Stephen Elliott (actor)

Elliott Pershing Stitzel (November 27, 1918 – May 21, 2005), better known by his stage name Stephen Elliott, was an American actor. His best known roles were that of the prospective father-in-law, Burt Johnson, in the hit 1981 film Arthur and as Chief Hubbard in the 1984 blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop.

Theatre
From 1940 to 1942, Elliott studied acting with Sanford Meisner at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. After serving in World War II with the United States Merchant Marine, he started a successful career on Broadway with his debut in Shakespeare's The Tempest; two years later, Elliott was selected by Robert Lewis to be one of The Actors Studio's founding members.

In 1967, Elliott was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Marat/Sade. Two years later, he won the Drama Desk Award for A Whistle in the Dark. Additional Broadway credits include King Lear, The Miser, Georgy, The Crucible, and The Creation of the World and Other Business.

Television
Elliott's television credits include the role of Jane Wyman's first husband, newspaper publisher Douglas Channing, in Falcon Crest, General Padget in Columbo, Harold W. Smith in the 1988 television adaptation of Remo Williams, Texan millionaire attorney Scotty Demarest in Dallas, and Judge Harold Aldrich in Chicago Hope. He also appeared in the "Murder! Murder!" episode of The Eddie Capra Mysteries. In 1981 he had a small role as the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in the TV serial Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years. Elliott appeared in Highway To Heaven  episodes "Thoroughbreds: Part 1" and "Thoroughbreds: Part 2" with Helen Hunt and Michael Landon 1985. He was a member of the regular cast of the short-lived 1988 situation comedy Trial and Error.

Radio
In 1981, Elliott played the role of Bail Organa, father of Princess Leia, in the radio drama adaptation of Star Wars.

Personal life
Elliott was born Elliott Pershing Stitzel in New York City. His marriage to Barbara Blaise was terminated by divorce in February 1947, according to The Kingston Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY), 4 October 1947, page 3. He married stage actress Nancy Chase on 9 October 1947 (Billboard, 18 October 1947, p. 47) and divorced in 1960. They had two children, Jency and Jon.

He married his third wife, actress Alice Hirson, in 1980; they met on Broadway in 1964. Hirson appeared for several seasons in a recurring role as Mavis Anderson, close friend of Ellie Ewing Farlow, on the television series Dallas, although her character never interacted with Elliot’s Scotty Demerest.

Elliott died in 2005 in Woodland Hills, California as result of congestive heart failure.

Partial filmography

 * Monodrama Theater (DuMont TV series, 1953)
 * Three Hours to Kill (1954) - Sheriff Ben East
 * Canyon Crossroads (1955) - Larson
 * The Proud and Profane (1956)
 * Street of Sinners (1957) - Bit part
 * The Hospital (1971) - Dr. Sundstrom
 * Death Wish (1974) - Police Commissioner
 * The Gun (1974) - Art Hilliard
 * Report to the Commissioner (1975) - Police Commissioner
 * The Hindenburg (1975) - Captain Fellows
 * Columbo: A Deadly State of Mind (1975, TV Series) - Carl Donner
 * Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy (1977) - Joseph Kennedy Sr.
 * Hawaii Five-O (1978, Episode: "Deadly Courier") - Enslow
 * Dallas (1980-1987, TV Series) - Attorney Scotty Demarest
 * Cutter's Way (1981) - J. J. Cord
 * Arthur (1981) - Burt Johnson
 * My Body, My Child (1982) - Edgar
 * Prototype (1983, TV Movie) - Dr. Arthur Jarrett
 * Benson (1984) - Whitey Endicott
 * Beverly Hills Cop (1984) - Chief Hubbard
 * Roadhouse 66 (1985) - Sam
 * Murder, She Wrote: Armed Response (1985) - Dr. Sam
 * Assassination (1987) - Fitzroy
 * Perry Mason Movie: The Case of the Lost Love (1987, TV Series) - Elliot Moore
 * Walk Like a Man (1987) - Walter Welmont
 * Vultures (1987) - Theater Attendant
 * Trial and Error (1988, TV series) - Edmund Kittie
 * Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988) - Burt Johnson
 * Remo Williams: The Prophecy (1988) - Dr. Harold W. Smith
 * When He's Not a Stranger (1989, TV Movie) - Attorney Foster
 * Columbo: Grand Deceptions (1989, TV Series) - General Padget
 * Taking Care of Business (1990) - Walter
 * The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990, TV Movie) - Owen