14 Facts About Dick York

Dick York was the first actor to play Darrin Stephens on the ABC fantasy sitcom Bewitched.

Dick York played teacher Bertram Cates in the film Inherit the Wind.

Dick York's career was hampered by a serious back injury he sustained while working on the film They Came to Cordura in 1959.

Dick York was born on September 4,1928 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Bernard York, a salesman, and Betty, a seamstress.

Dick York grew up in Chicago, where a Catholic nun first recognized his vocal promise.

Dick York began his career at the age of 15 as the star of the CBS radio program That Brewster Boy.

Dick York appeared in hundreds of other radio shows and instructional films before heading to New York City, where he acted on Broadway in Tea and Sympathy and Bus Stop.

Dick York performed with stars including Paul Muni and Joanne Woodward in live television broadcasts and with Janet Leigh, Jack Lemmon, and Glenn Ford in movies, including My Sister Eileen and Cowboy.

Dick York was cast in the series, which lasted one season, as Tom Colwell, who operates a secular youth center.

Dick York appeared in dozens of episodes of now-classic television series, including Justice, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Untouchables, Rawhide, The Americans, Wagon Train, Father Knows Best, and CBS's The Twilight Zone, The Virginian, and Route 66.

Dick York did not appear in several third- and fourth-season episodes, and his eventual departure from the show well into the filming of the fifth season necessitated more episodes focusing on Samantha and other members of her family, with mentions that Darrin was away on business.

Dick York was a three-pack-a-day smoker for much of his life and often smoked cigarettes on the set of Bewitched; he spent his final years battling emphysema.

Dick York died of complications from emphysema at Blodgett Hospital in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, on February 20,1992, at age 63.

Dick York is buried at Plainfield Cemetery in Rockford, Michigan.