Like so many great character actors, Baer had a very interesting life. One of the things I love most about these actors is their story off screen.

Parley Baer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1914. At ten years of age, he began working at an amusement park where he realized that enjoyed entertaining people. After graduation, he studied drama at the University of Utah. In 1935 the Utah paper reviewed “Box and Cox,” a play directed by Baer that was put on for the Speech Arts Fun Frolic.

In 1936 he ran away to join the circus. Okay, maybe he didn’t literally run away. but he was a ringmaster for Circus Vargas and Barnam & Bailey. Later he did publicity for the AI G. Barnes Circus during the winter. In 1987 he told the Monrovia News that running a circus is “a giant living jigsaw puzzle that has to be put together for every performance.”

Baer began working as director of special events on radio station KSL, participating in a few radio programs.

During World War II, he enlisted in the US Army Air Force, serving in the Pacific Theater from 1942-46. After his discharge, he made his way to Jungleland in California where he trained tigers before serving as a docent at the Los Angeles Zoo.

In 1946, Baer met and married circus aerialist and bareback rider Ernestine Clarke. They were together for 54 years until her death in 2000. The Clarke family performed in the circus for generations. Ernestine worked with the family’s trapeze act. She also was part of the famous riding acts of the Hannefords and the Cristanis. As a solo performer she was featured in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Parley admired the performers and told the Flint Journal in 1974 that they “accomplish things everyone would like to try but are too scared. I guess it’s the vicarious thrill we all experience in a circus that gives a circus its tremendous popularity.” His daughter Dale also became a trapeze star.

In the 1974 Flint Journal article, he also relayed “that trying to explain why you love the circus is like trying to explain why you love someone. I guess we all harbor the secret desire to be the man on the flying trapeze.”

While Baer loved being an actor, he continued to act as a publicity agent for six to eight weeks every year for the circus for most of his career. In the Sun News in 1961 he said, “I can’t get the circus out of my system.” Throughout his life he worked with several circuses including Al G. Barnes, Cole Brothers, Ringling Brothers, and Polack Brothers.

Parley and Ernie eventually moved to Hollywood so he could work on his film career. He had one toe in movies, one in television, and one on the radio. In 1952, Baer took on the radio role of Chester on “Gunsmoke.” One of his castmates was Howard McNear who played Doc. The two would later move to Mayberry and spend time together again.

Baer’s first film was The Kid from Texas in 1950. Throughout his career he would be chosen for Disney movies. Baer said that at the Disney studio “everything is done for the comfort of the actor and the perfection of the production.” He believed that is why their movies were so successful for so long.

While he was in another 64 movies, television is where he kept the busiest. He popped up on television for the first time in 1951 when he was on Gruen Guild Theater. In the fifties he appeared in 43 shows.

The 1960s found him in 83 different series. He had recurring roles on four different shows this decade. He was Mr. Winters on National Velvet for two episodes in 1960 and two episodes of The Gertrude Berg Show as Professor Nimitz.

From 1953-65, he appeared as Darby the pharmacist in 69 episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. It would be fun to live in a town where Baer made your malts and filled your prescriptions, and Frank Cady, Sam on Green Acres, was your doctor.

From 1962-63, he was Mayor Roy Stoner on seven episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. During his time on the show, he became very close to Hal Smith who played Otis the drunk, and he continued his friendship with Howard McNear who was Floyd the barber.

According to a MeTV article from December 8, 2020, he said that these men were ”two of my dearest, dearest friends.” He said he and Smith had a routine, a tradition they developed going to many of the same auditions for voiceovers: “Smith would always ask him, ‘You busy?’ to which Baer replied, ‘No.’ Smith would then ask, ‘Whatcha doing after?’ Baer would say ‘Nothing,’ to which Smith replied, ‘Let’s go get a cup of coffee and sit and lie to each other for a while.’”

After the deaths of his two friends, Baer said, “There isn’t a day that I don’t think about these guys, that I don’t mourn their passing. They were great friends and two of the finest actors who ever came down the path.”

The seventies found Baer on another 27 shows with his recurring role of the seventies was as Dr. Cunningham on Here’s Lucy in 1971.

During the 1980s, Baer maintained a steady presence on television, appearing in more than 30 shows and securing 5 regular cast roles throughout the decade. In 1982, he took on dual roles as Huntington Phelps on Madame’s Place and Minister Brown on Dallas. From 1981-84, he portrayed Doc Appleby on The Dukes of Hazzard, followed by a three-year run as Buck on Newhart from 1984-87. He closed out the decade with a role as Mr. Hube on Life Goes On.

Baer ended his acting career in the nineties, but before he died, he made appearances on 13 additional shows, along with two recurring roles. In 1990 he battled against racism as Mr. Lukins on three episodes of True Colors. This show was about a middle-class interracial blended family taking on life’s hardest issues with love and humor.

Part of Baer’s legacy was dealing with racism. He was very proud to be part of the film White Dog. Baer plays Wilbur Hull, someone you think of as a kindly grandfather, until you realize that he is a bigot who trained his dog to attack Black people. Baer said that  “Often racism, like true evil, presents itself with a smile and a handshake.”

Baer did his share of commercials, animation, and voiceover work. He had a thirty-year role as Ernie, one of the Keebler cookie elves.

His last recurring role was Miles on The Young and the Restless from 1993-96. Baer was 80, and he said the soap operas realized they had a lot of older viewers, so they decided to find some classic television actors to feature on the series.

Baer died at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital from complications after having a stroke.

I often listen to Old Time Radio while driving and often hear McNear and Baer on “Gunsmoke.” One of my favorite quotes about radio comes from Baer. He said “radio is the most nearly perfect medium for an actor. If you have an audience of 5 million people listening to you, you’re giving 5 million performances.”

Baer certainly had a variety of careers from working in the circus to being an elf. He made 64 movies, appeared in more than 1500 individual television episodes, and was in 15,000 radio episodes.

Baer was often stereotyped as a fussy, bossy, obstinate official very much like Mayor Stoner on The Andy Griffith Show. However, you just knew he was a lot of fun when you got him away from work.