Harold Peary
Harold (Hal) Peary was born to Portuguese parents on July 25, 1908 in San Leandro, California. His real name was Jose Pereira de Faria, but he later changed it to make it easier to remember in his chosen field of entertainment.
Peary began his show business career in 1923 at age fifteen with his own radio show, The Spanish Serenader. The show took place in San Francisco, where his big, booming voice made him a popular, crooner-type singer.
Peary moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1937, where he gained many fans on the popular radio show, Fibber McGee and Molly. He played the character of Gildersleeve, Fibber McGee’s neighbor and adversary and later became known as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve.
The character, Gildersleeve, became so popular on Fibber McGee and Molly that it was spun off as its own radio show, The Great Gildersleeve. Peary played the character from August 31, 1941 until 1950, when he took a leap of faith and moved from NBC to CBS. It was to be the biggest mistake of Peary’s show business career. CBS and Gildersleeve’s sponsor, Kraft Foods, weren’t willing to grant Hal’s request to sing on the show and also wouldn’t give him part ownership of the show.
After leaving his Gildersleeve character to be replaced by Willard Waterman, Peary starred in the CBS situation radio comedy, The Harold Peary Show, which was also billed as Honest Harold. However, when Shirley Mitchell, who played Gildersleeve’s girlfriend, Leila Ransom, joined the cast of characters, CBS soon ended the show, citing that it was becoming too much like the original Gildersleeve.
As a radio actor, Peary also worked on such popular radio series as Lights Out, a horror program, CBS Radio Workshop and Family Theater .
He played Dr. Haines on Welcome Valley, a drama hosted by Edgar A. Guest about “the Ferguson family” from April 16 until July 2, 1935. For a brief time he played Bumstead’s neighbor, Herb Woodley in the radio show, Blondie, which premiered on July 3, 1939 and was featured on the juvinile aviation adventure serial, Flying Time, which premiered on July 1, 1935 and ran until December 1936. But Peary is best remembered for his radio character in The Great Gildersleeve. It remains as one of the most popular radio shows of all time. At the end of the episode broadcast on the 21st January 1948 Hal is celebrated as this marks 25 years since he first appeared on radio. Now 61 years later you can still listen to the inimitable Hal Peary on RUSC.
In his role as the Great Gildersleeve Hal Peary also made three wonderful albums of childrens fairy stories. I will write more about this later in a seperate editorial.
Peary played Gildersleeve in four films of the 1940s and also played roles in the Walt Disney movie, A Tiger Walks and the Elvis Presley movie, Clambake, among others. Although Peary never became a popular actor on television or films, he remained in show business after his radio career ended by using his powerful voice in animated works by Rankin-Bass, Hanna-Barbera and others.
Harold Peary was 76 years old when he died of a heart attack. He is considered a legend among radio show afficianados.
Happy listening my friends,
