Richard Erdman

Richard Erdman was an American actor.

An Oklahoma native, Erdman moved to Los Angeles in 1941, enrolling in Hollywood High School. He was offered a contract with Warner Bros. studios, where he made numerous films, including Mr. Skeffington (with Bette Davis), the star-studded Hollywood Canteen, and The Time of Your Life (with James Cagney).

Other significant film appearances include The Men (which marked the film debut of Marlon Brando), Cry Danger (with Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming), Stalag 17 (with William Holden), and Tora! Tora! Tora! (with Martin Balsam and Jason Robards).

Erdman’s television work includes roles on episodes of Make Room for Daddy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Perry Mason, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Gomer Pyle, USMC, Hogan’s Heroes, I Dream of Jeannie, The Beverly Hillbillies, Love, American Style, The Six Million Dollar Man, One Day at a Time, Lou Grant, Cheers, Murder, She Wrote, Wings, Beverly Hills 90210, and Judging Amy.

In a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone, “A Kind of Stopwatch,” he starred as Patrick McNulty, a boorish man who causes trouble when he’s given a stopwatch that can stop time.

Erdman did voice work for numerous animated projects such as The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo and Duck Tales.

Younger audiences know Erdman as Leonard, one of the elderly students at Greendale Community College on Community, which ran on NBC and Yahoo from 2009-15.

Erdman died March 16, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. He was 93.