Edward Platt

This article is about the American actor. For the English author, see Edward Platt (author). For the English professional footballer, see Ted Platt.

Edward Platt
Born	Edward Cuthbert Platt (1916-02-14)February 14, 1916 Staten Island, New York, U.S.
Died	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Years active	1949 – 1974
Spouse(s)	Suzanne Belcher (m. 1954–74) (his death) (3 children)

Edward Cuthbert Platt (February 14, 1916 – March 19, 1974) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of "The Chief" in the 1965-70 NBC/CBS television series Get Smart. With his deep voice and mature countenance, he played an eclectic mix of characters over the span of his career.

Stage, film, and television career

Platt was born in Staten Island, New York and studied at the Juilliard School. He attended Princeton University but left after his freshman year.

A powerful bass-baritone, he debuted on Broadway in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Allegro. José Ferrer, who performed with Platt in the Broadway play The Shrike, helped Platt land his first film role in the 1955 film version. Also in 1955, he appeared in Rebel Without a Cause starring James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. Platt returned to Broadway in 1958 with the musical Oh, Captain! playing a romantic role. In 1959, he played Cary Grant's attorney in North by Northwest. In 1959, Platt starred in the movie The Rebel Set, which was "riffed" by the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Platt also appeared in episodes of the original Perry Mason, State Trooper (in the episode "Who Killed Doc Robbins"), Men into Space (in the episode "From Another World"), Bonanza, "The Rifleman", Rawhide, Whispering Smith, The Outer Limits (in the first season episode " The Man with the Power"), The Dick Van Dyke Show (in "A Nice Friendly Game Of Cards"), and The Twilight Zone.

His most famous role was the regular role of "Chief" in the espionage parody television series Get Smart (1965–1970). After the series ended he played a recurring role in situation comedy series The Governor & J.J. in 1970. He had guest roles in several other television series of the era, mostly comedies. These included Temperatures Rising, Bewitched, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, Love, American Style, The Odd Couple as Oscar Madison's boss in episode Oscar's New Life.

Platt appeared as Sotto Voce in the 1969 KCET television reading of Norman Corwin's 1938 radio play The Plot to Overthrow Christmas.

Work as producer

In 1973, Platt raised the money to produce one of the very first independent color motion pictures shot entirely on videotape: Santee, starring Glenn Ford. Platt saw the advantages of using videotape over film, and his crew shot the production with electronic TV cameras and portable VTRs, then had the images transferred to film for theatrical release. The movie was not commercially successful.

Death

On March 19, 1974, Platt's body was found in his apartment; the actor was reported to have died of an apparent heart attack. However, one of his sons confirmed that Platt committed suicide in 1974 after two previous attempts while suffering from an undiagnosed and untreated depression that was further sparked by financial troubles. It is also said that Platt's Get Smart (1965) co-star, Don Adams, knew the real cause of death. He left four children from two marriages and a brother living in Santa Barbara, California. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1949	I Was a Male War Bride	Lieutenant in Gates's Office	Uncredited
1955	The Shrike	Harry Downs
	Cult of the Cobra	Snake cult priest
	Rebel Without a Cause	Ray Fremick
	Illegal	Ralph Ford
1956	The Lieutenant Wore Skirts	Major Dunning
	Backlash	Sheriff J.C. Marson	Credited as Edward C. Platt
	The Great Man	Dr. O'Connor
	The Proud Ones	Dr. Barlow
	Storm Center	Rev. Wilson
	Written on the Wind	Dr. Paul Cochrane
1957	Omar Khayyam	Jayhan
	Designing Woman	Martin J. Daylor
1958	The Last of the Fast Guns	Sam Grypton	Credited as Edward C. Platt
1959	The Rebel Set	Mr. Tucker / Mr. T
	They Came to Cordura	Col. DeRose
	North by Northwest	Victor Larrabee
1959-64	The Twilight Zone	The Doctor	Episode: A Hundred Yards Over the Rim
1960	Cash McCall	Harrison Glenn
	Pollyanna	Ben Tarbell
	Men into Space	Dr. Luraski	TV Show
1961	The Explosive Generation	Mr. Morton
	Atlantis, the Lost Continent	Azar the High Priest
1962	Cape Fear	Judge
1963	A Ticklish Affair	Captain Haven Hitchcock
	Johnny Shiloh	General Thomas
	Black Zoo	Detective Rivers
1965	The Man from Button Willow	The Man In The Black Cape
1965-70	Get Smart	Chief of CONTROL	TV Show
1970	The Odd couple	Oscar's Boss

External links

• Edward Platt at the Internet Movie Database
• Edward Platt at the Internet Broadway Database
• Edward Platt at Find a Grave
• "Chief" places 6th on Great Secondary TV Characters list