Ed Flanders

American actor (1934–1995)

Not to be confused with Ned Flanders.

Ed Flanders

Flanders in The Ninth Configuration (1980)

Born|

Edward Paul Flanders

(1934-12-29)December 29, 1934

Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.

Died| February 22, 1995(1995-02-22) (aged 60)

Denny, California, U.S.

Occupation| Actor
Years active| 1967–1995
Spouses|

Bennye Kelly

(m. 1954; div. 1959)​

Ellen Geer

(m. 1963; div. 1968)​

Cody Lambert

(m. 1985; div. 1992)​

Children| 4

Edward Paul Flanders (December 29, 1934 – February 22, 1995)[1] was an American actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Donald Westphall in the medical drama series St. Elsewhere (1982–1988). Flanders was nominated for eight Primetime Emmy Awards and won three times in 1976, 1977, and 1983.

He received a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his performance in the 1973 production of A Moon for the Misbegotten.

## Early life

[edit]

Flanders was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Bernice (née Brown) and Francis Michael Grey Flanders.[2] His mother was killed in an automobile crash when he was 14. After graduating from Camden High School (Minneapolis)[a] (where he played hockey) in 1952, he enlisted in the United States Army, where he served as an X-ray technician.[citation needed]

## Early career

[edit]

After his service with the United States Army ended, Flanders began his acting career on Broadway before moving on to guest parts in television series. From 1967 through 1975, Flanders appeared in more than a dozen American TV shows, including six appearances on Hawaii Five-O (as five different characters). During this time, he was also prolific in TV movies. He married actress Ellen Geer, with whom he had a son, Ian Geer Flanders (born 1966), before they divorced.

In the late 1970s, Flanders moved away from small TV roles to take major credits in both TV and feature films, while continuing his stage career. In 1974, Flanders won a Tony Award for Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Dramatic Presentation for A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O'Neill on Broadway. In 1975 Ed Flanders, played in an episode of “ The Mary Tyler Moore Show, as Fr. Terrance Brian . He also won an Emmy award in 1976 for the TV movie adaptation of A Moon for the Misbegotten.[3]

## St. Elsewhere

[edit]

In 1982, he began his role in St. Elsewhere that earned him five Emmy Award nominations as Outstanding Lead Actor in a TV Series, winning the award in 1983. After a stormy departure from the series in 1987, he returned for two more episodes in 1988, including the series finale. During a scene in which Westphall addressed the staff, Flanders began speaking extemporaneously about the quality of art, which had to be edited for broadcast. Although he later returned for guest appearances, his exit on St. Elsewhere as a regular cast member was titled "Moon for the Misbegotten" after the play that won him a Tony Award. The episode gained much publicity as Westphall left the hospital after "mooning" his new boss, Dr. John Gideon (played by Ronny Cox). Flanders continued his working relationship with executive producer Bruce Paltrow in the short-lived 1994 CBS series The Road Home.[4]

## Notable roles

[edit]

In addition to his six-year role as Dr. Donald Westphall, Flanders is noted as the actor who has played President Harry Truman more times, and in more separate productions, than any other. He portrayed Truman at the end of World War II and during the Korean War in Truman at Potsdam, Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking, and MacArthur. In MacArthur, Flanders had second billing to Gregory Peck's lead as General Douglas MacArthur.[4]

In feature films, Flanders performed major roles in two dark movies based on novels by William Peter Blatty. In the first, The Ninth Configuration (1980), he plays Col. Richard Fell, a self-effacing medic at a secret U.S. Army psychiatric facility who assists Marine psychiatrist Col. Vincent Kane (Stacy Keach). The film was based on Blatty's 1978 novel of the same name, itself a reworking of his earlier, darkly satirical novel Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane (1966). In 1990, Flanders played Father Dyer alongside star George C. Scott in Blatty's The Exorcist III based on the novel Legion.

Flanders was in the M*A*S*H first-season episode "Yankee Doodle Doctor", playing film director Lt. Duane William Bricker, who is making a documentary about M*A*S*H units and visits the 4077th. After Hawkeye and Trapper sabotage his effort, Bricker abandons the project and leaves.

