Douglas Dick, a Dinner Guest in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rope,’ Dies at 95

Douglas Dick, who starred in such films as Rope, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and John Huston’s The Red Badge of Courage before exiting show business to work as a psychologist, has died. He was 95.

The actor died Dec. 19 in his sleep in his Los Angeles home, his family announced.

Dick played the indecisive dinner guest Kenneth Lawrence in Rope (1948), the first of Hitchcock’s Technicolor movies. The crime drama takes place in one room and is edited so as to appear as one continuous shot.

Dick played a major in Mark Robson’s Home of the Brave (1949) and a lieutenant in The Red Badge of Courage (1951). His film résumé also includes Saigon (1948) and The Iron Mistress (1952), both opposite Alan Ladd; The Accused (1949), with Loretta Young; George Stevens’ Something to Live For (1952); and Flaming Star (1960), starring Elvis Presley and Barbara Eden.

After a busy decade on the big screen, the West Virginia native turned to television and starred as the son of a tugboat captain in the 1954-55 syndicated drama Waterfront. Dick appeared on dozens of TV shows, including Whirlybirds, 77 Sunset Strip, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Perry Mason and Mannix.

He also wrote stories or episodes for such series as I Dream of Jeannie, The Mothers-In-Law and Bewitched. Peggy Chantler Dick, his wife from 1963 until her death in 2001, was a TV screenwriter as well; she wrote for Adventures of Superman, Hazel, Dennis the Menace and other shows.

In 1971, after earning his Ph.D. from the California School of Professional Psychology, Dick opened a psychotherapy practice.

Survivors include his nephews Gamble and Barclay. A donation in his name can be made to the National Audubon Society. 

Twitter: @mikebarnes4

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