Wednesday, July 2, 2014

RIP - Bob Hastings

Actor Bob Hastings, most noted for his role as Lt. Elroy Carpenter in the 1960s' TV series "McHale's Navy", passed away on June 30, 2014 at age 89 in Burbank, CA.


Hastings played Captain Binghamton's bumbling yes-man.

My favorite "Elroy Carpenter moment" was the episode where Binghamton finally discovers the Japanese POW that Commander McHale and his crew have stashed away as their own personal cook and concierge.  After the POW is arrested, McHale hatches a plan to free him by convincing everyone on the base that the war is over, using phony radio broadcasts with Ensign Parker (Tim Conway) imitating FDR's voice.

Later, the captain launches one of his condescending rants at Lt. Carpenter (Hastings) while they are on the dock waiting for McHale. Convinced that the war is over anyway, the fed-up Carpenter pushes Binghamton into the lagoon.


Hastings later appeared on the daytime soap General Hospital.

1 comment:

TC said...

I think he was the voice of Clark Kent/Superboy in the Filmation cartoon TV series on CBS in 1966.

He also played Archie Andrews in a radio series in the late 1940s.

IRL, he served in the US Army Air Forces during WWII.