Dick Sargent biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Actor Dick Sargent was born Richard Stanford Cox on April 19, 1930, in Carmel, California. His mother, Ruth McNaughton, was the daughter of Los Angeles' Union Stockyard baron John McNaughton. Billing herself as Ruth Powell, she appeared in a handful of silent films, including Rex Ingram's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921).

His father, Colonel Elmer Cox, served in World War I. A strict man, he later became a business manager to such Hollywood players as Douglas Fairbanks and director Erich von Stroheim.

Sargent attended the San Rafael Military Academy in Menlo Park, California. He later attended Stanford University, where he studied acting and obtained a taste for live theatre. By the time he graduated, he had appeared in 25 campus productions.

After college, Sargent took many odd jobs, including ditch digging, to make ends meet while pursuing an acting career. At one point, he journeyed to the colonial city of San Miguel Allendein Mexicoto enter the import-export business. He acquired a lifetime love of Mexican art and culture.

Early Roles

When he returned to California, Sargent made the transition from live theater to feature films and later television. He finally got his career rolling, debuting in an uncredited role in the movie Prisoner of War (1954) (with Ronald Reagan). His first major role in a motion picture was as P.F. Wilson in 1957's Bernadine, for which he received a Laurel Award from the nation's film exhibitors.

Now known as Dick Sargent, the actor was a friendly, dependable and well-admired performer but his work was often deemed ordinary. 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 more often, he would perform in forgettable projects such as Fluffy (1965) with Tony Randall, Billie (1965) starring Patty Duke, the Don Knotts misfire The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), the Elvis Presley vehicle Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968) with Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller.

Sargent also built up a reliable resume over the years on TV both in drama and comedy including work on Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, I Dream of Jeannie and Adam-12. Regular co-starring roles in the series One Happy Family (1961) and Broadside (1964) also kept him busy.

Bewitched

Sargent and Tammy Grimes were said to have successfully auditioned for the original roles of Darrin and Samantha Stephens during the initial casting of the pilot episode of Bewitched.