Flanders also played nationally known journalist William Allen White in the 1977 made-for-TV movie Mary White. This movie was based on the famous eulogy White wrote about his daughter following her death in 1922 in a horseback-riding accident. He also appeared in the 1979 made-for-TV-horror-miniseries Salem's Lot as Dr. Bill Norton, and played news anchor John Woodley in the 1983 made-for-TV suspense drama Special Bulletin, about a group of environmentalists who threaten to detonate a nuclear weapon in Charleston, South Carolina.

## Later life and death

[edit]

After three divorces, chronic pain from a back injury sustained in an automobile crash in Salyer, California, on September 26, 1988,[5] and a lifelong battle with depression, Flanders died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on February 22, 1995, in Denny, California, at the age of 60. No suicide note was found, and his remains were cremated.[6]

## Filmography

[edit]

### Television

[edit]

* 1967: Cimarron Strip (episode: "The Roarer") as Arliss Blynn
* 1969: Daniel Boone (episode: "The Traitor") as Lackland
* 1969: Hawaii Five-O (episode: "Up Tight") as Professor David Stone
* 1971: The Name of the Game (episode: "Beware of the Watchdog") as Lazlo Subich
* 1971: Travis Logan D.A. as Psychiatrist
* 1971: Bearcats! (episode: "The Hostage") as Ben Tillman
* 1971: Goodbye, Raggedy Ann (TV movie) as David Bevin
* 1971: McMillan & Wife (episode: "Husbands, Wives and Killers") as Tom Benton
* 1971: Mission Impossible (episode: "Blues") as Joe Belker
* 1972: Mannix (episode: "A Walk in the Shadows") as Tom Farnom
* 1972: Nichols a.k.a. James Garner as Nichols (episode: "Fight of the Century")
* 1972: Cade's County (episode: "The Fake") as Ben Crawford
* 1972: Ironside (episode: "Five days in the Death of Sgt. Brown: Part 1") as Phil McIver
* 1972: The Bold Ones: The New Doctors a.k.a. The New Doctors (episode: "Five Days in the Death of Sgt Brown: Part II") as Phil McIver
* 1972: M*A*S*H (episode: "Yankee Doodle Doctor") as Lt Dwayne Bricker
* 1972: Banyon (episode: "Just Once") as Sergeant Randall
* 1973: Kung Fu (episode: "The Salamander") as Alonzo Davis
* 1973: Marcus Welby, M.D. a.k.a. Robert Young, Family Doctor (episode: "The Comeback") as Magruder
* 1974: Barnaby Jones (episode: "Death on Deposit") as "Doc" Fred Tucker
* 1969–1975: Hawaii Five-O (6 episodes):
* 1969 "Up Tight" as David Stone
* 1970 "Three Dead Cows at Makapuu" (2-part episode) as Dr Alexander Kline
* 1970 "The Guarnerius Caper" as Dmitri Rostov
* 1972 "While You're at It, Bring in the Moon" as Byers
* 1974 "One Born Every Minute" as Joe Connors
* 1975 "And the Horse Jumped Over the Moon" as Bernie Ross
* 1975: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (episode: "Mary's Father") as Father Terrance Brian
* 1975: The Legend of Lizzie Borden as Hosea Knowlton
* 1975: Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan as Justice Department attorney Ralph Paine
* 1976: Hallmark Hall of Fame (episode: "Truman at Potsdam") as President Harry S Truman
* 1979: Backstairs at the White House (episodes 1.1, 1.2 and 1.4) as President Calvin Coolidge
* 1979: Blind Ambition (TV mini-series) as Charles Shaffer
* 1979: Salem's Lot a.k.a. Blood Thirst as Dr Bill Norton
* 1982–1988: St. Elsewhere \- 120 episodes as Dr. Donald Westphall
* 1993: Jack's Place (episode: "Who Knew?") as Marcus Toback
* 1994: The Road Home (pilot episode) as William Babineaux

### Films

[edit]

