be
in a classic in your very first film.
JF: Oh, yes, that's right.
Q: What was it like to work with that stellar cast? Were they all as
famous then, as they are now?
JF: No, maybe Henry Fonda and Ed Begley. The others weren't as well known.
It was my first film and many of the others had done television before
that.
Q: Did you know when you were making 12 Angry Men that
this film would be a classic?
JF: No, I had no idea. It was very innovative for it's time. As a matter
of fact, it did not do well when it first came out. It got great reviews,
but it didn't do well. Later, it was picked up in revivals and continues
to be popular.
Q: You've also been in True Grit, The Fortune,
and other films. Do you have any favorites?
JF: Not really. They all begin to blend together.
Q: In television you're probably best known as Mr. Peterson on the Bob
Newhart Show.
JF: Also, I was on Star Trek. As a matter of fact I get
more recognition from my appearance on Star Trek. Of
course, now Nick at Nite is rerunning the Bob Newhart Show
so I am getting more recognition from that now.
Q: You were also in Buffalo Bill.
JF: Yes, that was my favorite job. I thought that was a great show. They
just didn't give it a chance.
Q: Currently, you're doing a play in Washington, D.C. called The
Magnificent Yankee. How did you wind up getting involved with
that project?
JF: Well, we did it last summer in Williamstown and it was such a success
that we brought it [The Magnificent Yankee] here to Washington.
Q: I noticed that the audience recognized you when you came out on the
stage.
JF: Sometimes I even get a hand.
Q: Does anyone ever say to you, I know you from somewhere?
JF; I get it even more when they see me and hear my voice. They know my
voice. Sometimes they think they went to school with me.
Q: You're also the voice of Piglet in Winnie The Pooh.
Do you ever have children recognizing your voice?
JF: The parents often do because they've seen it [Winnie The Pooh]with
their children. The children don't realize that somebody did that voice.
Q: You've been doing, that since the 60's haven't you?
JF: Yes. They've never done a full-length feature before. About six months
ago I recorded sections for the full-length feature.
Q: Since you've done films, television, and stage, could you please tell
what is required of the actor in the different mediums?
JF: They really are different mediums. In theatre you're on a stage and
you really need to project. In television, for instance on a soap opera,
there's no need to project as much. Now, on films, it's hard to explain.
The director has the power to turn your performance into anything he
wants. When you're on the stage it's out of the director's hands. The
director can help guide you but once you're out there, you're responsible
for what happens.
Q: Do you find that there's a difference in the level of training between
stage actors and television actors?
JF: I think you're better off if you start out on the stage because you
learn the role from start to finish. Now stage actors often have trouble
going to television because you have to not do it so broad. You have to
play it more like real life. You play it larger on stage because you're
projecting out into the audience.
Q: Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to become actors?
JF: I think they should get training. Whether that should be a class or
whatever they can do.
Q: Well, thank you for your time.
JF: Thank you
source: DC, Maryland and Virginia Arts
John Fiedler's Bio Provided by Courtesy of Farpoint, Inc. and Kathleen Kettering
John Fiedler is best known to us as Mr. Hengist, the city administrator, from the classic Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold". In addition to threatening the crew of the Enterprise with destruction, dropping dead and coming back to life he has had a long and prolific career. He has played roles in television, films and the theatre.
His film debut was in 12 Angry Men. He has appeared in 37 other movies, including Sharkey's Machine, True Grit, The World of Henry Orient, Kiss Me Stupid, A Fine Madness, Fitzwilly, The Shaggy D.A., Harper Valley, P.T.A., Cannonball Run, Skyjacked, Rascal, The Fortune, That Touch of Mink, Savannah Smiles, I Am The Cheese, That Kind of Woman and Stagestruck. His T.V. movies include, Seize the Day, Double Indemnity, Bad Ronald, The Black Dahlia and Woman of the Year. His T.V movie roles also included the Wide World of Disney movies The Mystery of Dracula's Castle and Alvin the Magnificent. He has done voiceovers for many T.V. and radio commercials. His most famous voiceover work has to be the voice of Piglet in the Walt Disney cartoons of Winnie the Pooh. Voices in other Disney productions include The Rescuers, Robin Hood and The Fox and the Hound.
He has not been a slouch when it comes to television, either. He made regular appearances as Mr. Peterson on The Bob Newhart Show, Woody on Buffalo Bill and Virgil/Gilbert on the A.B.C. soap One Life to Live. His other television appearances include roles on The Golden Girls, Cheers, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, L.A. Law, Bewitched, Get Smart, Gunsmoke, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Doris Day Show, Cannon, Night Stalker, Alice, Phyllis, Quincy, The Rockford Files, Fantasy Island, Vegas, B.J. and the Bear and Tales of the Darkside.
