Ted Bessell: Movies & Filmography

Howard Weston "Ted" Bessell Jr. was an American television actor and director widely recognized for his role as Donald Hollinger on the hit ABC series That Girl (1966–1971). Born on March 20, 1935, in Flushing, Queens, New York, Bessell grew up in Manhasset, New York, where he attended Manhasset Secondary School. A child prodigy on the piano, he performed a recital at Carnegie Hall at the age of 12, though he initially pursued a career as a classical musician before transitioning to acting. He attended Georgetown University and the University of Colorado, later studying acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, dance and dramatic movement with Martha Graham and Louis Horst, and worked with Wynn Handman in a professional acting group.

Bessell's career began in the early 1960s with small roles in The Outsider (1961) and Lover Come Back (1961), followed by his portrayal of college student Tom-Tom DeWitt on the short-lived series It's a Man's World in 1962. Throughout the mid-1960s, he appeared as a regular on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. as Private Francis "Frankie" Lombardi and in films such as McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965). His breakout role came in 1966 when he was cast opposite Marlo Thomas on That Girl, becoming an iconic television boyfriend for five seasons. After That Girl ended, Bessell starred in Me and the Chimp (1972) and appeared in TV films including Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973) and The Acorn People (1981), as well as sitcoms Good Time Harry (1980) and Hail to the Chief (1985), where he played the husband of Patty Duke's fictional first female President of the United States.

In his later career, Bessell moved successfully into directing, helming episodes of The Tracey Ullman Show and Sibs, and sharing an Emmy Award in 1989 as a producer when the show was honored as best variety or comedy program. He was married to Linnell Nobori in 1982, and together they had two daughters, Sarah and Mary. Bessell died on October 6, 1996, at the age of 61 due to a ruptured aortic aneurysm, and was interred at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica, California. His legacy endures as a beloved figure of classic 1960s and 1970s television comedy.