One of the most prolific character actors, Dabbs Greer played small-town doctors, bankers, merchants, druggists, mayors, and ministers most of his career. His purse-lipped countenance and Midwestern twang was equally effective in taciturn villainous roles. Essentially a bit player in films of the 1950s, Greer was given more screen time than usual as a New York detective in "House of Wax", while his surface normality served as excellent contrast to the extraterrestrial goings-on in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". A television actor since the dawn of the TV era, Greer has shown up in hundreds of TV supporting roles, including the "origin" episode of the original Superman series in which he played the dangling dirigible worker rescued in mid-air by the Man of Steel. Greer also played the recurring roles of storekeeper Mr. Jones on "Gunsmoke" from 1955 to 1960 and Reverend Alden on "Little House on the Prairie" from 1974 to 1983. Showing no signs of slowing down, Dabbs Greer continued accepting roles in such films as "Two Moon Junction", "Pacific Heights", and "Green Mile". He died following a battle with kidney and heart disease, on April 28, 2007, not quite a month after his 90th birthday.
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