Biography
In films from the mid-'60s, American actor Richard Bull was seen in
The Satan Bug (1965),
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968),
Secret Life of an American Wife (1969),
Newman's Law (1971), and several other major Hollywood productions. Many of these roles were bits or atmosphere characters: guards, policemen, and the like. Television afforded Bull larger character roles, especially in the sitcom field. Within a ten-year period (1964-1974), he guested on
Gidget,
Family Affair, Gomer Pyle, USMC,
The Andy Griffith Show, My 3 Sons,
Room 222, and
Bewitched (as pilgrim John Alden in a "flashback" episode). He also had a recurring role as a ship's doctor on the mid-'60s fantasy weekly
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. From 1974 through 1982, Richard Bull played store proprietor Nels Oleson, the even-tempered, long-suffering husband of overbearing Harriet Oleson on
Little House on the Prairie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide