David Ketchum (born February 4, 1928 in Quincy, Illinois) is an American character actor, writer, and director, who appeared as the Ski Shop Salesman in Season 1's Mork's First Christmas.
Biography[]
David Ketchum was born February 4, 1928 in Quincy, Illinois. Ketchum studied physics at UCLA and joined other UCLA students in entertaining military personnel around the world for the USO.
Ketchum married singer Louise Bryan
Career[]
Ketchum had a radio program for seven years in San Diego, California. In 1962, he released a comedy album The Long-Playing Tongue of Dave Ketchum was released. Billboard giving it a 4-star prefix for strong sales potential.
As an actor, David Ketchum got his first screen credit on The Jim Backus Show (1961), before going on to appear in in hit sitcoms such as ABC-TV's That Girl CBS-TV's The Joey Bishop Show, The Carol Burnett Show, Petticoat Junction, Gomer Pyle, The Andy Griffith Show, Green Acres, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Love, American Style, Alice, and Maude. He had a regular role playing Counselor Spiffy in Camp Runamuck, and as the memorable Announcer on the cult cartoon Roger Ramjet. He was also a regular on I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, playing the role of Mel Warshaw (1962-63), along with Get Smart (1966-67) in probably his best known role, Agent 13. Often seen in recurring jokes on the show hiding in unusual places like filing cabinets or fire hydrants. A role he reprised in the 1989 TV movie Get Smart Again as well as an episode of 1995 revival of Get Smart on Fox. Ketchum also co-wrote one episode of the third season of the original series, titled "Classification: Dead."
He also wrote scripts for many of these programs, including The Andy Griffith Show, Petticoat Junction. Love, American Style (1971 - 73). And for many other memorable shows from the 60s through the early 90s including Here's Lucy (1969-1970) M*A*S*H (1973) The Six Million Dollar Man (1974) Wonder Woman (1976-1977) The Love Boat (1977-1986) The Bionic Woman (1978) The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (1980) T.J. Hooker (1984) MacGyver (1986) Perfect Strangers (1987) Sledge Hammer! (1987 - 1988) Highway to Heaven (1989) Full House (1990).
Through this period Ketchum also became something of a troupe player on contributor on Garry Marshall productions, starting with the Odd Couple (1971) He first appeared in a 1974 episode of Happy Days episode "R.O.T.C." as U.S. Army Lt. Col. Binicky, Richie's ROTC commanding officer, returning as Coach Pelino in "A Shot in the Dark", and in a recurring role as Donald Hedges in three episodes through 1978. And his appearance in Mork & Mindy the same year. At the same time he also served as writer on Happy Days for 10 episodes (1974 - 80), Blansky's Beauty's (1977) and 5 episodes of Laverne & Shirley (1981 - 82)
His big screen acting credits include Good Neighbor Sam (1964) The Grasshopper (1970) Your Three Minutes Are Up (1973) The Main Event (1979 )Love at First Bite (1979) The North Avenue Irregulars (1979). Young Doctors in Love (1982) and The Other Sister (1999).
Mork & Mindy[]
Ketchum's Ski Shop Salesman encounters Mork in the midst of the madness of the Christmas shopping run up, with the Ski Shop particularly manic, and Mork hiding out under a table. When Mork tries to restore his safety by making a faking announcement of a sale on the non existent second floor, he clears the place out, apologizing to the Salesman when he arrives. Who tells him not to worry about it, they'll all come back when they discover there's no second floor. Asking the Salesman for help with his purchases, results in a less positive response however, when Mork tells him that he only has 12 bucks for presents for 4 people. The salesman suggests he buys gifts at McDonalds. [1] [2]