ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
Ted Bessell, who played the loyal boyfriend Donald in the sitcom ``That Girl'' and went on to share an Emmy as a producer for ``The Tracey Ullman Show,'' has died at age 61.
``He died suddenly of some kind of natural cause, which will have to be determined by an autopsy,'' Frank Maas, a UCLA Medical Center executive, said Wednesday.
Bessell had recently begun directing, and was working on a film version of the TV show ``Bewitched'' for longtime friend and colleague Penny Marshall. He also played the spouse of Patty Duke in ``Hail to the Chief'' in the 1980s.
But he is probably best remembered as news magazine executive Donald Hollinger in ``That Girl.'' The popular ABC sitcom featured Marlo Thomas as Ann Marie, an exuberant young actress, and Bessell as her sensible sweetheart.
``That Girl,'' which ran from 1966-71, inspired a wave of TV shows about independent women, most notably ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970-77) and its spin-off ``Rhoda'' (1974-78).
A native of the New York City borough of Queens, Bessell was a musical prodigy and at age 12 performed in a piano recital at Carnegie Hall.
He appeared for a season in the 1960s sitcom ``Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'' and as a Midwestern college student in ``It's a Man's World'' (1962-63).
After ``That Girl,'' Bessell appeared in such short-lived series as ``Good Time Harry'' (1980) and ``Hail to the Chief.''
He later shared in an Emmy as a producer on ``The Tracey Ullman Show,'' which was honored as outstanding variety or comedy program in 1989.
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Bessellby CNB