Harry Townes

A well-known TV character actor, Harry Townes made sure to play as many different roles as possible throughout his decades-long career, ensuring he'd never be typecast. As a result, Townes guest-starred in over 200 television shows, appearing in everything from TV Westerns like "Rawhide "and "Gunsmoke" to the groundbreaking science fiction shows "The Twilight Zone " and "Star Trek." Although he was a familiar face to TV audiences, it wasn't until his appearance as Dell Frye on a 1981 two-part episode of "The Incredible Hulk" that Townes gained a cult following. That episode, called "The First," came to be one of the show's most popular due to Townes's portrayal of a man who, like the Hulk, also had the ability to transform his body. Townes worked steadily throughout the remainder of the 1980s, appearing in guest spots on shows like "Magnum, P.I.," "Simon & Simon ," and "Valerie's Family," before retiring from acting altogether in 1989. Townes subsequently moved back to his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, entered the priesthood, and, for the remainder of his life, served as an ordained Episcopal priest.