Description:
Congenial, mild-mannered Dick Sargent was a reliably bemused foil on film and TV for nearly four decades. He was born Richard Cox on April 19, 1930 in Carmel, California. His mother, Ruth McNaughton, was a minor actress who went by the stage name of "Ruth Powell"; his father, Colonel Elmer Cox, served in WWI and later became a business manager to such Hollywood alumni as Douglas Fairbanks and Erich von Stroheim. Dick attended the San Rafael Military Academy in Menlo Park, California before majoring in drama at Stanford University.
He finally got his career rolling debuting in an uncredited role in the movie Prisoner
Congenial, mild-mannered Dick Sargent was a reliably bemused foil on film and TV for nearly four decades. He was born Richard Cox on April 19, 1930 in Carmel, California. His mother, Ruth McNaughton, was a minor actress who went by the stage name of "Ruth Powell"; his father, Colonel Elmer Cox, served in WWI and later became a business manager to such Hollywood alumni as Douglas Fairbanks and Erich von Stroheim. Dick attended the San Rafael Military Academy in Menlo Park, California before majoring in drama at Stanford University.
He finally got his career rolling debuting in an uncredited role in the movie Prisoner of War (1954) starring Ronald Reagan. Using the stage moniker "Richard Sargent", he would build up a reliable resume over the years on TV both in drama and comedy including work on "Gunsmoke" (1955), "Wagon Train" (1957), "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965) and "Adam-12" (1968). Regular co-starring roles in the series "One Happy Family" (1961) and "Broadside" (1964) kept him busy if not memorably busy. Now known as "Dick Sargent", the actor was a friendly, dependable and well-admired performer but his work was often deemed ordinary and achromatic. On occasion, he would find more redeeming support work in such hit movie comedies as Operation Petticoat (1959) and That Touch of Mink (1962) both with Cary Grant, but ultimately mixed in would be a lot of forgettable nonsense such as Fluffy (1965) with Tony Randall, Billie (1965) starring Patty Duke, the Don Knotts vehicle The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), the Elvis Presley misfire Live a Little, Love a Little (1968), and the totally unfunny The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968) with Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller at their career nadir.
Too many of Dick's films fell into the fair to abysmal category. As a result, he never advanced into the upper echelon of star players. A big chance for stardom dissipated after being paired promisingly with Tammy Grimes on her TV show in 1966. There was no magic and it lasted just four weeks. Magic did occur, literally, a few years later. In 1969, Dick, who actually had been the original choice to play "Darrin Stephens" on the hit show "Bewitched" (1964), was given a second chance to play the bemused mortal husband of Elizabeth Montgomery. A chronic back pain finally necessitated the replacing of ailing Dick York. Sargent came in without a hitch and the switching of Darrins was done without any explanation at all. Dick's three seasons on the popular show made him a household face, if not a household name.
Dick continued on TV throughout the 1970s and 1980s with guest parts on "Taxi" (1978), "Alice" (1976), "Fantasy Island" (1977) and "Three's Company" (1977), and without a lot of fanfare. One of his better roles came in the form of George C. Scott's dramatic film Hardcore (1979). In the perpetually gloomy urban tale, which takes place in the seamy world of prostitution and pornography, Dick stands out as one of the film's not-so-reputable characters. He also played a role in another witch-themed story line called Teen Witch (1989). In between, he did voice work for commercials and performed occasionally on stage. In 1989, "the second Darrin" was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He later revealed to the world he was homosexual after tabloid papers began to refer to his serious illness as AIDS-related. Sargent died in 1994, having lived out his last few years openly and contentedly.
Trivia:
Dick appeared on the game show "Tattletales" (1974) with Fannie Flagg in the 1970s. Apparently they were dating at the time.
His father, Elmer Cox, was a World War I hero and a Hollywood business manager. His mother, Ruth McNaughton, was a film actress.
Sargent's companion from 1989-1994 was writer/producer Albert Williams.
His role on "Bewitched" (1964) was first offered to him in 1964, but he was under a contract with Universal Studios, so Dick York was hired instead. By the time an illness caused York to discontinue the role, Sargent was free enough to take over.
He was never married, but had a long-time companion whom he was with for 20 years before the man's death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1979. He had "manufactured" a wife to the press in the early productive days, to protect his career.
His grandfather, John McNaughton, founded Los Angeles's Union Stockyards.
Lived in Mexico and ran and import/export business in his early years. His love for Mexican art and culture stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Coincidentally, Sargent and Tammy Grimes were said to have been original choices for the roles of Darrin and Samantha Stephens during the initial casting of the pilot episode of "Bewitched" (1964) in 1964. Sargent bowed out due to a contractual commitment to Universal. Grimes also had contractual problems. Later, Sargent went on to play Tammy's brother on her short-lived series "The Tammy Grimes Show" (1966) in 1966. Grimes' lead character's name happened to be Tamantha.
By chance became a "retroactive role model" for gays when he outed himself in 1991, after decades of keeping his personal life hidden. Suffering from prostate cancer, Sargent was compelled by a tabloid article indicating he had AIDS to "come out" and set the record straight, for which he received considerable public support. In 1992, his old friend and ex-TV wife, Elizabeth Montgomery, joined him as a co-Grand Marshall of the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. It was their last appearance together.
Remembered by many for his role as the second "Darren Stevens" in "Bewitched" (1964).
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Tags: Gay (1), Actor (1), Deceased (1), Film Actor (1), Aries (1), Tv Actor (1), Born 1930 (1), Stanford University (1), Bewitched (1), Died 1994 (1), Stanford (1), Died Aged 64 (1), Born In California (1), Born April 19 (1), Retroactive Role Model (1)
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