Jack Dodson (May 16, 1931 – September 16, 1994) (born John S. Dodson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was an American television actor best remembered for the milquetoast character Howard Sprague in The Andy Griffith Show and its spin-off Mayberry R.F.D. From 1959 until his death in 1994, Dodson was married to television art director Mary Dodson.In 1966, Andy Griffith hired Dodson for the Howard Sprague role, having previously seen him in Broadway's Hughie. Dodson also portrayed insurance agent Ed Jenkins in the Lost and Found episode of The Andy Griffith Show. Dodson also appeared in episodes of My Friend Flicka, The Virginian, Maude, Barney Miller, Archie Bunker's Place, Newhart, Mr. Belvedere, Matlock, Mama's Family, and St. Elsewhere.The actor appeared as an airplane passenger caught up in a murder plot in a 1972 episode of Hawaii 5-0. In 1967, Dodson appeared in the episode "A Mighty Hunter Before the Lord" of NBC's The Road West, which aired opposite The Andy Griffith Show. Dodson also appeared in two Sam Peckinpah films, The Getaway and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. He also had a small role in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, which starred Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges.In the late 1970s, he had a recurring role as Mickey Malph, Ralph Malph's optometrist dad on Happy Days. A guest appearance on Barney Miller (in the two-part episode "Homicide" in Season 7) had Dodson in a twist on his Mayberry role- as a mild-mannered, blood-thirsty killer.In 1985, Dodson returned to Broadway in the revival of You Can't Take It With You. The actor reprised Howard Sprague in the 1986 NBC-TV movie Return to Mayberry, as well as in a 1990 episode of It's Garry Shandling's Show, "The Day Howard Moved In". He died in Los Angeles, California, from heart failure, aged 63.
Frequently played doctors, judges, government officials, and other authority figures, almost always with comic effect.
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Fact
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Broadway and NYC-Hollywood television actor Jack Dodson (b.1931-d.1994, age 63) and Jason Robards (b.1922-d.2000, age78) were extremely close friends. Their friendship began when they were cast in a Broadway production. They became bar mates after their curtain (call) dropped each night, when they would join together in their favorite after theater local Broadway bar. When Jason Robards was cast in a play, he would arrange for Jack to be cast, as well, so that he would have a good drinking buddy and bar mate! Jack Dodson's amiable humorous spirit and show-biz antidotes always entertained. Jason Robards and Jack Dodson had a mutual respect for each other's professional abilities and talents. Their character traits made each a man's man and a damned good best friend! The pair were a comedy performance when seated together at the pub's main bar, or at a restaurant table. When asked by the bar's host if they minded being seated at a back table adjacent the kitchen service room door, Jack's response, "that's O.K., we make the same noise sitting there as we would sitting in the middle or at this joint's front door!" and they DID!.
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With Jack, Mary and the Dodson family, Christina and Amy, move back to New York City in 1972, after Jack's series Mayberry R.F.D. was canceled, Jack sold his collector vintage 1938 Buick 80 Roadmaster 4 door Convertible Phaeton automobile, painted peanut butter-cup beige with a beige convertible top fabric. Because Jack had invested in the automobile's complete restoration after his original purchase, Mary had nick-named the beast "Dodson's folly gold mine vault." Jack nick-named his '38 Phaeton - "Casablanca" - since after seeing the 1942 Warner Brothers Best Picture Academy award feature "Casablanca," starring Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund, Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, Paul Henried as Victor Laszlo, and Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault, Dodson had always wanted the same '38 Buick 4-door convertible Phaeton car seen in the film's final scene. The studio could not film at night on location. The French Morocco exterior fog shrouded air-strip set was a built set on a WB studio sound stage. The airplane was a false perspective constructed scenic profile spotted at the far end of the stage. The '38 Buick Phaeton was a prominent set dressing piece, an automobile positioned on camera left as background. The climax of the feature has Rick Blaine and Captain Renault walking arm-in-arm into the French Morocco foggy night. Jack Dodson sold his 1938 Buick Convertible Phaeton for $13,500.00, placing the funds in their bank roll to pay for their NYC Broadway return engagement.
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