Dan Kemp (actor)

Daniel Richard Kemp (November 29, 1927 – January 11, 2000) was an American actor best known for his guest-starring roles in several television westerns between 1969 and 1971.

Life[]

Kemp was born in San Diego, California. He was a son of actor Carroll Kemp, from an old Cornish family.^[1] His first role was as "Nick" in the 1968 episode "A Few Miles West of Nowhere" on the NBC adventure series, I Spy, starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. His first western role followed the next year as the character Clem Watson in "Lightfoot" on ABC's The Big Valley as well as The High Chaparral. In 1970, he appeared as a police lieutenant in the episode "Beware the Wiles of the Stranger" on Raymond Burr's NBC series Ironside. He appeared twice in 1970 in different roles on the NBC western The High Chaparral. In 1970, he also played the role of Vittorio in the film Cry Blood, Apache.^[2]

On November 30, 1970, he played the outlaw Lucas McCabe in the episode "McCabe" of CBS's Gunsmoke. Mitch Vogel played his teenage son, Dobie, who, because of hatred over the father having deserted him and his late mother, turns McCabe over to authorities to be hanged. Ultimately Marshal Matt Dillon obtains McCabe on a lesser offense and the father and son reconcile, but McCabe goes to prison as his son waits for his return.^[3]

In 1971, Kemp played Al Gorman in the "Exit from Wickenburg" episode of ABC's Alias Smith and Jones. Kemp appeared twice on NBC's Bonanza, as Jim Hale in "The Silence at Stillwater" (1969) and as Bolton in "The Reluctant American" (1971). He also appeared in 1971 in the episode "No Pockets in the Shroud" of CBS's detective series Cannon, starring William Conrad. In 1973, he played the outlaw Joe Meehan in the John Wayne film, Cahill U.S. Marshal.^[2]

His last role was as a judge in the 1979 television movie, Undercover with the KKK. Kemp died in Nevada City, California, at the age of seventy-two.^[2]

Filmography[]

References[]