Actor, producer and voice actor Jim Begg died Friday, Feb. 15. He was 69. MSTies will remember him as baseball-obsessed henchman Larry in episode 204- CATALINA CAPER and as helpful townie Fatso in episode 523- VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS.
Born William James Begg in Battle Creek, Mich., he began his career as an actor in New York before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked steadily throughout the 1960s and ’70s. In addition to the two roles above, he appeard in movies including “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” “Grand Theft Auto,” “The Cool Ones,” “It’s a Bikini World,” “The Love God?” “Inside O.U.T.” and “An Enemy of the People.”
He also appeared on the small screen many times, including guest-starring roles in “Gunsmoke,” “Bewitched,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Petticoat Junction,” “Love, American Style,” “WKRP in Cincinnati” and “Happy Days.” Begg also did animation voice work: he was the voice of Scoots in the 1969 Hanna-Barbera series “Cattanooga Cats” and the voice of Wheelie in several 1973 episodes of “Bailey’s Comets.”
He gave up acting in the early 1980s to become a producer, mostly of TV-movies such as “The Kid with the 200 I.Q.,” “The Kid with the Broken Halo, “The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins,” “Her Life as a Man,” “Thompson’s Last Run” and “Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI”.
He is survived by wife Judith and son Andrew James.
