Richard William Bull (June 26, 1924 – February 3, 2014) was an American film, stage and television actor. He was best known for his performances as "Doc" on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Nels Oleson on Little House on the Prairie.
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Personal life
Bull was born on June 26, 1924, in Zion, Illinois. After years of living in Los Angeles, he moved back to Chicago in 1994 with his wife Barbara Collentine.
Bull fell into acting by accident. “I never gave a serious consideration about becoming an actor. As a senior in high school, I decided to study music, but a friend suggested we attend the Goodman Theater School. In two weeks the friend dropped out, but I was hooked.” There was a three-year interruption while he served as a radio operator for the Army Air Corps, but when he was discharged in 1946 he resumed his acting studies at Goodman.
It was at the Goodman that he met his wife, also a notable actress, Barbara Collentine, and they became engaged in January 1948.
In 2012, the couple moved back to California to reside in the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home.
Career
Bull began his stage career at the famous Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He said that a two-line part in The Greatest Story Ever Told "opened a lot of doors." Director George Stevens was impressed with Bull's emoting, and that "led directly to the role of an FBI agent in The Satan Bug," Bull said.
During the summer of 1948, Richard and Barbara performed in summer stock theatre at Bella Itkin's Lake Zurich Playhouse. There, Richard starred as Petruchio alongside Geraldine Page's Katherine in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
Following three years of acting in Chicago and another seven struggling to break through in New York, the couple relocated to Los Angeles do advance their careers.
Upon moving to Los angeles, Richard and Barbara immersed themselves in the local theatre scene, frequently performing in two to three stage productions each year - sometimes individually, but often together. Although Richard's growing screen roles eventually limited his stage availability, his devotion to the medium never faded. As he put it "The theater keeps you alive as an actor."
Richard's television career gained real momentum in 1965 when he landed the role of the Seaview Doctor on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He went on to appear in 27 episodes of the series alongside star Richard Basehart.
Richard Bull also crossed paths with Michael Landon prior to starring in Little House On the Prairie, when he played a rancher caught in a war, in an episode of Bonanza.
In 1974, on Little House on the Prairie, Richard's role as Nels Oleson had him portray the steady and fair-minded pillar of the Oleson family. The character had to balance keeping the peace with his overbearing wife Harriet (Katherine McGregor), and holding his children Nellie (Allison Arngrim) and Willie (Jonathan J. Gilbert) accountable.
He made more than 100 film and TV appearances.
Death
Bull died on the morning of February 3, 2014, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Calabasas, California, due to complications of pneumonia. He was 89 years old.