Quick Facts
Biography
Sandy Kenyon (born Sanford Klein, August 5, 1922 – February 20, 2010) was an American voice-over artist and character actor of film and television. He is perhaps best known for voicing Jon Arbuckle in the first Garfield animated television special, Here Comes Garfield.
Career
Among the many television series in which he guest starred are the westerns: The Rifleman, Colt .45, Yancy Derringer, Have Gun-Will Travel, The Tall Man, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza.
In 1960, Kenyon was cast as a pre-presidential Abraham Lincoln in the episode "No Bridge on the River" of the NBC western series, Riverboat. In the story line, Grey Holden (Darren McGavin) sues the railroad when his vessel, the Enterprise, strikes a rail bridge atop the Mississippi River on a dark, stormy night; Lincoln is the attorney representing the railroad. Tyler McVey is cast as a judge and Denver Pyle as Jim Bledsoe.
In 1961, Kenyon was cast in the role of Ritter on The Americans, a 17-episode NBC series about how the American Civil War divided families.
In the 1963-1964 season, Kenyon was cast as Shep Baggott in a recurring role in five episodes of the ABC western series, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, with child actor Kurt Russell in the title role.
Other series in which Kenyon appeared include: Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Room for One More, All in the Family, The Dick Van Dyke Show (including the 2004 reunion special "159th Episode"), That Girl, The Partridge Family, Hogan's Heroes (1966, episode: "The 43rd, a Moving Story" as Major Hans Kuehn), Adam-12, Kung Fu, Peter Gunn, Quincy M.E., Knots Landing, Designing Women and The Twilight Zone.
In the film MacArthur (1977), he portrays General Jonathan M. Wainwright, who survived spending most of World War II in a Japanese POW camp. His other films included Al Capone (1959), Easy Come, Easy Go (1967), Tom Sawyer (1973), Breezy (1973), When Time Ran Out (1980), The Loch Ness Horror (1981), Lifepod (1981), and Down on Us (1989).
Voice roles
- Here Comes Garfield (1982) - Jon Arbuckle
- The Jetsons (1985) - Additional Voices
- The Romance of Betty Boop (1985) - Uncle Mischa Bubbles
- Bobby's World (1990) - Additional Voices
- Garfield and Friends (1994) - Jon Arbuckle
Stage productions
Kenyon performed in a flop production of Edna St. Vincent Millay's Conversation at Midnight on Broadway in 1954, which ran for 8 previews and four performances, and also appeared in regional theatre in Los Angeles.
Death
Kenyon died at the age of 87 at his home in Los Angeles.