Robert Easton (actor)

Robert Easton (born November 23, 1930, died December 16, 2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television spans more than 60 years. His mastery of English dialect had earned him the epithet "The Man of a Thousand Voices", For decades he had been a leading Hollywood dialogue or accent coach.

Easton was born Robert Easton Burke in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Mary Easton (née Kloes) and John Edward Burke.

Radio
Beginning in 1945, he was heard on radio's Quiz Kids. He portrayed Magnus Proudfoot on radio's Gunsmoke and also appeared in other radio programs, including Fibber McGee and Molly, The Fred Allen Show, The Halls of Ivy, Our Miss Brooks, Suspense, William Shakespeare--A Portrait in Sound and The Zero Hour.

Films
On film, one of his earliest appearances was in The Red Badge of Courage. He appeared in the feature film, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as Sparks (a variation on Stingray ' s "Phones"). One of his more unusual voices was that of a Klingon judge for the movie, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country. He appeared in Gods and Generals (2003) as John Janney, and he recently starred in Spiritual Warriors (2007).

Television
On television, he made many guest appearances and also provided the voices of "Phones" and "X-2-0" in Gerry Anderson's Stingray.

During the late 1940s through the 1960s, he was mostly known for his portrayal of a slow-talking, blankfaced hicks (as in The Munsters episode, "All-Star Munster" as Moose Mallory).

In the Get Smart episode "The Little Black Book", he displayed a crisp German accent as the Maestro. Chuck Connors played Sylvester J. Superman on The Adventures of Superman in the 1955 episode "Flight to the North," and Easton was Marvin in the 1953 episode, "Runaway Robot."

On "The Beverly Hillbillies" he played one of the hill people in the episode titled"Luke's Boy."

Personal life and death
Easton married only once, to June Bettine Grimstead of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. Wed in 1961, the couple remained together for 44 years until June's death in 2005. The couple did not have any children together. Easton informally adopted Heather after June's death.

An avid book collector in a wide range of topics and a lifelong researcher of language, Easton amassed an extensive personal library of historical pamphlets, scientific journals, and other imprints, including over 100,000 volumes that ranged in publication dates from the 16th through the 20th century. The library finally became so large that he and his wife had a tennis court demolished on their residential property at Toluca Lake in Los Angeles, California, and used that space to build a two-story structure to house the collection.

On December 16, 2011, Easton died at age 81 at his Toluca Lake home. His body, in accordance with his wishes, was cremated. Four years after Easton's death, his substantial personal library was sold in two installments – in the summer and fall of 2015 – by Addison & Sarova Auctioneers of Macon, Georgia.