* 1970: The Grasshopper or Passions or The Passing of Evil as Jack Benton
* 1972: The Trial of the Catonsville Nine as Father Daniel Berrigan
* 1972: The Snoop Sisters or The Female Instinct (TV Movie) as Milo Perkins
* 1973: Hunter (TV Movie) as Dr Miles
* 1974: Indict and Convict (TV Movie) as Timothy Fitzgerald
* 1974: Things in Their Season (TV Movie) as Carl Gerlach
* 1975: The Legend of Lizzie Borden (TV Movie) as Hosea Knowlton
* 1975: Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan (TV Movie) as Ralph Paine
* 1975: A Moon for the Misbegotten (TV Movie) as Phil Hogan
* 1976: Eleanor and Franklin (TV Movie) as Louis Howe
* 1976: The Sad and Lonely Sundays (TV Movie) as Dr Frankman
* 1976: Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking (TV Movie) as President Harry S. Truman
* 1977: The Amazing Howard Hughes (TV Movie) as Noah Dietrich
* 1977: MacArthur as President Harry S. Truman
* 1977: Mary White (TV Movie) as William Allen White
* 1979: Salem's Lot as Dr. Bill Norton
* 1980: The Ninth Configuration or Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane as Col. Richard Fell
* 1981: Inchon as President Harry S. Truman (voice, uncredited)
* 1981: True Confessions as Dan T. Campion
* 1981: The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper or Pursuit as Brigadier
* 1981: Skokie or Once They Marched Through a Thousand Towns (UK title) (TV Movie) as Mayor Albert J. Smith
* 1982: Tomorrow's Child (TV Movie) as Anders Stenslund
* 1983: Special Bulletin (TV Movie) as John Woodley
* 1989: The Final Days (TV Movie) as Leonard Garment
* 1990: The Exorcist III as Father Joseph Dyer
* 1991: The Perfect Tribute (TV Movie) as Warren
* 1992: Citizen Cohn (TV Movie) as Joseph N. Welch
* 1993: Message from Nam as Ed Wilson
* 1995: Bye Bye Love as Walter Sims (final film role)

## Awards and nominations

[edit]

### Television

[edit]

Year  | Award  | Category  | Nominated work  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

1976 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Won  | [7]
1977 | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama or Comedy Special | Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking | Won
1979 | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special | Backstairs at the White House | Nominated
1983 | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | St. Elsewhere | Won
1984 | Nominated
1985 | Nominated
1986 | Nominated
1987 | Nominated

### Theatre

[edit]

Year  | Award  | Category  | Nominated work  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

1974  | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Performance  | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Won  | [8]
1974 | Tony Awards | Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Play | Won  | [9]

## References

[edit]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Ed Flanders" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

1. ^ Wilson, Scott (August 19, 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). McFarland. p. 246\. ISBN 978-1-4766-2599-7. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
2. ^ "Ed Flanders Biography (1934–1995)". Film Reference Library. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
3. ^ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present. Random House. p. 1646\. ISBN 978-0-3074-8320-1.
4. ^ a b "Ed Flanders, 60, Actor Known For His Work in 'St. Elsewhere'". The New York Times. March 2, 1995. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
5. ^ "Actor hurt in car crash". Deseret News. 28 September 1988.
6. ^ Gliatto, Tom (March 20, 1995). "From Elsewhere to Nowhere". People. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
7. ^ "Ed Flanders". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
8. ^ "Nominees and Recipients – 1974 Awards". Drama Desk Awards. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
9. ^ "1974 Tony Awards". Tony Awards. Retrieved December 29, 2024.

1. ^ formerly Henry High School

## External links

[edit]

* Ed Flanders at the Internet Broadway Database (from where list of film and TV appearances are accessible)
* Ed Flanders at IMDb
* Ed Flanders at the TCM Movie Database

Awards for Ed Flanders

* v
* t
* e

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

1954–1975|

* Donald O'Connor (1954)
* Danny Thomas (1955)
* Phil Silvers (1956)
* Robert Young (1957)
* Robert Young (1958)
* Raymond Burr (1959)
* Robert Stack (1960)
* Raymond Burr (1961)
* E. G. Marshall (1962)
* E. G. Marshall (1963)
* Dick Van Dyke (1964)
* Leonard Bernstein / Lynn Fontanne / Alfred Lunt / Barbra Streisand / Dick Van Dyke (1965)
* Bill Cosby (1966)
* Bill Cosby (1967)
* Bill Cosby (1968)
* Carl Betz (1969)
* Robert Young (1970)
* Hal Holbrook (1971)
* Peter Falk (1972)
* Richard Thomas (1973)
* Telly Savalas (1974)
* Robert Blake (1975)

