Len Wayland on AllMovie

Getting his career underway in such popular Broadway productions as A Streetcar Named Desire and A Man for All Seasons, veteran character actor Len Wayland was a longtime fixture of film and television, where he would appear in everything ranging from Gunsmoke to The A-Team.

A native of Texas, Wayland moved to Hollywood in the early '50s, soon finding frequent work in television. Eventually gaining over 350 TV credits through his many appearances, Wayland played in such made-for-television thrillers as Michael Crichton's Pursuit (1972) before landing a regular role on Sam, a series created by Jack Webb (Wayland had previously made appearances in Webb's other television mainstay, Dragnet).

Retiring from the business around 1980, Wayland, an avid golfer, spent much of his time putting around the green with close friends. Following a massive stroke, Len Wayland died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, at the age of 80. True to form, those close to Wayland found it fitting to pay tribute to their friend with a memorial service at the place he loved most, on a golf course in Los Angeles.