Biography
Possibly in defiance of the old adage "those that can't do, teach," American actor Harold Gould gave up a comfortable professorship in the drama department of the University of California to become a performer himself. Building up stage and TV credits from the late '50s onward, Gould made his first film,
Two for the Seesaw, in 1962. He divided his time between stage and screen for the rest of the '60s, winning an Obie Award for the off-Broadway production Difficulty of Concentration. Gould was prominently cast in such slick '70s products as
The Sting (1973),
Woody Allen's
Love and Death (1975), and
Mel Brooks'
Silent Movie (1976) (as a classically gesticulating villain). Often nattily attired and usually comporting himself like a wealthy self-made businessman, Gould was generously employed on TV for three decades. He co-starred with Daniel J. Travanti in the 1988
American Playhouse production of
I Never Sang for My Father, played WASP-ish
Katharine Hepburn's ageing Jewish lover in the TV movie Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986), and had regular stints on such series as The Long Hot Summer (1965),
He and She (1967),
Rhoda (1974) (as Rhoda's father),
The Feather and Father Gang (1977), Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977), Park Place (1981) Foot in the Door (1983),
Spencer (1984) and Singer and Sons (1990). However, when the time came in 1974 to make a series out of the pilot film for
Happy Days, an unavailable Harold Gould was replaced by
Tom Bosley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide