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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
February 14, 1916
Died
March 19, 1974
Place of Birth
Staten Island, New York, USA
Also Known As
- Ed Platt
- Edward C. Platt
- Edward Cuthbert Platt
Edward Platt
0.6 Popularity
Biography
Forever and fondly remembered as Don Adams' foil on the popular Mel Brooks/Buck Henry spy series Get Smart (1965), character actor Ed Platt (also billed as Edward C. Platt) had been around for two decades prior to copping that rare comedy role. Born in Staten Island, New York, on Valentine's Day, 1916, he inherited an appreciation of music on his mother's side. He spent a part of his childhood in Kentucky and in upstate New York where he attended Northwood, a private school in Lake Placid, and was a member of the ski jump team. He majored in romantic languages at Princeton University but left a year later to study at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati after his thoughts turned to a possible operatic career. He later was accepted into Juilliard. Instead of opera, however, Ed first became a band vocalist with Paul Whiteman and Orchestra. He then sang bass as part of the Mozart Opera Company in New York. With the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company in 1942, he appeared in the operettas "The Mikado," "The Gondoliers" and "The Pirates of Penzance". WWII interrupted his early career. Ed served as a radio operator with the army and would find himself on radio again in the post-war years where his deep, resonant voice proved ideal. A number of musical comedy roles also came his way again. In 1947, he made it to Broadway with the musical "Allegro." Star José Ferrer took an interest in Ed while they both were appearing in "The Shrike" on Broadway in 1952. Around 1953, Edward moved to Texas to be near his brother and began anchoring the local news and kiddie birthday party show called "Uncle Eddie's Kiddie Party." Ferrer remembered Platt and invited him to Hollywood where Ferrer was starring in the film version of The Shrike (1955). Ed recreated his stage role. He also earned fine notices as James Dean's understanding juvenile officer in the classic film Rebel Without a Cause (1955). This led to a plethora of film and TV support offers where the balding actor made fine use of his dark, rich voice, stern intensity and pragmatic air, portraying a slew of professional and shady types in crime yarns, soap dramas and war pictures -- everything from principals and prosecutors to mobsters and murderers. After years of playing it serious, which included stints on the daytime drama General Hospital (1963), Ed finally was able to focus on comedy as "The Chief" to Don Adams klutzy secret agent on Get Smart (1965), a show that inevitably found a cult audience. Picking up a few occasional guest spots in its aftermath, he later tried producing. Twice married and the father of four, Platt died on March 19, 1974. Death was attributed to a massive heart attack at the time. Years later his son revealed that his father, suffering from acute depression and undergoing severe financial pressures, committed suicide at his Santa Monica, California apartment. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.ne
Known For
0.0
Julius Nero
The Female Instinct
1972
🎬
5.0
Senator Bradley
Temperatures Rising
1972
6.3
Caldwell
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
1971
7.8
Bill Donnelly
The Odd Couple
1970
6.0
Love, American Style
1969
6.5
Self
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968
0.0
Chief
Get Smart: A Man Called Smart
1967
7.5
Gen. Thomas
Johnny Shiloh
1965
0.0
The Judge
The Further Adventures of Gallegher
1965
7.9
Thaddeus
Get Smart
1965
Credits
The Female Instinct
as Julius Nero
1972
0.0
🎬
Temperatures Rising
as Senator Bradley
1972
5.0
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
as Caldwell
1971
6.3
The Odd Couple
as Bill Donnelly
1970
7.8
Love, American Style
1969
6.0
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
as Self
1968
6.5
Get Smart: A Man Called Smart
as Chief
1967
0.0
Johnny Shiloh
as Gen. Thomas
1965
7.5
The Further Adventures of Gallegher
as The Judge
1965
0.0
Get Smart
as Thaddeus
1965
7.9
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
as Morgan
1964
7.8
Bullet for a Badman
as Tucker
1964
6.2
Petticoat Junction
as General Patterson
1963
5.8
Burke's Law
as Capt. Frank Metcalfe
1963
6.0
Temple Houston
1963
5.7
The Outer Limits
as Dean Radcliffe
1963
7.8
The Outer Limits
as Mr. Terrence
1963
7.8
The Outer Limits
as David Hunt (as Edward C. Platt)
1963
7.8
Arrest and Trial
as Judge Kenneth W. Browne
1963
7.7
Arrest and Trial
as Judge Phillips
1963
7.7
Arrest and Trial
as Judge
1963
7.7
Arrest and Trial
as Superior Court Judge
1963
7.7
A Ticklish Affair
as Captain Haven Hitchcock
1963
5.7
Black Zoo
as Chief Rivers
1963
5.6
🎬
General Electric True
1962
0.0
The Virginian
as Stuart Brynmar
1962
6.5
Saints and Sinners
as Dr. Gates
1962
6.0
Cape Fear
as Judge
1962
7.4
The Explosive Generation
as Mr. Morton
1961
5.3
The Dick Van Dyke Show
as Lou Gregory
1961
7.4
Dr. Kildare
as Dr. Tom Paulson
1961
5.5
Who Killed Julie Greer?
