- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRoger Lee Perry
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Fresh-faced, blue-eyed all-American looking Roger Perry was discovered by Lucille Ball and signed as a Desilu contract player, beginning his screen career in anthology television. An early chance for stardom came his way as the junior half of a father-and-son lawyer firm (the other half of the duo was played by Pat O'Brien) in Harrigan and Son (1960). A busy and versatile actor who had more talent than he was perhaps given credit for, Perry popped up in diverse genres throughout the 1960s. He notably had a guest role as the involuntarily time-travelling Air Force pilot John Christopher in Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967). Prior to his acting career in the early 50s, Perry had served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force.
His characters could be sized up on the odd occasion as shifty types, dopers or nervous weaklings, but more often as down-to-earth cops, doctors or middle echelon military types. No stranger to science fiction and horror, his better known roles included a devious alien masquerading as a magazine writer in The Prophet (1967) and a sympathetic physician in Count Yorga, Vampire (1970). The doctor tag stuck and Perry went on to play medicos in a couple of camp cult favorites: The Return of Count Yorga (1971) (in which his character hurls a vampire off a balcony to his doom) and The Thing with Two Heads (1972) (as a collaborator of the demented scientist in residence, played tongue-in-cheek by Ray Milland). He also enjoyed frequent guest spots on crime time TV (notably Ironside (1967) and The F.B.I. (1965)) and soap opera (Falcon Crest (1981)).
Perry sidelined as a composer and songwriter for Los Angeles theatre productions, including a mid-1980s musical version of George Bernard Shaw's 'You Never Can Tell', which featured his future wife, Joyce Bulifant.- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis
- SpousesJoyce Bulifant(2002 - July 12, 2018) (his death)Jo Anne Worley(May 11, 1975 - 2000) (divorced)Patricia Jane Bond(January 26, 1959 - 1965) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenDana Perry McNerneyChristopher Perry
- RelativesNick Perry(Sibling)
- First crossed paths with comic actress Jo Anne Worley when they were both Pasadena Playhouse troupe members circa 1958. They met up again as co-stars in the telefilm The Feminist and the Fuzz (1971) and became a couple, marrying in 1975. Perry's marriage to Worley was his second (of three) and longest marriage, lasting 25 years.
- Composer and songwriter; Barbra Streisand sang Perry's song, "A Kid Again", during her first TV special, My Name Is Barbra (1965). Perry also composed scores for L.A. theater productions of "Make a Promise, Keep a Promise" and a musical version of George Bernard Shaw's "You Never Can Tell", in which he starred with Joyce Bulifant, who would become his wife in 2002.
- Stepfather of John Asher.
- Doppelganger for Paul Carr.
- They had a sneak preview (of The Thing with Two Heads (1972)) on a Friday night. I went down there and the place was packed. They showed the thing and everybody just laughed and laughed. It was a great comedy. They released it as some kind of a horror film, but it wasn't.
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