J. D. Cannon

Cannon served in the United States Army during World War II. Cannon first appeared on television as Master Sergeant Sherman in the original CBS sitcom, The Phil Silvers Show, also known as You'll Never Get Rich.

He appeared in a 1963 episode of Combat! entitled "The Quiet Warrior" as a member of the British Intelligence.

In 1965 he appeared in an episode of “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.” The episode is entitled “Completely Foolproof,” which originally aired March 29, 1965.

In 1970 Cannon appeared as Roy Harkness on "The Men From Shiloh" (rebranded name for the TV western The Virginian in the episode titled "Hannah." He played a recurring character - a lawman named Harry Briscoe working for the Bannerman Detective Agency - in the 1971 to 1973 western series, Alias Smith and Jones. He guest starred in many series over the years, including Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Lancer, The Fugitive, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Untouchables, The Wild, Wild West, East Side/West Side, The Invaders, Combat!, Stoney Burke, and the miniseries Testimony of Two Men (1977) and Top of the Hill (1980). He was cast in several episodes of CBS's Murder, She Wrote. His last television acting appearance was on an episode of Law & Order in 1991.

He wore a toupee in most of his later roles. The exception was the Remington Steele episode "Steele in the News" (4 March 1983), in which Cannon played a TV news anchor who only wore his toupee while broadcasting. He also appeared (with his toupee), that same season (#2), of Remington Steele in Episode 21 "Hounded Steele". In the second season of Twelve O'Clock High (1965–1966) he played Brig. Gen. Dave Creighton, who worked for Allied intelligence and helped to foil a plot by Nazi saboteurs in the 34th episode of the series, "RX For A Sick Bird".

Cannon also appeared in film roles, often as a cold-eyed villain. His film credits included An American Dream (1966), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Krakatoa, East of Java (1969), The Thousand Plane Raid (1969), Heaven with a Gun (1969), Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Lawman (1971), Scorpio (1973), Raise the Titanic (1980), Death Wish II (1982) and Beyond Witch Mountain (1982).

Cannon was a founding member of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, starring in their productions of The Taming of the Shrew (1956) and Much Ado About Nothing (1961).[1]