John Fiedler

Early life

Fiedler was born in Platteville, Wisconsin, a son of Donald Fiedler, a beer salesman, and his wife Margaret (née Phelan). He was of German and Irish descent.

His family moved to Shorewood, Wisconsin in 1930, where he graduated from Shorewood High School in 1943. He enlisted in the United States Navy and served until the end of World War II.

Acting career

After his discharge from the Navy, Fiedler began acting in New York City, appearing on the radio comedy The Aldrich Family as Homer Brown. He appeared on early television and played Cadet Alfie Higgins on the 1950s show Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, and he made his film debut in 1957 in 12 Angry Men, as Juror #2. Most of his roles were playing gentle or nervous individuals, though he appeared as the lawyer J. Noble Daggett in True Grit (1969 film) and in the original Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold" (1967) as Mr. Hengist, a Chief Administrator possessed by the spirit of Jack the Ripper.

Fiedler was in the original cast of A Raisin in the Sun (as housing committee representative Lindner, a role he played in both the 1961 film version and the 1988 TV version), and The Odd Couple movie (1968) as poker player Vinnie, and later, at the invitation of his friend Jack Klugman, on The Odd Couple TV series as the owner of a hyper-security building into which Felix and Oscar moved and the owner of a racing greyhound adopted by Felix and Oscar. He also appeared in the films True Grit (1969), Harper Valley PTA (1978) and The Cannonball Run (1981). His many guest appearances on TV included Columbo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, My Favorite Martian, Bewitched, Get Smart, A Touch of Grace, The Odd Couple, The Rockford Files, Quincy, M.E., The Golden Girls, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Banacek and Cheers.

He had a recurring role on Kolchak: The Night Stalker as morgue attendant Gordy "The Ghoul" Spangler. He also played Mr. Peterson, one of Bob's regular patients, on The Bob Newhart Show, and Mr. Dundee in the 47th episode of the Twilight Zone, "The Night of the Meek". Fiedler's voice was heard or appears in the Disney features The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, The Emperor's New Groove, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Rascal and The Shaggy D.A., and in the Square Enix/Disney video game Kingdom Hearts. His last film was a voice appearance in Kronk's New Groove (2005). Fiedler was also the narrator of several McDonaldland commercials during the 1980s, including when Birdie the Early Bird learns to fly and how the Hamburglar got his stripes.

Death

Fiedler died of cancer on June 25, 2005 in Englewood, New Jersey, at the Lillian Booth Actors Home, a residence for retired entertainers sponsored by the Actors' Fund of America. Fiedler's friend and Winnie-the-Pooh co-star Paul Winchell, who supplied the voice of Tigger, died the previous day of natural causes at the age of 82. He was cremated and his ashes were sprinkled into the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island, New York. After Fiedler's death, Travis Oates took over the role of Piglet.