John's theatre experience includes a role in the Broadway and film productions of A Raisin in the Sun plus a revival in New York at the Roundabout Theatre which was taped for American Playhouse on P.B.S. He was also in the original Broadway and film productions of The Odd Couple plus two appearances on the T.V. show. His other theatre roles include Al Lewis in The Sunshine Boys with Pat Paulsen, Medvendko in The Sea Gull starring Montgomery Clift, Prof. Willard in Our Town starring Henry Fonda and Erwin in Three Men on a Horse at the Denver Theatre Center. He has appeared in the Broadway productions of Howie, One Eye Closed, Harold, The Happy Time and At War With The Army.
He has appeared at the National Actors Theatre in The Crucible with Martin Sheen and Michael York, and Little Hotel on the Side with Tony Randall and Lynn Redgrave. He is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse and a member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre, where he appeared in Shel Silverstein's The Crate, David Mamet's A Frog Prince and Richard Greenberg's Neptune's Hips.
source: DC, Maryland and Virginia Arts
Filmography
Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005) (voice) .... Piglet
Winnie the Pooh:
Springtime with Roo (2004) (V) .... Piglet
Piglet's Big Movie
(2003) (voice) .... Piglet
Mickey's House of
Villains (2002) (V) (voice) .... Piglet
Kingdom Hearts (2002)
(VG) (voice) .... Piglet
The
Book of Pooh: Fun with Friends (2001)
The
Book of Pooh: Fun with Words (2001)
House
of Mouse (2001) - Piglet (voice)
The
Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart (2001)
The
Tigger Movie (2000)
George
& Leo - John - The
Cameo Show (1997)
The
Golden Girls - Eddie - Love
Me Tender (1989)
Tales
from the Darkside - Arthur - The
Old Soft Shoe (1986)
Seize
the Day (1986)
Amazing
Stories - Man on Boat - Guilt
Trip (1985)
Winnie
the Pooh and Friends (1984)
I
Am the Cheese (1983)
Buffalo
Bill (1983) - Woodrow "Woody" Deschler
Hart
to Hart - Arnold - Harts
at High Noon (1982)
Cheers
- Fred - The
Tortelli Tort (1982)
Hart
to Hart - Arnold - With
This Hart, I Thee Wed (1982)
Savannah
Smiles (1982)
Sharky's
Machine (1981)
The
Fox and the Hound (1981)
The
Monkey Mission (1981)
The
Cannonball Run (1981)
The
Ropers - Bill Marsh - Your
Money or Your Life (1979)
The
Rockford Files - James Bond - The
Competitive Edge (1978)
Quincy,
M.E. - Unknown - Matters
of Life and Death (1978)
Three's
Company - Morris Morris - Jack
Looks For A Job (1977)
A
Harper Valley P.T.A. (1978)
The
Rescuers (1977)
The
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
Alice
- customer - Mel's
Happy Burger (1977)
Alice
- customer - Vera's
Mortician (1976)
Ark
II - Norman Funk - The
Cryogenic Man (1976)
The
Shaggy D.A. (1976)
Who
Is the Black Dahlia? (1975)
The
Fortune (1975)
Bad
Ronald (1974)
Winnie
the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974)
Robin
Hood (1973)
Double
Indemnity (1973)
The
Bob Newhart Show (1972) - Emil Peterson
The
Deathmaster (1972)
Skyjacked
(1972)
Honky
(1971)
Making
it (1971)
Cannon
- Brent - Flight
Plan (1971)
Bewitched
- Spengler - Three
Men and a Witch on a Horse (1971)
Bewitched
- Sunshine - Turn
on the Old Charm (1970)
Suppose
They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970)
Get
Smart - Felix - Age
Before Duty (1969)
Bewitched
- Bliss, Jr. - Darrin
the Warlock (2) (1969)
Bewitched
- Bliss, Jr. - Daddy
Comes for a Visit (1) (1969)
Bewitched
- Mr. Beams - Marriage,
Witches' Style (1969)
True
Grit (1969)
The
Great Bank Robbery (1969)
Rascal
(1969)
Bewitched:
Marriage, Witch's Style (1969)
Bewitched:
Daddy Comes to Visit (1969)
Bewitched:
Darrin the Warlock (1969)
The
Odd Couple (1968)
Winnie
the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
The
Ballad of Josie (1968)
Get
Smart - Mr. Hercules - Classification:
Dead (1967)
Star
Trek - Hengist - Wolf
in The Fold (1967)
Bewitched
- Fergus - Nobody
But a Frog Knows How to Live (1967)
Star
Trek 36: Wolf in the Fold (1967)
Fitzwilly
(1967)
Bewitched:
Nobody But a Frog Knows How to Live (1967)
A
Fine Madness (1966)
That
Girl - Mr. Merriman - Christmas
