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Harold Peary (born Harrold Jese Pereira de Faria, 25 July 1908 – 30 March 1985) was an American character actor. For Hanna-Barbera, he did various character voices for The Roman Holidays and Buford and the Galloping Ghost.
Biography[]
A talented singer as a child, Harold "Hal" Peary later went into radio in 1925. By 1929, he had his own radio show. He got his big break in 1935, when he was cast in the Fibber McGee and Molly show as Throckmorton Gildersleeve.
In 1939, Peary was making a personal appearance in a theatre promoting the Fibber McGee and Molly show and casually did what would be his trademark giggle. It caught on with the audience and Peary incorporated it into the Gildersleeve character. Peary eventually got his own radio show, The Great Gildersleeve, which debuted on 31 August 1941, and ran for 17 years. It was one of the longest-running comedy shows in radio history, leaving the air in 1958.
Peary left the Gildersleeve radio show in 1951. He went on to make numerous feature films, four of them based on the Great Gildersleeve radio show. His career in films tapered off by the 1950s, but he became busy in television and records in that decade. His last film appearance was in 1964, but TV appearances continued into the early 1970s.
External Links[]
- Harold Peary at the Internet Movie Database