David Ketchum, who passed away on August 10 at the age of 97, is probably best remembered for his recurring role on the NBC sitcom Get Smart! (1965-70). He was the guy whose head would pop up out of vending machines, mail boxes and washing machines as Agent 13. His appearances opposite Don Adams are so memorable it seems as if he was on most episodes, not just the number he actually recurred on — thirteen.
For somebody who majored in electrical engineering at UCLA, Ketchum spent a career wired directly into the entertainment business. He hosted a nightly radio show in San Francisco, recorded a comedy record album (The Long-Playing Tongue of Dave Ketchum), and appeared in sketches in a couple of series hosted by Steve Allen in the late ’50s, early ’60s.
The Illinois native eventually spent one season as a series lead on the summer camp comedy Camp Runamuck (1965-66). I was part of the army of kids marched off to cub and scout camps across North America around this time and it seemed as if this series was made for all us eight and nine year olds.*
Ketchum’s costars included Arch Johnson (Cmdr Wiverhoe), Dave Madden (later on Partridge Family) and Nina Wayne (look-a-like sister of Johnny Carson’s Matinee sketch player Carol Wayne). Among the kids at the girl’s camp across the river was future Brady Bunch Marsha, Maureen McCormick (above left with Ketchum in the black and white shot).
Prior to that Ketchum was a regular on I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster (1962-63), a broad buddy comedy starring John Astin and Marty Ingells.
Ketchum quickly established himself as a bankable character actor popping up on episodes of pretty much every series I watched as a kid in the ’60s, including The Munsters, Good Morning World, The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle USMC, and That Girl. He remained a busy guest star throughout the ’70s in series such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Green Acres, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, My Three Sons, The Odd Couple, The Partridge Family, Maude, Mork & Mindy and Happy Days.
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Where he stands out for me, as someone who revisits classic sitcoms, is on The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1969-72). There he played Joe Kelly, a TV repairman and — like Eddie’s father Tom Corbett (Bill Bixby) — a single dad. Kelly’s kid Joey used to beat up Eddie at school. She was memorably played by two-time Oscar Best Actress winner Jody Foster.
Ketchum’s character was this blue collar. ex-army guy who used to punch Corbett on the shoulder all the time. It could have been a one-note cartoon, but Ketchum brought heart to the role of a single dad struggling to keep his little “pumpkin” from becoming the school bully. Ketchum only appeared on the series three times — two less than Foster — but had they both been more a part of this quiet little gem it might have lasted longer.
While he occasionally branched out as a voice actor for cartoons (including eight episodes of Roger Ramjet) and feature films (“Love at First Bite,” “The Main Event”), Ketchum had a more robust second career in Hollywood as a writer. He sold his first script to Gary Marshall in 1967 on an early flop, Hey Landlord. Marshall must have loved his work, however. Ketchum later worked as an executive story consultant for both Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days, His writing credits also appear on episodes of Get Smart!, Captain Nice, Here’s Lucy, M*A*S*H and even ’70s dramas such as T.J. Hooker, Lucas Tanner and The Bionic Woman. Remember Sledge Hammer (1987-88)? Ketchum pounded out four scripts for that David Rasche series as well.
Ketchum’s final credits were for appearing on later Get Smart movies and specials. Tired of getting squeezed into mail boxes and ice machines, Ketchum played out his days with family. Condolences to his wife of 68 years, Louise, his two children, grandchildren and one great grandson.
- Many years later Telemedia, which owned TV Guide Canada in the ’80s and ’90s, marched a bunch of us off to an editorial think tank in Niagara on the Lake. Editor Richard Charteris coined it, “Camp Run-a-mag.”
