
Stuart Nisbet, a character actor with over 172 film and television credits who appeared on everything from Dennis The Menace to In The Heat Of The Night and Casino, died June 23 at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, CA. He was 82.
A Los Angeles native, Nisbet grew up in Bakersfield and studied acting at both Los Angeles City College and Cal State L.A. He would go on to make a career out of guest acting spots, with one of his earliest roles playing the father of a girl who had a crush on the title character on the 60s sitcom Dennis The Menace. Among his many other credits, he portrayed the bartender, Bart, on NBC’s The Virginian, a high school principal on the first season of Happy Days, and a veterinarian in The Fabulous Baker Boys. Other examples of his prolific career include appearances on Murder, She Wrote; L.A. Law, Little House on the Prairie, Quincy M.E., Three’s Company, The Rockford Files, Adam-12, Night Gallery, Dragnet, The Monkees, Mission: Impossible, The Fugitive, and many others.
Nisbet later co-founded the casting agency Baker-Nisbet Inc., and is survived by his wife, their children, and grandchildren.