---
name: "John Anderson"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-anderson"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "20 October 1922"
died: "7 August 1992"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T21:17:00.014179+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# John Anderson

Actor. Born 20 October 1922 in Clayton, Illinois, USA. Died 7 August 1992.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 20 October 1922, Clayton, Illinois, USA
- **Died:** 7 August 1992
- **Also known as:** John R. Anderson

## Biography

John Anderson (1922–1992) was an American character actor. Born John Robert Anderson on 20 October 1922 in Clayton, Illinois, he studied theatre in Minnesota and Ohio, earned a master's degree in drama from the University of Iowa, and served in the United States Coast Guard during the Second World War. He began his career on Broadway, appearing in the musical *Paint Your Wagon* (1951) and *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* (1955–1956).

Anderson worked extensively in film and television, with more than 500 television credits. He played California Charlie in Alfred Hitchcock's *Psycho* (1960) and portrayed Abraham Lincoln three times. Notable television appearances include roles in *The Twilight Zone* (1959), *Little House on the Prairie* (1974), *MacGyver* (1985) as Harry Jackson, and *Star Trek: The Next Generation* (1987). He died of a heart attack on 7 August 1992 in Sherman Oaks, California.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, web.archive.org.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Psycho* (1960), Fi1m 90, as California Charlie — [page](https://film.one/film/psycho.md)

## Also known for

- *Little House on the Prairie* (1974), Amos Pike
- *MacGyver* (1985), Harry Jackson
- *Quantum Leap* (1989), Pat Knight
- *The Incredible Hulk* (1977), Mike Calahan
- *Bonanza* (1959), Sam Masters, Gorman, Tulsa Weems
- *Murder, She Wrote* (1984), Andrew Dixon
- *The Fortune Cookie* (1966), Abraham Lincoln (uncredited)
- *Smokey and the Bandit II* (1980), Governor

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/john-anderson