Stafford Repp - Definition and Overview

Stafford Alois Repp (26 April, 1918 - 5 November, 1974) Veteran character actor best known for his role as Chief O'Hara on the Batman TV series.

Born and raised in California, he was educated at Lowe High School in San Francisco. Soon after war in Europe broke out, followed by an attack on Pearl Harbor, Repp served a stint in World War II as a United States Army Air Corps member. After this service he began his acting career in mid-life . He was at this time hired to create sound effects during the "Golden Age of Television".

At the beginning of his acting career he appeared in numerous film and TV productions including the films I Want to Live! with Susan Hayward , and The Brothers Karamazov both made in 1958. Also at this same time he began to appear in main recurring roles in a string of early TV shows from the late 1950s to the early 1960s starting with The Thin Man (1957) , Texas John Slaughter (1958) and as Brink on Phil Silvers' The New Phil Silvers Show (1963)

However it was his role as Chief O'Hara that he will be mainly recognised for with the thick Irish brogue that he had developed for the part. According to Adam West, Neil Hamilton who played Commisioner Gordon on the Show did not like Repp's fake Irish accent and their partnership on screen was more friendly than off-screen. While on Batman he appeared as a guest in numerous other TV shows of the time including I Dream of Jeannie.

After Batman was cancelled in 1968 he wisely invested his money with a partnership in a chain of Car Washes which brought him riches. Sadly he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 55 on November 5, 1974 while at the Hollywood Park racing track. and has since been buried at the Westminister Memorial Park (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6341&pt=Stafford%20Repp) in Orange County, California. After his death, his sister, a TV writer, established the Stafford Repp Memorial Scholarship for alumni of his alma mater, Lowe High School, in San Francisco.

His last film was Cycle Psycho in 1972 and his last Television acting appearance was on the popular TV show M*A*S*H which was broadcast after his death.

Selected filmography

• The Price of Fear (1956)
• I Want to Live! (1958)
• The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
• The New Phil Silvers Show (1963) - Brink
• Batman TV series (1966 - 1968) - Chief O'Hara
• Batman (1966) - Chief O'Hara
• Cycle Psycho (1972)

External links

• Stafford Repp page at The Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0720106/)
• Information and photos on Stafford Repp (http://www.geocities.com/~1966/repp.htm)