- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHoward Weston Bessell Jr
- Nickname
- Teddy
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Born in New York City, Ted's early career included guest appearances in soap operas, Lover Come Back (1961) and It's a Man's World (1962). Ted went on to appear as "Frankie" on Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), but his big break was as "That Guy" on the successful Marlo Thomas Television series That Girl (1966). As "Don Hollinger", he played the boyfriend of aspiring actress "Ann Marie". After that, he appeared in a number of short lived Television comedy series including Me and the Chimp (1972), Good Time Harry (1980) and Hail to the Chief (1985). After being stereotyped as the good boyfriend, Ted found jobs hard to find so he moved towards the direction and production end of Television. Ted directed episodes of The Tracey Ullman Show (1987) and Sibs (1991). At the time of his death, he was preparing to direct a movie version of the Television series Bewitched (1964).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
- SpousesLinnell S. Nobori(1982 - October 6, 1996) (his death, 2 children)Janeen A. Dara(April 20, 1963 - March 1967) (annulled)Donna Gordon (divorced)
- A former 12-year-old child prodigy, his youthful highlight was performing a piano recital at Carnegie Hall.
- For five years (until his death) his professional partner was Penny Marshall at Parkway Productions.
- Best remembered by the public for his role as "Donald Hollinger" in That Girl (1966), starring Marlo Thomas, with whom he remained friends until his death. The two discussed a feature film remake of That Girl (1966), in which the two main characters, now 25 years older, would meet again and fall in love.
- Bessell died at age 61 after suffering an aortic aneurysm at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, Los Angeles. He was pronounced dead shortly after 1 a.m. on October 6, 1996 in the emergency room. At the time, he was in the process of directing the movie version of the television series Bewitched (1964). Ironically, a quarter-century earlier, he had guest-starred in Echo from Another World (1971) as a doctor who misdiagnoses a patient who ends up having an aortic aneurysm. Bessell is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica, California.
- Before becoming an actor, Ted Bessell reportedly considered the priesthood as a vocation.
- Donald Hollinger made me a name but took away the heart of me.
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