Veteran Canadian character actor Arthur Hill dead at 84

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Veteran Canadian character actor Arthur Hill, whose dozens of television and movie appearances included the title role in the series "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law," has died.
He was 84.

Hill died Sunday at a Pacific Palisades care facility after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease, his friend Walter Seltzer said Thursday.

Hill, who hadn't worked in the motion picture or television business since 1990, was a well-known face on TV, appearing on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Defenders," "Ben Casey," "The Untouchables," "The Nurses," "The FBI," "Mission Impossible," "The Fugitive" and "Marcus Welby, M.D."

He was the star of "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law" from 1971 to 1974.

Hill also appeared in the films "Harper," "The Ugly American," "The Andromeda Strain" and "A Bridge Too Far."

Born Aug. 1, 1922, in Melfort, Sask., Hill served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and attended the University of British Columbia, where he studied law but was lured to the stage.

He moved to Great Britain in 1948, where he performed in a variety of stage productions, then he moved to New York City 10 years later and established himself on Broadway.

Hill made his Broadway debut opposite Ruth Gordon in "The Matchmaker," then went on to star in such stage hits as "Look Homeward Angel."

The actor won Tony and New York Drama Critics awards for his role as George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" in 1962.

Hill is survived by his wife Anne-Sophie Taraba, son Douglas, stepdaughter Daryn Sherman and two sisters, Pat and Eunice of Winnipeg.

It's been 16 years since he'd acted? Hill is so ubiquitous in reruns, it's like he had never left. I'm sure if he had been in better health, he would have starred in a LAW AND ORDER show.

I'll always remember his no-nonsense portrayal in ANDROMEDA STRAIN. Also PETULIA, among his many credits, and DEATH BE NOT PROUD and a fine MISS LONELYHEARTS on TV. And he and Uta Hagen were the stuff of theater legend in VIRGINIA WOOLF?

Hill is one of those actors you imagine was born with gray hair. I watched OWEN MARSHALL back in the day and liked him a lot as the middle-aged hero of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN but he'll always be the shifty Cap Collins of THE KILLER ELITE to me. His paperwork scene with Gig Young was priceless.

KILLER ELITE is the first film I think of when Arthur Hill's name comes up. The next is FUTUREWORLD (1976), the superior sequel to WESTWORLD.

Yeah, I liked him in THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN as well the movie----I also liked him as the judge in the very good 1976 T.V. film THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS (which ought to be available on DVD or some format) and anything else he was in after that. Always liked those expressive,serious sad-looking eyes of his. Also caught a performance of his on an episode of the old ALFRED HITCHCOCK show in which he starred alongside a young Steve McQueen as a man who believes there's an alien invasion going on--it had an interesting twist ending. Another fine character actor who usually seemed to play thoughtful parts---R.I.P., Mr. Hill.

Thanks for the pic,Mr. Smith---he wasn't too bad looking back in the day,either!

DEATH BE NOT PROUD, which aired when I was 10 years old, really got to me. The notion that you could die as a teenager, as Robby Benson does in the telefilm, was chilling. That had never sunk in quite that way before.