Simon Oakland

Simon Oakland (August 28, 1915 – August 29, 1983) was an American actor of stage, screen, and television.

Early life and career

Oakland was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. He began his performing arts career as a musician (he was a violinist, an avocation he would pursue during his entire career as an actor). Oakland began his acting career in the late 1940s. He enjoyed a series of Broadway hits, including Light Up the Sky, The Shrike and Inherit the Wind, and theater was one of his lasting passions. He was a concert violinist until the 1940s.

Moving to films and television

Oakland made his film debut as the "tough, but compassionate" journalist who speaks up for Susan Hayward's Barbara Graham in I Want to Live! in 1958. Oakland would play this type often over the course of his career.

He went on to play a long series of tough-guy types, usually in positions of authority, most notably in Psycho, in which he plays the psychiatrist who explains Norman Bates's multiple personality disorder. He also appeared in West Side Story, Bullitt, and the television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. He made two guest appearances on CBS's Perry Mason, both times as the murder victim. He also appeared in the syndicated crime drama, Decoy, starring Beverly Garland. Oakland appeared once each on the CBS western, Dundee and the Culhane and in another syndicated crime drama series, Sheriff of Cochise, starring John Bromfield. Oakland played General Thomas Moore on NBC's Baa Baa Black Sheep, starring Robert Conrad.