and the Hard-Luck Kid (1966)
Girl
Happy (1965)
Guns
of Diablo (1964)
Kiss
Me, Stupid! (1964)
The
World of Henry Orient (1964)
The
Munsters - mailman - My
Fair Munster (1964)
The
Fugitive (1963) - Sam Reed - The
End Game (1964)
My
Favorite Martian - Professor Jenning - Man
or Amoeba (1963)
Bonanza:
Rich Man, Poor Man (1963)
That
Touch of Mink (1962)
Twilight
Zone: Cavender is Coming (1962)
The
Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Malcolm Stuart - I
Saw the Whole Thing (1962)
Alfred
Hitchcock Presents - Amos Duff - The
Last Remains (1962)
Thriller
- Herbert Bleake - A
Wig For Miss Devore (1962)
A
Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Alfred
Hitchcock Presents - Leon Gorwald - Incident
in a Small Jail (1961)
The
Twilight Zone - Mr. Dundee - Night
of the Meek (1960)
Twilight
Zone, Vol. 15 (1960)
Stage
Struck (1957)
12
Angry Men (1957)
sources: TVTome and Blockbuster
John Fiedler : Biography
This stage-trained veteran character player has had
a long and varied career playing mousy little men in films and TV
since the late 1940s. Short, plump, often bespectacled and
perpetually balding, Fiedler has a look that defies the ravages of
time. Somehow never truly young, he can never really grow old.
Fiedler could just have easily played many of his 50s roles in the
70s and vice versa. Often ridiculous or flustered, he segues
smoothly between drama and comedy playing inoffensive Milquetoasts
and unctuous men of petty authority. In addition, his distinctive
vocal squeak (sort of like Sterling Holloway with a higher, whinier
edge) makes him a memorable voice actor in animated films and TV
specials. (He proved a pleasantly pragmatic Piglet in several
Disney-produced Winnie the Pooh outings.) Fiedler may still be best
known as the nervous and ineffectual Mr. Peterson, one of Dr.
Hartley's more likable patients for five seasons (1973-78) of
"The Bob Newhart Show", a classic CBS sitcom. Hardcore TV
buffs, especially aficionados of sci-fi, fantasy and horror, will
recall him from guest shots on "The Twilight Zone"—on the
entries "Night of the Meek" (CBS, 12/23/60) as the boss of
Art Carney's drunken department store Santa Claus and "Cavender
is Coming" (CBS, 5/25/62) as one of the supervisor of Carol
Burnett's guardian angel—and a "Star Trek" episode
entitled "Wolf in the Fold" as an official investigating
Scotty's possible involvement in a series of Jack the Ripper-like
murders. Fiedler also had a recurring role on "Kolchack: The
Night Stalker" (ABC, 1974-75) as Gordon (aka "Gordy the
Ghoul") Spangler, a helpful morgue attendant. Theater devotees
may first think of Fiedler as Karl Lindner, the only
non-African-American character in Lorraine Hansberry's landmark
drama "A Raisin in the Sun". He was the formal little
fellow from a neighborhood "improvement association" who
arrives at the apartment of the Youngers, a Black family planning to
relocate into his middle-class, mostly white area, offering a
substantial sum if they do not become his new neighbors. Fiedler
would recreate this role in the 1961 feature version, the 1986
off-Broadway revival, the 1986 Kennedy Center production in
Washington, DC, the 1987 touring company production and the 1989
"American Playhouse" production on PBS. One could say that
Fiedler has "dibs" on the role. Fiedler entered films in a
classic drama of the NYC "realist" school, Sidney Lumet's
"Twelve Angry Men" (1957). He was Juror Number 2, an
unassuming bank clerk not used to formulating his own opinions. Many
feature roles followed throughout the 60s with such credits as Billy
Wilder's underrated "Kiss Me, Stupid", "The World of
Henry Orient" (both 1964), "The Odd Couple" (1968)
and "True Grit" (1969). Fiedler focused on family
entertainment in the 70s including voice work in the Disney animated
features "The Rescuers" (1977) and "The Fox and the
Hound" (1981). He remained busy on stage throughout his career,
even becoming a member of New York's Ensemble Studio Theatre in the
80s and appearing in a 1996 off-Broadway production of Oscar Wilde's
"The Importance of Being Earnest" directed by Tony Walton.