Remembering Michael Dunn (October 20, 1934- August 30, 1973)

  American actor and singer, Michael Dunn (born Gary Neil Miller) arrived on this date in 1934 in Shattuck, Oklahoma. When he was four, his family moved to Dearborn, Michigan. Parents Jewell and Fred championed his right to live and develop openly, as part of mainstream life, defying repeated pressures from school authorities to send him to a school for disabled children.
  An early reader, he was a champion speller, showed an early aptitude for the piano, and developed a lyric baritone and was given to crowd-drawing impromptu public performances even while just waiting for a bus. He ice-skated and swam in childhood, remaining a skilled swimmer throughout his life.
  He attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, but was seriously injured on a stairwell during a "student rush" and was hospitalized for three months.

Transferring to the more forgiving climate and accessible campus of the University of Miami, he seemed to excel more in extracurricular efforts - singing in the talent show and working on the campus magazine, Tempo -- rather than distinguishing himself academically.
 A classmate at U.M., John Softness, recalled "He could sing like an angel, and he could act and he could write and he was a brilliant raconteur."
  Softness ran a campus-wide advertising campaign called "Wheels for Gary," which brought in enough money from student donations to buy a used 1951 Austin outfitted with hand controls, so that Dunn could get around independently.
 Over the years before his television and theatrical career came about, he held a variety of odd jobs, from nightclub singer, answering telephones at the Miami Daily News, and even working as a hotel detective. Of that last, the future Dunn would recall, "What a gaff! I got my room free and all I did was play cards with the night clerk and keep an eye open for any funny business in the lobby. Who would ever suspect me of being a detective?"
   Back in September 1954 he had converted to Catholicism, and in 1958 he entered the St. Bonaventure Monastery seeking a life of service. Less than three months later, in early May, he had to leave because the physical demands of monastic life, especially in a 19th century building with no modern accommodations, was simply too much for him. It was at that point that he left for New York to pursue a career on the stage. It was apparently around this time that he chose his stage name, Michael Dunn, to differentiate himself from an actor already on the books named Gary Dunn.
  In New York he became reacquainted with former Miami college classmate Softness, who volunteered to be his manager. He became friends with actress Phoebe Dorin while they performed in an off-Broadway show. They began singing together in public in the evenings after shows, sitting on the wall by the fountain opposite the Plaza Hotel, drawing small crowds. Roddy McDowell (who had been shadowing Michael, taking pictures for Life magazine) suggested they seek bookings as a nightclub act, which they did.

  "Michael Dunn and Phoebe" performed a mix of songs and conversational patter, receiving positive reviews in both The New York Times and Time magazine. Notoriety for the act lead to them being cast in the first season of The Wild Wild West, where they worked at least one duet into each of several of the episodes.
   His recurring role as the brilliant, inventive, mercurial and homicidal Dr. Miguelito Loveless was to become his broadest and most lasting fame, appearing ten times over the run of the series.
  Prior to that, his work on the stage had brought him some nominations and awards.
   The same year he was introduced to audiences as Dr. Loveless, he also played "Mr. Big" the head of K.A.O.S., in the pilot episode of Mel Brooks' and Buck Henry's spy spoof, Get Smart, and appeared in Stanley Kramer's Ship of Fools (1965), for which he would receive a Laurel Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. An enjoyable role in a film I think I've paused to watch any time I've come across it over the years.

   A variety of television and movie roles along with stage performances filled the remainder of the '60s and continued into the '70s, as he continued to work up until his death. He was in London, completing his work in The Abdication (1974, released the year after his death) when he died in his sleep at the Cadogen Hotel. He was 38.
   Today would have been his 90th birthday.