Dick York

Was first influenced to become an actor when he saw the Cecil B. DeMille film The Crusades (1935).

Moved to New York in 1951 and took a room at a YMCA. He eventually became a working New York radio actor on a number of series.

First work on Broadway was a supporting role in "Tea and Sympathy" starring John Kerr and Deborah Kerr. The play opened on September 30, 1953. His success in this play led to a contract with Columbia Pictures.

Appeared six times on the Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) TV series, but never met the famed director in person.

York first injured his back while working on the 1959 film They Came to Cordura (1959).

Director Stanley Kramer allowed Dick to write his first scene in the movie Inherit the Wind (1960), in which his character, educator Bertram Cates, goes on trial for teaching his students Darwin's theory of evolution. This was his last film role. He subsequently concentrated on TV.

The gangly York is best remembered as the first and most frustrated "Darrin Stephens" on the long-running TV series Bewitched (1964).

Made a brief comeback on TV in the 1970s in episodes of Fantasy Island (1977) and Simon & Simon (1981).

Was left impoverished in 1976 after a real estate investment failed, and was on welfare for a time.

He and his family moved to Rockford, Michigan, in the 1980s to care for his wife's ailing mother. When she died, they stayed on in her house.