Harold Peary

Harold "Hal" Peary (July 25, 1908 – March 30, 1985) was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, films, television, and animation. His most memorable role is as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, which began as a supporting character on radio's "Fibber McGee and Molly" in 1938. Early life Born as José Pereira de Faria in San Leandro, California, to Portuguese parents, Harold Peary (pronounced Perry) began working in local radio as early as 1923, according to his own memory. He had his own show as a singer, "The Spanish Serenader", in San Francisco. While in San Francisco, he also had several parts in Wheatenaville, a program broadcast on NBC's Pacific network beginning September 26, 1932. He then moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1937. Gildersleeve In Chicago he became a regular on Fibber McGee and Molly, where he originated the colorful and arrogant Gildersleeve character as a McGee neighbor and nemesis in 1938. He also worked on the horror series Lights Out and other radio programs, but his success and popularity as Gildersleeve set the stage for the character's own program, which became the peak of his career. Peary's Gildersleeve proved popular enough that it was thought to try the character in his own show. Johnson's Wax, which sponsored Fibber McGee & Molly, sponsored an audition recording for The Great Gildersleeve, and the Kraft Cheese Company signed on as the show's regular sponsor. Gildersleeve was transplanted from Wistful Vista to Summerfield with more than just a locale change—now a bachelor, and now the water commissioner instead of the owner of the Gildersleeve's Girlish Girdles company. With much of his pomposity and cantankerousness toned down, he was also newly domesticated and appointed guardian of his orphan niece Marjorie and nephew Leroy. Implicitly well-off though by no means wealthy, Gildersleeve was depicted winding up his lingerie-making company and taking up a new life as Summerfield's water commissioner.