Joby Baker, whose presence on television and in film throughout the 1960s and ’70s made him one of the era’s more familiar faces in both drama and light comic fare, died June 22 of natural causes in Mount Kisco, New York. He was 92.
His death, announced to Deadline by his family, came just 10 days after that of Ronnie Schell, Baker’s co-star in the short-lived but fondly remembered 1967 sitcom Good Morning World. The CBS single-season comedy featured Baker and Schell as a morning drive radio disc jockey duo and best friends though of differing temperaments. Goldie Hawn also was a cast member.
Though he would go on to establish himself as a respected artist and painter, Baker was a prolific comedian and actor from the early 1950s – he had small roles in The Red Skelton Hour, Studio One, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show – through his final guest credit in the 1984 TV adaptation of The Paper Chase.
In films, he specialized in light comic fare, with roles in 1960’s The Wackiest Ship in the Army starring Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson, and in three Gidget movies including the 1959 original starring Sandra Dee as the diminutive surfer title character. He returned to that franchise in Gidget Goes Hawaiian in 1961 and, in 1963, Gidget Goes To Rome.
In 1965, he co-starred in the Elvis Presley vehicle Girl Happy as the comic relief bass player in the pop band headed by Presley’s character.
Around the same time Baker became one of the Walt Disney Studio’s go-to young actors, appearing in 1967’s The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin starring Roddy McDowall and, a year later, Blackbeard’s Ghost, starring Dean Jones and, as the pirate spirit of the title, Peter Ustinov. In 1973 Baker appeared in Disney’s Superdad starring Bob Crane and Kurt Russell.
Ronnie Schell, Joby Baker, ‘Good Morning America’ (1967)
Everett Collection
But it was as a busy and prolific TV actor that Baker might be best remembered, appearing over the years in dozens of series. In the World War II-set drama Combat he portrayed Private Kelly during the series’ first season, and he’d guest star on such other series of the period as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Ben Casey, 12 O’Clock High, Death Valley Days, Mannix and The Streets of San Francisco.
On the comedy side he’s make appearances in The Dick Van Dyke Show, F Troop, and Love American Style.
Baker remained a steady TV presence throughout the 1970s with roles in the TV movie Cry Rape and series Barnaby Jones, Police Story, Medical Center, The City and, in 1981, Simon & Simon and Quincy M.E., among others.
Born Joseph N. Baker on March 26, 1934, in Montreal, Baker pursued acting at a young age before moving to Hollywood.
A recent photo of Baker taken by his daughter Michelle Wayland
Courtesy Family
Alongside his acting career, Baker had, by the 1970s, established himself as a painter and sculpture with exhibitions in prominent galleries in Los Angeles, New York, and New England. His art explored memory, vulnerability, and the emotional landscape of the human experience, and drew praise from critics and fellow artists. His work would find its way into prominent private collections across the country.
In 1984, Baker married Emmy Award-winning lyricist and singer-songwriter Dory Previn, and the two eventually left Los Angeles to settle into an old farmhouse in Southfield, Massachusetts, the Berkshires. Each maintained a studio, and nearly every wall of their home reflected a lifetime devoted to art. (Previn died in 2012.)
Baker is survived by daughters Fredricka Baker and Michelle Wayland; Scott Zimmerman, whom he helped raise as a son; six grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
