by Susan Couso
We have some fascinating people who came from Lassen County, and Frank Randolph Cady was one of them. Frank was born in Susanville in 1915, the son of Leon Roy ‘Ted’ and Clara Pardee Cady. He was known as ‘Bud’ in local circles.
Frank’s dad, Ted, owned the Susanville Light & Water Company. Frank was one of three children. His brother, Don, became an attorney who settled in Susanville, and sister Jene, was an actress, who married internationally-known artist Gunther Gerzso and lived in Mexico City.
Frank Cady graduated from Lassen High School, and then went on to Stanford University, with the idea of becoming a journalist. There, he worked on the campus magazine, the Stanford Chaparral. He graduated Stanford in 1938. Cady had worked as an errand boy and reporter for the old Lassen Advocate to help finance his college education, but Frank’s true love was acting. He had been inspired when he sang in an elementary school play. After Stanford, Cady was off to London, where he performed on the Westminster Theater stage and appeared in one of the earliest BBC T.V. Productions of Shakespeare.
As WWII broke out, Frank set his acting aside and came back to California. He returned to Stanford in 1939 for graduate work and a teaching assistant position. He met his future wife, Shirley Jones, while teaching acting classes at Stanford. Frank worked for a while as a radio announcer in Stockton and San Francisco, and then, in 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and served in England, France and Germany.
In 1946, he returned again to California and settled in Hollywood. After being spotted in a small stage production, he was snatched up by a local agent, and his long career as an actor was on the way.
His first film, Violence, was released in 1947. Frank played everything from ‘seedy’ characters involved in underworld crime, to next-door neighbors, to a doctor, and even twins in a Perry Mason show. This was a long way from the lovable ‘hayseed’ character, Sam Drucker, that Frank portrayed for many years on Green Acres. His Sam Drucker character lasted until the end of his career, but getting there took him through many roles.
He appeared in many films, such as Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart and The Bad Seed.
All-in-all, Frank appeared in well over 25 films and many major television shows including The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Wagon Train, Perry Mason, Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Green Acres. He also appeared on radio shows, including Gunsmoke and Have Gun Will Travel, and in commercials for such companies as Ralston Purina and Coca Cola.
He once said, “You get typecast. I’m remembered for those shows and not for some pretty good acting jobs I did other times. I suppose I ought to be grateful for that, because otherwise I wouldn’t be remembered at all. I’ve got to be one of the luckiest guys in the world.”
Frank was a valued actor, but he was also a cherished individual. He had married his wife, Shirley, in 1940. Frank and Shirley managed to avoid the usual pitfalls of celebrity life in Hollywood. They were married 68 years before Shirley passed away in 2009.
Together, they had two children, and in 1991, they moved to be closer to their them. Frank Cady died in Wilsonville, Oregon in 2012.
