1. Ronald Alan Masak was an American actor best known for playing the recurring role of Sheriff Mort Metzger of Cabot Cove in the CBS mystery series Murder, She Wrote starring Angela Lansbury, who predeceased him by only 9 days.
20 Facts About Ron Masak
1. 2.
Masak was born in Chicago to Floyd Louis Masak and Mildred Alice Masak.
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Ron Masak's mother was of Irish descent and his father of Czech Bohemian descent.
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Ron Masak's paternal great-grandfather, Karel Masak, was an immigrant from Zverkovice near Tyn nad Vltavou.
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Ron Masak began working as a stage performer, and mostly was involved in theater until transitioning to film and television becoming a familiar character actor.
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Ron Masak then starred in another ABC series, Love Thy Neighbor.
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Ron Masak then earned roles in the NBC crime series Police Story, and in the ABC sitcom Webster.
8.
Ron Masak appeared as "Mike the boxer" on The Flying Nun, season 1, episode 26, which first aired March 13,1968.
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Ron Masak had a guest appearance as Beauregard Jackson in the episode "Hurricane" on Land of the Lost.
10.
Ron Masak was perhaps best known for a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote as the Cadillac convertible-driving Sheriff, Mort Metzger of Cabot Cove, taking over for Tom Bosley's Sheriff Amos Tupper, a role which he played from 1988 to 1996.
11.
Ron Masak did make appearances as two other characters in the series, in "Footnote to Murder" as Lt.
12.
Ron Masak died just nine days after the death of the show's main star, Angela Lansbury.
13.
Ron Masak did the voice for Veteran Holt in the video game Medal of Honor: European Assault.
14.
In 1990, Ron Masak was a panelist on the revival of the television game show, To Tell the Truth, and appeared on several other game shows as a panelist.
15.
Ron Masak appeared as Eddie Fenelle, a taxi driver, in the Columbo episode Ashes to Ashes.
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Ron Masak had a role in the film Harper Valley PTA reuniting with his I Dream of Jeannie co-star Barbara Eden.
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Ron Masak married Kay Knebes in September 1961; together they had six children.
18.
Ron Masak was the first cousin of actor Michael Gross of Family Ties and former Saturday Night Live cast member Mary Gross.
19.
Ron Masak was honorary sheriff of Tarzana, California, for 35 years.
20.
On October 20,2022, Ron Masak died of natural causes in a Thousand Oaks hospital, Thousand Oaks, California, at the age of 86.