Dick Curtis Dies: Jonathan Winters Straight Man, ‘Motel Hell’ Actor Was 95

Dick Curtis, a veteran comedian and character actor, died September 16 in Los Angeles of heart failure at the VA hospital in Westwood. He was 95 and his death was confirmed by longtime friend and TV writer, Paul Jackson.

Curtis’s varied career spanned song and dance, nightclubs, TV, movies, commercials, producing for PM magazine, and cutting two record albums.

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But he was perhaps best known to TV viewers as the straight man to Jonathan Winters on his eponymous CBS series. Curtis also appeared in many weekly TV shows of the ’60s and ’70s, including The Andy Griffith Show, Batman, That Girl and The Dick Van Dyke Show, among others.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, he was a U.S. Marine in World War II. Returning to civilian life, he appeared on the Jack Benny Show.

In a memorable Dick Van Dyke Show appearance on the episode Coast to Coast Bigmouth, he played Johnny Patrick, a game show host who gets Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) to admit that Alan Brady wore a toupee. The episode is now in the Smithsonian.

Curtis also starred with James Garner in the film Support Your Local Gunfighter, and made his final film appearance in the 1980 cult classic horror pic, Motel Hell.

Survivors include daughters Sydney, Susan, and Shelley Curtis (the latter an EP on soaps Days of our Lives and General Hospital).

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