LOS ANGELES – Steve Franken, a veteran character actor whose long career included playing the spoiled young millionaire on the popular situation comedy “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” in the early 1960s, has died. He was 80.

Franken died of cancer Aug. 24 at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Canoga Park.

In a more than 50-year career, Franken appeared in scores of TV shows and several movies. But for many TV fans, Franken may be best remembered as Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.”

The series, which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963, starred Dwayne Hickman in the title role of the girl-crazy grocer’s son, whose beatnik friend, Maynard G. Krebs, was played by Bob Denver.

 


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