Richard Bull (actor)


Richard William Bull was an American film, stage and television actor. He was best known for his performances as "Doc" on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Nels Oleson on Little House on the Prairie.

Personal life

Bull was born on June 26, 1924, in Zion, Illinois. After years of living in Los Angeles, he moved back to Chicago in 1994 with his wife Barbara Collentine. The couple moved to the Motion Picture & Television Fund House from Chicago in September 2012.
Bull fell into acting by accident. “I never gave a serious consideration about becoming an actor. As a senior in high school, I decided to study music, but a friend suggested we attend the Goodman Theater School. In two weeks the friend dropped out, but I was hooked.” There was a three-year interruption while he served as a radio operator for the Army Air Corps, but when he was discharged in 1946 he resumed his acting studies at Goodman.

Career

Bull began his stage career at the famous Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He said that a two-line part in The Greatest Story Ever Told "opened a lot of doors." Director George Stevens was impressed with Bull's emoting, and that "led directly to the role of an FBI agent in The Satan Bug," Bull said.
He made more than 100 film and TV appearances.

Death

Bull died on the morning of February 3, 2014, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Calabasas, California, of pneumonia. He was 89 years old.

Filmography

Film

Television