1976–2000|

* Peter Falk (1976)
* James Garner (1977)
* Ed Asner (1978)
* Ron Leibman (1979)
* Ed Asner (1980)
* Daniel J. Travanti (1981)
* Daniel J. Travanti (1982)
* Ed Flanders (1983)
* Tom Selleck (1984)
* William Daniels (1985)
* William Daniels (1986)
* Bruce Willis (1987)
* Richard Kiley (1988)
* Carroll O'Connor (1989)
* Peter Falk (1990)
* James Earl Jones (1991)
* Christopher Lloyd (1992)
* Tom Skerritt (1993)
* Dennis Franz (1994)
* Mandy Patinkin (1995)
* Dennis Franz (1996)
* Dennis Franz (1997)
* Andre Braugher (1998)
* Dennis Franz (1999)
* James Gandolfini (2000)

2001–present|

* James Gandolfini (2001)
* Michael Chiklis (2002)
* James Gandolfini (2003)
* James Spader (2004)
* James Spader (2005)
* Kiefer Sutherland (2006)
* James Spader (2007)
* Bryan Cranston (2008)
* Bryan Cranston (2009)
* Bryan Cranston (2010)
* Kyle Chandler (2011)
* Damian Lewis (2012)
* Jeff Daniels (2013)
* Bryan Cranston (2014)
* Jon Hamm (2015)
* Rami Malek (2016)
* Sterling K. Brown (2017)
* Matthew Rhys (2018)
* Billy Porter (2019)
* Jeremy Strong (2020)
* Josh O'Connor (2021)
* Lee Jung-jae (2022)
* Kieran Culkin (2023)
* Hiroyuki Sanada (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

1953–1975|

* Thomas Mitchell (1953)
* Robert Cummings (1955)
* Lloyd Nolan (1956)
* Jack Palance (1957)
* Peter Ustinov (1958)
* Fred Astaire (1959)
* Laurence Olivier (1960)
* Maurice Evans (1961)
* Peter Falk (1962)
* Trevor Howard (1963)
* Jack Klugman (1964)
* Alfred Lunt (1965)
* Cliff Robertson (1966)
* Peter Ustinov (1967)
* Melvyn Douglas (1968)
* Paul Scofield (1969)
* Peter Ustinov (1970)
* George C. Scott (1971)
* Keith Michell (1972)
* Laurence Olivier (1973)
* Anthony Murphy (1973)
* Hal Holbrook (1974)
* William Holden (1974)
* Laurence Olivier (1975)
* Peter Falk (1975)

1976–2000|

* Anthony Hopkins (1976)
* Hal Holbrook (1976)
* Ed Flanders (1977)
* Christopher Plummer (1977)
* Fred Astaire (1978)
* Michael Moriarty (1978)
* Peter Strauss (1979)
* Powers Boothe (1980)
* Anthony Hopkins (1981)
* Mickey Rooney (1982)
* Tommy Lee Jones (1983)
* Laurence Olivier (1984)
* Richard Crenna (1985)
* Dustin Hoffman (1986)
* James Woods (1987)
* Jason Robards (1988)
* James Woods (1989)
* Hume Cronyn (1990)
* John Gielgud (1991)
* Beau Bridges (1992)
* Robert Morse (1993)
* Hume Cronyn (1994)
* Raul Julia (1995)
* Alan Rickman (1996)
* Armand Assante (1997)
* Gary Sinise (1998)
* Stanley Tucci (1999)
* Jack Lemmon (2000)

2001–present|

* Kenneth Branagh (2001)
* Albert Finney (2002)
* William H. Macy (2003)
* Al Pacino (2004)
* Geoffrey Rush (2005)
* Andre Braugher (2006)
* Robert Duvall (2007)
* Paul Giamatti (2008)
* Brendan Gleeson (2009)
* Al Pacino (2010)
* Barry Pepper (2011)
* Kevin Costner (2012)
* Michael Douglas (2013)
* Benedict Cumberbatch (2014)
* Richard Jenkins (2015)
* Courtney B. Vance (2016)
* Riz Ahmed (2017)
* Darren Criss (2018)
* Jharrel Jerome (2019)
* Mark Ruffalo (2020)
* Ewan McGregor (2021)
* Michael Keaton (2022)
* Steven Yeun (2023)
* Richard Gadd (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

