Richard Deacon

Richard Deacon was an American character actor best known for Mel Cooley — the beleaguered, bald producer perpetually tormented by Buddy Sorrell — on The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS, 1961–1966) and for Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver (CBS/ABC, 1957–1963). He was gay and his identity was known to Hollywood colleagues, but like virtually every performer of his era in network television, he never publicly addressed it. He died of a heart attack in 1984.