Richard Eastham

Richard Eastham is a familiar television character actor, who portrayed General Cushing in a single episode of Galactica 1980, (Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I).

Biography

Born with the name Dickinson Swift Eastham in Opelousas, Louisiana, on June 22, 1916, Eastham's early in music was interrupted by his service in World War II. Peforming in musicals in the late 1940's, his TV debut was on "Toast of the Town", which would later be known as "The Ed Sullivan Show", in 1949.

He changed his name to "Richard Eastham" and went into film and TV in the late 1950s.

He has a recurring role as General Phil Blankenship on "Wonder Woman" (1976) starring Lynda Carter, which likely helped in his being cast in the bit role of Cushing.

His wife of 60 years, Betty Jean, passed away in Los Angeles in 2002, and Eastham died from complications due to Alzheimer's disease at age 89 on July 10, 2005 in LA as well.

Selected Filmography

His appearances include the following motion pictures:

Man on Fire (1957)

Ten Weeks with a Circus (1960)

That Darn Cat! (1965)

Tom Sawyer (1973)

McQ (1974)

On television he appeared regularly on series including:

"Perry Mason" (1957)

"Bat Masterson" (1958)

"Bonanza" (1959)

"Kojak" (1973)

"The Waltons" (1972)