Salt Lake native Parley Baer, 88, a well-known character actor who appeared in more than 60 movies and 1,600 television shows during a six-decade career, died on Nov. 22 at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland, Calif., of complications following a massive stroke he had suffered two weeks earlier.
The Tarzana, Calif., resident was born Aug. 5, 1914, in Salt Lake City. He graduated from West High School and studied theater at the University of Utah. In 1965, he returned to dedicate the new Babcock Theatre in the basement of the Pioneer Memorial Theatre building. Mr. Baer was a former student of the venue's namesake, Maude May Babcock.
According to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Baer had performed on 15,000 radio programs, including the voice of Chester in the original version of "Gunsmoke." He was probably best-known as Mayor Stoner of Mayberry on "The Andy Griffith Show." He was also the voice of one of the Keebler Cookie elves, and enjoyed a six-year run on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," playing their next door neighbor, Darby, 1955-61.
Prior to moving to Los Angeles in 1947, Mr. Baer was busy in radio. His first radio work was at KSL, which included handling broadcasts from Wendover Field in the early 1940s.
His acting career was ended by a stroke in 1997.
As a sideline, Mr. Baer was also a publicist and ringmaster for circuses, including tours with Barnum & Bailey and the Circus Vargus. He met and married his wife, aerialist and bareback rider Ernestine Clark, in 1946. She died in 2000.
They were the parents of two daughters, Kim Baer and Dale Sloane. Baer is also survived by three grandchildren.