Gale Gordon
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Gale Gordon (February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American actor.
Born Charles T. Aldrich Jr. in New York City, New York, his mother was actress Gloria Gordon. He got his break on radio, appearing as "Mayor La Trivia" on Fibber McGee and Molly , and played "Rumson Bullard" on The Great Gildersleeve. He then went on to originate the role of principal "Osgood Conklin" on the radio version of Our Miss Brooks and carried over the part onto television. He also appeared as "Rudolph Atterbury" on My Favorite Husband, Lucille Ball's radio program which was sort of a prequel to I Love Lucy.
Gordon was the first choice of Ball and Desi Arnaz for the part of "Fred Mertz" on I Love Lucy, but he was tied to his Our Miss Brooks role and was unable to leave it. The part of Fred went instead to William Frawley. When I Love Lucy ended, however, Ball created The Lucy Show, and Gordon joined her for that show's run.
Gordon also had co-star roles in Pete and Gladys and Dennis the Menace.
In 1999, Gale Gordon was inducted posthumously into the Radio Hall of Fame and for his contribution to radio, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Radio 6340 Hollywood Blvd.