Richard Devon (born Richard Gibson Ferraiole; December 11, 1926 – February 26, 2010) was an American character actor and voice actor who between the late 1940s and 1991 performed in hundreds of roles on stage, radio, television, and in feature films.
Early life
Devon was born in Glendale, California in 1926, the only son of four children of Florence H. (née Glass) and Luca Ferraiole.[2][3] His father, a native of Italy, immigrated to the United States in 1901 and lived in Pennsylvania before moving to California, where by 1930 he was employed as a waiter in a Los Angeles cafe.[3][4]
To supplement his family's modest income, Devon later worked part-time as a stable boy and then as a riding instructor at an equestrian academy in Griffith Park.[5] That early experience with horses proved useful in his acting career, especially in Western films and television series. Following his graduation from high school, Devon worked as a mail carrier at Monogram Pictures, a laborer at a plant nursery, a mechanic's helper, and as a doorman at the Hollywood Palladium.[5]
Devon in the television series Bonanza in "The Avenger", 1960
In the 1950s Devon began performing as a character actor in many Four Star Television series, although his work was not limited to a single production company or network. He appears, for example, as Ed Pike in the 1959 episode "Yellow Fever" of the Western series Colt .45, which was produced by Warner Bros. and originally broadcast by ABC.
He guest-starred on several episodes of The Rifleman from 1959 to 1962: "Blood Brother"[6] as Jethroe, "The Spiked Rifle"[7] as Stark, "The Grasshopper"[8] as Ryerson, "The Silent Knife"[9] as Macowan, "Miss Milly"[10] as Adams, "The Stand-In"[11] as Potter and "The Most Amazing Man"[12] as Lovett.
Devon had a regular role as well as on the CBS series Yancy Derringer, performing the part of Jody Barker, a pickpocket and sometime cohort of the lead character played by Jock Mahoney.[13] He also played the role of Cole Striker, a crook, in the 1963 episode "Incident of the Buryin' Man" on CBS's Rawhide.
In December 1959, Devon married Patricia A. Riopelle.[1] They remained together for over 50 years, until Devon died of vascular disease in Mill Valley, California in 2010, aged 83.[4]
^ ab"California Marriage Index", December 13, 1959. Office of Vital Statistics, Department of Health Services, Sacramento. FamilySearch, L1YK-Q2L.
^"California Birth Index, 1905-1995", Richard Gibson Ferraiole, December 11, 1926, Los Angeles, California. Vital Statistics, Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
^ ab"The Fifteenth Census of the United States Census: 1930", digital image of original enumeration page, Los Angeles, California, April 16, 1930. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. FamilySearch digital records.
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