Edward Platt

Edward Platt was born February 14, 1916 in Staten Island, New York. Platt began his performing career as an opera and big band singer before hosting a children’s show on television. Platt turned towards the movies when his friend Jose Ferrer offered him a role in The Shrike in 1955.

North By Northwest

Platt then began a successful career as a character actor in both movies and television. His first and only regular TV role came when cast as the Chief in 1965. Don Adams and others have credited Platt with making Get Smart click, as his acting ability made the unbelievable believable. Leonard Stern put it perfectly:

He turned out to be irreplaceable. You very seldom say that about an actor but there turned out to be something innate in Ed, a paternal patience, that sort of harnessed this fury and made him reinvestigate his incredulity. Somehow, I think he had to be a results player and it worked out all right so he had to forgive the methodology. I sorely missed that. In the movies, there was no adequate replacement.

Part of that came from the great working chemistry between Platt and Adams. Adams, who had a photographic memory, used to bet Platt that he would mess up difficult lines. To help him win the bet, Adams would often rewrite the Chief's lines. The picture below, signed to Platt from Adams, was given for display on this site by Jeff Platt, as it helps to illustrate the above point.

Picture Copyright The Platt Family and Used By Their Permission

Another example of how much Ed was loved by the cast and crew is in the following movie clip. Jeff Platt was kind enough to let me post this clip of them surprising Ed on his birthday. Please note that this video was donated by Jeff Platt and is not to be taken and posted on YouTube or other sites. It's a gift for us fans!

As you can imagine, with that voice and presence, Ed also did voiceover work. The following clip of Ed doing the voiceover for Dino Golf Balls is a perfect example of that. This clip was also provided by Jeff Platt, for which I thank him a great deal. Again, please don't take this and post it on YouTube and other file sharing sites.

Ed was typecast as the Chief and had difficulty finding other TV roles after Get Smart ended. Similar typecasting happened to many sitcom stars of the 1960s and 1970s, including Don Adams. He pivoted to producing and was the producer for Santee, a western starring Glenn Ford and directed by Get Smart alumnae Gary Nelson. The movie is notable for being among the first to mix videotape and film and was the first Western to solely use videotape on location. Unfortunately, the movie did not do well at the box office.

Edward Platt committed suicide in 1974. According to his family, Ed suffered from undiagnosed depression and financial difficulties. His ashes were scattered in the sea off the California coast by his family.

Like any other medical condition, depression needs to be treated. If you or anyone you know suffer from depression, please consider these resources:

• National Institute for Mental Health
• The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Suicide Awareness Voices of Education

I did not have the pleasure of ever meeting Ed, however I have met his family and they are absolutely wonderful people and it's clear Ed's spirit lives on in them.

For more on this great actor, check out The Ed Platt Tribute Site.

Copyright 1995-2007 Carl Birkmeyer