{"id":1726,"date":"2026-06-12T20:38:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T20:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1726"},"modified":"2026-06-12T20:38:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T20:38:53","slug":"ronnie-schell-actor-on-gomer-pyle-usmc-dies-at-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1726","title":{"rendered":"Ronnie Schell, Actor on \u2018Gomer Pyle: USMC,\u2019 Dies at 94"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ronnie Schell, the stand-up comedian who starred as the wisecracking Duke Slater, the best friend of Jim Nabors\u2018 character, on the 1960s CBS comedy\u00a0Gomer Pyle: USMC<\/em>, died on Friday. He was 94.<\/p>\n

Read more Where to Watch the 2026 Men\u2019s College World Series Online: NCAA Baseball Livestream<\/a><\/p>\n

Schell died of natural causes at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> has learned.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

Schell also was a prolific voice actor who worked on many cartoons, and one of his more noteworthy gigs was as the animated Peter Puck, who explained the rules of hockey to viewers of NHL games on NBC in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

A popular opening act in clubs \u2014 he toured with the folk\/pop group The Kingston Trio for more than two years \u2014 the self-deprecating Schell billed himself as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Slowest Rising Young Comedian.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he played Ann Marie\u2019s (Marlo Thomas) agent on two first-season 1966 episodes of ABC\u2019s\u00a0That Girl<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Schell appeared as Pvt. Slater for three seasons of\u00a0Gomer Pyle<\/em>\u00a0starting in 1964, then was written out to star in another CBS comedy,\u00a0Good Morning, World<\/em>. When that show was canceled after a season, he returned to Camp Henderson, with Slater having earned a promotion to corporal, for\u00a0Gomer<\/em>\u2018s fifth and final season.<\/p>\n

After Nabors decided to end the series \u2014 then No. 2 in the ratings \u2014 to host a CBS variety show, Schell followed him and worked on\u00a0The Jim Nabors Hour<\/em>\u00a0for its two seasons. He also landed supporting roles in such Disney films as\u00a0The Strongest Man in the World<\/em>\u00a0(1975),\u00a0Gus<\/em>\u00a0(1976),\u00a0The Shaggy D.A.<\/em>\u00a0(1976) and\u00a0The Cat From Outer Space<\/em>\u00a0(1978) \u2014 he voiced the cat \u2014 as well as\u00a0Love at First Bite<\/em>\u00a0(1979).<\/p>\n

Schell was born on Dec. 23, 1931, in Richmond, California, and went to Richmond Union High School. He played first base for American Legion and semipro teams in the East Bay, started doing comedy while in the U.S. Air Force and graduated from San Francisco State in 1958 with a degree in Liberal Studies.<\/p>\n

While he was still a senior, he left a play in college to perform stand-up at The Purple Onion for $85 a week, joining Phyllis Diller and The Kingston Trio on a bill at the famed North Beach club.<\/p>\n

George Fenneman, the announcer on the Groucho Marx-hosted\u00a0You Bet Your Life<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 and a fellow San Francisco State grad \u2014 saw him perform while scouting Diller, and he invited both to appear on the game show. (In a 2010 interview, Schell told Kliph Nesteroff that when he was on in 1959, he claimed to be an expert on beatniks, won $600 and mentioned the secret word: table.)<\/p>\n

Read more Sony Future Filmmaker Awards Unveils 2026 Winners<\/a><\/p>\n

Schell\u2019s manager, Dick Link, also handled Nabors and Andy Griffith, and that led to him being cast on\u00a0Gomer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was working in Fresno at a place called The Hacienda and Dick Link called me and said, \u2018Listen, we\u2019re doing a spinoff [of The Andy Griffith Show<\/em>] and there\u2019s a part for Jim Nabors\u2019 best friend,\u201d Schell recalled. \u201cI said, \u2018Great! Is it funny?\u2019 He said, \u2018No. But it\u2019s [a lot] of money.\u2019 So, I took a night off from my nightclub act to go down and audition.\u201d<\/p>\n

On\u00a0Good Morning, World<\/em>, Schell portrayed Larry Clarke, a deejay who hosts an L.A. morning drive radio program called the \u201cLewis and Clarke Show\u201d with Dave Lewis (Joby Baker). Schell could lean on some real-life experience \u2014 he had worked often with San Francisco radio personality Don Sherwood.<\/p>\n

Good Morning, World<\/em>\u00a0was created by Bill Persky, Sam Denoff, Carl Reiner and Sheldon Leonard, all behind-the-scenes principals on\u00a0The Dick Van Dyke Show<\/em>, and marked the onscreen debut of Goldie Hawn, who would find fame on\u00a0Rowan & Martin\u2019s Laugh-In<\/em>\u00a0right after her series was canceled.<\/p>\n

Schell\u2019s TV r\u00e9sum\u00e9 also included\u00a0The Patty Duke Show<\/em>,\u00a0The Andy Griffith Show<\/em>,\u00a0Emergency!<\/em>,\u00a0Sanford and Son<\/em>,\u00a0Charlie\u2019s Angels<\/em>,\u00a0One Day at a Time<\/em>,\u00a0She\u2019s the Sheriff<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Santa Barbara<\/em>.<\/p>\n

While Peter Puck was explaining just what constitutes icing, Schell knew nothing about the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I got the scripts, I learned about hockey,\u201d he said in 2011. \u201cThe problem was for four years I would go on shows and they would interview me. \u2018So, you\u2019re Peter Puck! How about those Kings, hey? Aren\u2019t they great?\u2019 \u2018Um, yes.\u2019 \u2018What do you think of the way the left winger \u2026\u2019 I was at a total loss for years \u2026 I was totally in the dark \u2026 whenever I did a radio show, they thought I was an expert on ice hockey. They\u2019d ask me these detailed questions, and I would not know a thing of what I was talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schell did his act in Las Vegas for more than four decades, and he also was the longtime honorary mayor of Encino, with Phil Hartman serving as his sheriff and John Goodman as his attorney general.<\/p>\n

He married his wife, Janet, in 1968 \u2014 Jerry Van Dyke was best man at their wedding. In addition to Janet, survivors include two children, Gregory and Christian Schell, and one granddaughter, Chiara.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Former Amazon MGM Studios and Warner Bros. PR Executive Adam Keen Launches Agenda Collective<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ronnie Schell, the stand-up comic who played the wisecracking Duke Slater, the best friend of Jim Nabors’ character, on Gomer Pyle: USMC, has died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1489,39],"class_list":["post-1726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-andy-griffith","tag-obituaries"],"yoast_head":"\nRonnie Schell, Actor on \u2018Gomer Pyle: USMC,\u2019 Dies at 94 - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=1726\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ronnie Schell, Actor on \u2018Gomer Pyle: USMC,\u2019 Dies at 94 - 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