Allan Melvin

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Allan Melvin (born February 18, 1922) is an American actor with a long history of sitcom and voice-over work.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Melvin began his career on television as a prolific character actor in the 1950s and 1960s. He often played a slightly loud, occasionally abrasive, but generally friendly second banana. TV fans of this era usually remember him best as Corporal Henshaw, Sergeant Bilko's right hand man on The Phil Silvers Show; or for his numerous appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show, usually (though not always) portraying Rob Petrie's old army buddy Sol Pomerantz. Melvin was also adept at 'tough guy' roles; in an example of his range as an actor, one episode of Sergeant Bilko featured Melvin doing a recognizable impersonation of Humphrey Bogart.

Later in the 1960s, he played Staff Sgt. Charley Hacker for four seasons on Gomer Pyle, USMC, and provided the voice of the cartoon character Magilla Gorilla.

Melvin also made eight guest appearances on The Andy Griffith Show in eight different roles, ranging from an Army recruiting sergeant in "Ernest T. Bass Joins the Army", to a hotel detective in "Andy and Barney in the Big City" to a performance in "Barney's Uniform" as a grocery store worker who menaces Barney Fife (Don Knotts) after receiving a ticket for littering. Melvin also guest-starred in Mayberry R.F.D. as a bully who challenged mild-mannered county clerk Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson) for the affection of waitress Millie Swanson (Arlene Golonka).

For those who came of age during the 1970s and 1980s, Melvin arguably best remembered for supporting roles he played on two very different sitcoms of these decades; he played Sam Franklin, the owner of a local meat shop and boyfriend of Alice Nelson (the Bradys' housekeeper) on The Brady Bunch, and Barney Hefner, Archie Bunker's neighbor and friend on All in the Family. In another contribution to 1970s pop culture, as a voice artist (and under the name "Al Melvin"), he provided several characters' voices for the TV show H.R. Pufnstuf.

Some of his most prolific work has been in television commercials, for products as diverse as Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes and Remington electric razors.

Since Archie Bunker's Place (the successor to All in the Family) went off the air in 1983, Melvin's work has been exclusively in the realm of cartoon voice-overs.

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