* Anthony Quayle (1975)
* Ed Flanders (1976)
* Burgess Meredith (1977)
* Howard da Silva (1978)
* Marlon Brando (1979)
* George Grizzard (1980)
* David Warner (1981)
* Laurence Olivier (1982)
* Richard Kiley (1983)
* Art Carney (1984)
* Karl Malden (1985)
* John Malkovich (1986)
* Dabney Coleman (1987)
* John Shea (1988)
* Derek Jacobi (1989)
* Vincent Gardenia (1990)
* James Earl Jones (1991)
* Hume Cronyn (1992)
* Beau Bridges (1993)
* Michael A. Goorjian (1994)
* Donald Sutherland (1995)
* Tom Hulce (1996)
* Beau Bridges (1997)
* George C. Scott (1998)
* Peter O'Toole (1999)
* Hank Azaria (2000)
* Brian Cox (2001)
* Michael Moriarty (2002)
* Ben Gazzara (2003)
* Jeffrey Wright (2004)
* Paul Newman (2005)
* Jeremy Irons (2006)
* Thomas Haden Church (2007)
* Tom Wilkinson (2008)
* Ken Howard (2009)
* David Strathairn (2010)
* Guy Pearce (2011)
* Tom Berenger (2012)
* James Cromwell (2013)
* Martin Freeman (2014)
* Bill Murray (2015)
* Sterling K. Brown (2016)
* Alexander Skarsgård (2017)
* Jeff Daniels (2018)
* Ben Whishaw (2019)
* Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (2020)
* Evan Peters (2021)
* Murray Bartlett (2022)
* Paul Walter Hauser (2023)
* Lamorne Morris (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play

1949–1975|

* Arthur Kennedy (1949)
* Eli Wallach (1951)
* John Cromwell (1952)
* John Williams (1953)
* John Kerr (1954)
* Francis L. Sullivan (1955)
* Ed Begley (1956)
* Frank Conroy (1957)
* Henry Jones (1958)
* Charlie Ruggles (1959)
* Roddy McDowall (1960)
* Martin Gabel (1961)
* Walter Matthau (1962)
* Alan Arkin (1963)
* Hume Cronyn (1964)
* Jack Albertson (1965)
* Patrick Magee (1966)
* Ian Holm (1967)
* James Patterson (1968)
* Al Pacino (1969)
* Ken Howard (1970)
* Paul Sand (1971)
* Vincent Gardenia (1972)
* John Lithgow (1973)
* Ed Flanders (1974)
* Frank Langella (1975)

1976–2000|

* Edward Herrmann (1976)
* Jonathan Pryce (1977)
* Lester Rawlins (1978)
* Michael Gough (1979)
* David Rounds (1980)
* Brian Backer (1981)
* Zakes Mokae (1982)
* Matthew Broderick (1983)
* Joe Mantegna (1984)
* Barry Miller (1985)
* John Mahoney (1986)
* John Randolph (1987)
* BD Wong (1988)
* Boyd Gaines (1989)
* Charles Durning (1990)
* Kevin Spacey (1991)
* Laurence Fishburne (1992)
* Stephen Spinella (1993)
* Jeffrey Wright (1994)
* John Glover (1995)
* Ruben Santiago-Hudson (1996)
* Owen Teale (1997)
* Tom Murphy (1998)
* Frank Wood (1999)
* Roy Dotrice (2000)

2001–present|

* Robert Sean Leonard (2001)
* Frank Langella (2002)
* Denis O'Hare (2003)
* Brían F. O'Byrne (2004)
* Liev Schreiber (2005)
* Ian McDiarmid (2006)
* Billy Crudup (2007)
* Jim Norton (2008)
* Roger Robinson (2009)
* Eddie Redmayne (2010)
* John Benjamin Hickey (2011)
* Christian Borle (2012)
* Courtney B. Vance (2013)
* Mark Rylance (2014)
* Richard McCabe (2015)
* Reed Birney (2016)
* Michael Aronov (2017)
* Nathan Lane (2018)
* Bertie Carvel (2019)
* David Alan Grier (2020/21)
* Jesse Tyler Ferguson (2022)
* Brandon Uranowitz (2023)
* Will Brill (2024)
* Francis Jue (2025)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Spain
* Korea
* Poland
* Israel

Artists|

* Emmy Awards

Other|

* IdRef
* SNAC
* Yale LUX

*[m.]: married
*[div.]: divorced
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template