Richard Gautier (Go-DEE-eh) (October 30, 1931 – January 13, 2017) was an American actor. He was known for his television roles as Hymie the Robot in the television series Get Smart, and Robin Hood in the TV comedy series When Things Were Rotten,[1] as well as for originating the role of Conrad Birdie in the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie.
Career
Gautier started his career as a singer and a nightclub comic at the hungry i in San Francisco.[2] He joined ASCAP in 1959 after serving in the United States Navy.[2] In 1960, he portrayed fictional rock 'n roll star Conrad Birdie in the original Broadway theatre production of Bye Bye Birdie, receiving a Tony Award nomination for his performance.[3] He would later appear with two of his Birdie stars in two films: with Kay Medford in Ensign Pulver in 1964, and with Dick Van Dyke in Divorce American Style in 1967.[2]
In 1973, when Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig reprised their Batman roles (as Robin and Batgirl, respectively) for a TV public service announcement about equal pay for women, Adam West, who was trying to distance himself from the Batman role at the time, declined to participate. Gautier filled in for West as Batman on this occasion.[5]
Richard Gilbert Gautier was born in Culver City, California, on October 30, 1931.[2] His father was a grip and his mother was a costume seamstress.[2]
Gautier was first married to Beverly J. Gerber; the marriage ended in divorce after they had three children together. His second wife was actress Barbara Stuart,[8] and his final marriage was to Tess Hightower, a psychologist.[3]
His son Randy, nicknamed Rand, had both a brief stint in pornography under the name Austin Moore, and would in 1995 steal a videotape from the home of Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, containing footage they had filmed of themselves having sex while on vacation. Rand, along with a distributor, released it on the Internet, and it became one of the first widespread celebrity sex tapes.[9][10]
Gautier died from pneumonia on January 13, 2017, at an assisted living facility in Arcadia, California, following a long illness.[2][3]
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