Dick York

American Actor
Dick York was an American actor who was the first to play Darrin Stephens on the TV show Bewitched. He also appeared in the film Inherit the Wind, but his acting career was hampered by a serious back injury he sustained while working on another film.

About Dick York

Richard Allen York (September 4, 1928 – February 20, 1992) was an American actor. He was the first actor to play Darrin Stephens on the ABC fantasy sitcom Bewitched. He played teacher Bertram Cates in the film Inherit the Wind (1960).

York’s career was hampered by a serious back injury he sustained while working on the film They Came to Cordura in 1959. Although his role in Bewitched was a success, he left the series in 1969 after a further decline in his physical health, and rarely acted thereafter.

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Frequently asked questions about Dick York

Dick York was an American actor who was the first actor to play Darrin Stephens on the ABC fantasy sitcom Bewitched.

Dick York played Bertram Cates in the film Inherit the Wind (1960) and was the first actor to portray Darrin Stephens on the TV show Bewitched.

Dick York’s acting career was hampered by a serious back injury he sustained while working on the film They Came to Cordura in 1959, which led to a further decline in his physical health and him leaving the Bewitched series in 1969.

Dick York, whose full name was Richard Allen York, was born on September 4, 1928, and passed away on February 20, 1992.

Dick York played the role of Darrin Stephens on the TV show Bewitched from 1964 to 1969, before leaving the series due to his declining health.

Dick York’s serious back injury, which he sustained while working on the film They Came to Cordura in 1959, significantly hampered his acting career, leading to him leaving the Bewitched series in 1969 and rarely acting thereafter.

Quotes by Dick York

After all, didn’t I blow a magnificent career?

Dick York

Anyone who would let Gary Cooper and the entire cast go charging on horseback without first finding out what kind of footing the horses had is nuts and cannot possibly direct a motion picture.

Dick York

Every time I listened to Lux Radio Theatre, I wanted to vomit.

Dick York

Fortunately, I was supposed to look confused and disoriented because, God, I felt that way.

Dick York

I had done my first picture and I didn’t have anything to do for awhile. I was asked to come back to New York and do Bus Stop in the role of the cowboy opposite Kim Stanley.

Dick York

I kept having chills. This was in the middle of the summer and I was wearing a sheepskin jacket and I was chilling. I was shaking all over.

Dick York

I lay in my dressing room after being in make-up waiting to go on. They knew I was feeling pretty rotten and they tried to give me time to rest. But I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t do anything.

Dick York

I never danced a step in my life so naturally. My first motion picture was a musical, and Bob Fosse was the choreographer. I didn’t exactly dance for Fosse, I just did the best that I could to do what he taught us to do.

Dick York

I took pain pills to get to sleep because I didn’t want to go to work the next day exhausted.

Dick York

I was seeing everything through pain. I would roll out of bed and do my exercises. I had to do that to work out the remainder of the pain pills. I would drink coffee and go to the set and plunge myself so far into my work.

Dick York

I went to a Gestalt therapist and said that I want to be able to at least tell my muscles that aren’t involved that they don’t have to go into spasms too.

Dick York

I’d managed to bite a very large hole in the side of my tongue before they could pry my teeth apart. By all evidence, and there’s no denying it, that thing I had on the set was a fit.

Dick York

I’m trying to go over my lines. I woke up on the floor, somebody had me in their arms. I didn’t quite know who, people looked so unfamiliar. That’s about all I remember.

Dick York

I’ve been blessed. I have no complaints. I’ve been surrounded by people in radio, on stage and in motion pictures and television who love me. The things that have gone wrong have been simply physical things.

Dick York

My spine healed incorrectly. There were long periods when I’d be perfectly all right, and then there were many other times when I wasn’t, when my back would give out and throw me down to the floor amid waves of nauseating pain.

Dick York

Piper insisted she had to be out of breath when we played this one scene, so she ran around the block. Thank God she wasn’t doing a crucifixtion scene; we would have had to nail her to the wall.

Dick York

Radio allowed people to act with their hearts and minds.

Dick York

There was a three hour differential in performances because the sponsor insisted it be done live for California. You would go on at 8 pm in New York but you would also have to go on at 8 p.m. in California. That meant coming back in to do the show at 11 p.m.

Dick York

We bought an apartment building and were going to live off the rent money. We rented to people who were on welfare and a lot of times they couldn’t pay the rent. We wouldn’t throw them out so we lost the building.

Dick York

When I did Inherit the Wind, I learned about teaching school. I also found out what a fundamentalist was.

Dick York

You’d go in, read the script once for timing and then you would sit around and play games. The sound effects people would come in and we would do a dress rehearsal so they could get the effects and the music cues in place. Then you would wait until you went on the air.

Dick York