as Joe Nolan
1961
0.0
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
as Azor the High Priest
1961
5.2
🎬
The Fiercest Heart
as Madrigo
1961
5.0
Surfside 6
1960
5.0
Thriller
as James Weeks
1960
6.4
Pollyanna
as Ben Tarbell
1960
7.0
Cash McCall
as Harrison Glenn
1960
6.0
Mr. Lucky
1959
6.4
Hawaiian Eye
1959
5.2
The Twilight Zone
as Doctor
1959
8.4
Bonanza
as Harvey Buford
1959
7.5
Bonanza
as Wade Colly
1959
7.5
The Deputy
as Noah Harper
1959
6.2
Inside the Mafia
as Dan Regent
1959
5.0
North by Northwest
as Victor Larrabee
1959
8.0
The Rebel Set
as Mr. Tucker / Mr. T
1959
2.8
They Came to Cordura
as Col. DeRose
1959
6.6
The Lawless Years
1959
7.0
One Step Beyond
as Will Denning
1959
5.6
Rawhide
1959
7.2
Rawhide
as Jason Clark
1959
7.2
Destination Space
as Dr. Easton (as Edward C. Platt)
1959
4.2
77 Sunset Strip
1958
6.7
77 Sunset Strip
as Mr. Jacobin
1958
6.7
Bat Masterson
as Roy Evens
1958
6.1
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958
5.8
The Rifleman
1958
7.0
Bronco
1958
5.2
Peter Gunn
1958
6.5
Gunman's Walk
as Purcell Avery
1958
6.7
The Last of the Fast Guns
as Sam Grypton
1958
5.2
The High Cost of Loving
as Eli Cave
1958
5.7
Summer Love
as Dr. Thomas Daley
1958
5.0
Damn Citizen
as Joseph Kosta (as Edward C. Platt)
1958
0.0
The Gift of Love
as Dr. Jim Miller
1958
7.2
Oregon Passage
as Roland Dane
1957
4.6
Trackdown
1957
6.4
Trackdown
as Adam Madson
1957
6.4
Trackdown
as George Mason
1957
6.4
The Helen Morgan Story
as Johnny Haggerty
1957
5.2
Alcoa Theatre
as Lieutenant
1957
6.5
Perry Mason
as Cmdr. Driscoll
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Tom Stratton
1957
7.7
Wagon Train
as Spinoza de Costa
1957
6.3
Wagon Train
as Cyrus Bolton
1957
6.3
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
7.4
House of Numbers
as The Warden
1957
5.3
Omar Khayyam
as Jayhan
1957
5.0
Designing Woman
as Martin J. Daylor
1957
6.6
The Tattered Dress
as Ralph Adams, Reporter (as Edward C. Platt)
1957
5.6
The Unguarded Moment
as Attorney Briggs (as Edward C. Platt)
1956
6.2
The Great Man
as Dr. O'Conner (as Edward C. Platt)
1956
5.2
Rock, Pretty Baby
as Thomas Daley Sr.
1956
3.0
Reprisal!
as Neil Shipley
1956
7.2
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Sheriff Galt
1956
5.5
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Marshall Mays
1956
5.5
West Point
1956
5.0
Wire Service
as Palmer
1956
0.0
Written on the Wind
as Dr. Paul Cochrane
1956
6.9
State Trooper
as Stanley Andrews
1956
5.0
State Trooper
as John Wilbur Mason
1956
5.0
Storm Center
as Rev. Wilson
1956
6.4
The Proud Ones
as Dr. Barlow
1956
6.4
Serenade
as Everett Carter
1956
5.5
Backlash
as Sheriff J.C. Marson
1956
6.4
The Steel Jungle
as Judge Wahller
1956
5.3
The Lieutenant Wore Skirts
as Major Dunning - Psychiatrist
1956
5.5
Sincerely Yours
as Dr. Eubank (uncredited)
1955
5.8
Rebel Without a Cause
as Ray Fremick
1955
7.5
Illegal
as Ralph Ford
1955
6.4
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Mr. Henshaw
1955
7.7
Gunsmoke
as Mr. Burgess
1955
6.6
The Shrike
as Harry Downs (as Edward C. Platt)
1955
6.0
Cult of the Cobra
as Lamian Threatening Death (uncredited)
1955
6.0
The Wonderful World of Disney
as Judge (uncredited)
1954
7.8
The Wonderful World of Disney
as Lease Harris
1954
7.8
The Wonderful World of Disney
as General Thomas
1954
7.8
Studio 57
1954
0.0
Letter to Loretta
as Henry
1953
6.5
Letter to Loretta
as Sutter
1953
6.5
General Electric Theater
1953
6.3
Cavalcade of America
as Dr. Banner
1952
3.5
Cavalcade of America
1952
3.5
🎬
Four Star Playhouse
as Freddie
1952
6.3
🎬
Four Star Playhouse
as Chief of Police
1952
6.3
🎬
Four Star Playhouse
as Dr. Fain
1952
6.3
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Sparks
1951
7.3
I Was a Male War Bride
as Lieutenant in Gates' Office (uncredited)
1949
6.9