Quick Facts
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Richard William Bull (June 26, 1924 – February 3, 2014) was an American film, stage and television actor. He was best known for his performance as "Doc" on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Nels Oleson on Little House on the Prairie.
Personal life
Bull was born on June 26, 1924 in Zion, Illinois. After years of living in Los Angeles, he moved back to Chicago in 1994 with his wife Barbara Collentine. Bull and Collentine, also 89, moved to the Motion Picture & Television Fund home from Chicago in September 2012.
Death
Bull died on the morning of February 3, 2014 at the Motion Picture Television Fund campus in Calabasas, California of pneumonia. He was 89 years old.
Career
Richard Bull began his stage career at the famous Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He said that a two-line part in The Greatest Story Ever Told "opened a lot of doors for me." Director George Stevens was impressed with Bull's emoting, and that "led directly to the role of an FBI agent in The Satan Bug," Bull said.
He made more than 100 film and TV appearances including: