Vic Perrin

Early years

Perrin was born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the 1930s, and moved to California in 1940.

Radio

During the 1940s and 1950s, Perrin was a regular performer on old-time radio, appearing in many shows. His first role, however, came in 1943, when he became announcer for Free World Theatre's episode "The Last Will and Testament Of Tom Smith." The series was produced and directed by Arch Oboler. He later appeared on Oboler's short-lived television series, Arch Oboler's Comedy Theatre. Perrin narrated "A Star With Two Names", part of the segment "Behind The Scenes Hollywood Story" of The Hollywood Music Hall radio program. At the same time, he would join Charles Laughton's theatrical repertory group.

In 1941, he became a staff announcer for NBC, staying there for several years before moving to ABC and becoming chief announcer at the Blue Network. He was a regular guest star on the radio version of Gunsmoke and indeed, he wrote at least one script for that show. Perrin was a series regular on the anthology radio drama Family Theatre, played Ross Farnsworth on One Man's Family and was Sergeant Gorse in Fort Laramie in 1956. Perrin, uncredited to the listeners, impersonated Clyde Beatty on The Clyde Beatty Show. He performed several characters in Escape, Pete Kelly's Blues, Dragnet (radio series), and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

Television

One of Perrin's first television roles was in a 1953 episode of Adventures of Superman titled "The Golden Vulture," where he played a hapless sailor on board a freighter run by a self-styled pirate. He made 16 guest appearances on Dragnet. He played character roles in several other shows including Peter Gunn, Black Saddle, Gunsmoke, Mackenzie's Raiders, The Untouchables, Going My Way, Perry Mason, Adam-12, Mannix, and Mission: Impossible. Perrin guest-starred as several characters in both the radio and television versions of Have Gun – Will Travel. He later voiced the villain, The Gimmick, in an episode of Blue Falcon.

Perrin provided the voices for multiple characters in the animated series "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" including The Puppet Master and Karl the Stuntman, among others. He also voiced numerous supporting characters and villains, as well as the main antagonist Dr. Zin, in the series "Jonny Quest." Additionally, Perrin portrayed a voyeuristic serial killer in the 1966 made-for-TV movie "Dragnet," which functioned as a pilot for the color version of the television series that debuted in 1967. He guest-starred on a 1981 episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century titled "The Guardians". Perrin appeared in two The Twilight Zone episodes: "People Are Alike All Over" and "Ring-a-Ding Girl".

He had voice and character roles in three classic Star Trek episodes. During the first season, he voiced the Metron in "Arena," where Kirk fought the Gorn. He appeared on camera as the head of the ruling council on Halka, a planet of pacifists who would not trade dilithium crystals, in "Mirror, Mirror", and provided the voice of the Nomad probe in "The Changeling", both second-season episodes. In the Super Friends series, Perrin's voiced the villain, Sinestro, the nemesis of the Green Lantern, a role he played on the first few episodes of Challenge of the Super Friends before being replaced by Don Messick for the rest of the episodes and by Jeff Winkless in Super Friends.

Other professional activities

For many years he narrated dozens of science and educational short films for educational filmmaking pioneer Sy Wexler and continued to do voice-overs and to play character roles until a short time before his death.

Perrin was active in off-camera work in television commercials, prompting one newspaper article to include the comment "Vic Perrin is one actor who makes more money when he's not seen on camera than when he is."

Death

Perrin died of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, July 4, 1989, aged 73. Survivors included his wife, Rita, a son, George, and a stepson, Steven.