Francis King Donovan[1][2] (January 25, 1918 – June 30, 1987) was an American film, stage, and television actor, as well as a film and television director.
Early years
King Donovan was born in Manhattan on January 25, 1918. His parents were vaudevillians who traveled nationwide in the United States,[3] and at three weeks old he began traveling with them. He attended Mt. Joseph School in Buffalo, New York through eighth grade, after which he went to work.[4] His acting debut occurred in his teenage years at the Butler Davenport Theater.[3]
Acting work
Radio
Donovan worked in radio before serving in the Air Force for three years. After he left the military, he returned to radio and worked on stage on the West Coast.[4]
Donovan was part of the Jitney Players traveling troupe in the 1940s. He performed with the Hendrickson Shakespearean Company for two years, and he appeared in The Male Animal for the USO.[3] In 1948, Donovan appeared on Broadway in The Vigil (1948), The Girls in 509 (1958) and Morning's at Seven (1980).[5] In 1968, he toured with his wife Imogene Coca in a productions of You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running and Once upon a Mattress.
Television
Notable television roles include Jake Clampett (a deadbeat who mooches off the Clampetts) for two episodes of CBS's The Beverly Hillbillies, Blanche Morton's (Bea Benaderet's) brother Roger Baker on eight episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and Harvey Helm in a 17-episode stint on NBC's The Bob Cummings Show. Donovan also appeared in six episodes as Chris Norman of It's a Great Life. About this time, he also guest starred on Ray Bolger's ABCsitcom, Where's Raymond? and the NBC sitcom, The People's Choice, with Jackie Cooper. He also guest starred on the crime drama, Richard Diamond, Private Detective. In 1956 he appeared as Joe Baker on the TV western Cheyenne in the episode titled "Mustang Trail." He also played in a 1960 episode of Shotgun Slade. He played a petty thief Name Baxter who stole from an orphanage. He portrayed Marty in "Academy Award," a 1957 episode of the CBSsituation comedyMr. Adams and Eve. He played Mark Dawson in the 1959 Maverick episode "Maverick Springs". He was also in Wanted: Dead or Alive in the 1959 episode "Bad Gun" as the gun dealer Sheridan Appleby. In the 1963 episode "The Clampetts Go Hollywood", King Donovan portrays Jake Clampett.
He played Twirly Boggs in the 1960 TV series Bonanza, season 1 episode 19 'The Gunmen'.
In this colorized still from the film, the principal cast (clockwise from top center), Carolyn Jones as Teddy, Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell, King Donovan as Jack Belicec, and Dana Wynter as Becky Driscoll, discover the pods growing.
Donovan guest starred as Paddy Britt in the 1959 episode "The Boy from Pittsburgh" of the NBC western series, Riverboat.
In 1963, he played the part of Poke Tolliver in the episode "Incident of the Buryin' Man" on CBS's Rawhide. Between 1965 and 1967, Donovan had a recurring role as neighbor Herb, whose mission in life seemed to be getting from his house through the study window of professor Jim Nash in less than a full minute, on the situation comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies.
Directing work
In 1963 Donovan directed the film Promises! Promises!, which received attention as the first Hollywood sound film to feature a mainstream film star (Jayne Mansfield) nude. Later the same year Donovan directed two episodes of Grindl, which starred his wife Imogene Coca and two more the next year.
Personal life and death
Donovan and wife Imogene Coca
Previously married and the father of three children,[4] Donovan married actress/ comedian Imogene Coca[6] on October 17, 1960.[7] They remained married until his death from cancer on June 30, 1987, aged 69, in the Connecticut Hospice in Branford, Connecticut.[3]
^Gardner, Hy (October 13, 1960). "Hy Gardner Calling: The Sports Experts Convene". The New York Herald Tribune. p. 19. ProQuest1324127143. We got to talking sports with Imogene Coca last night at Margherita & Bianchi's restaurant in the Village, where her co-star in the touring company of 'Once Upon a Mattress,' Edward Everett Horton, threw a little engagement party for the comedienne and her fiance, Francis (King) Donovan.
