British-born actor Dick Wilson, who will forever be known as the “Please, don’t squeeze the Charmin” man, died 19 November 2007 at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Born in Preston, England, on 30 July 1916, he had already had a ten-year career on US television when he got the role which would make him famous. From 1964 to 1985, he played the grocer, Mr. Whipple, who always found himself squeezing the product.
His few genre film roles included parts in The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) and Diary of a Madman (1963). But he was far more a television actor, and his genre appearances on the small screen were much more numerous, including: Fantasy Island (1978), Tabitha (1977), the two-part Disneyland episode “The Whiz Kid and the Mystery at Riverton” (1974), 18 episodes of Bewitched (1965-1972), two episodes of I Dream of Jeannie (1969), two episodes of Get Smart! (1966 and 1968), The Flying Nun (1967), My Mother the Car (1966), The Munsters (1965), three episodes of My Favorite Martian (1963 and 1964), My Living Doll (1964), and two episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959 and 1963).
Wilson grew up in Ontario, and served in the Canadian Air Force during World War II.
The New York Times notes that, “like many actors who find fame through commercials, Mr. Wilson became too closely identified with his character to do much of any other kind of acting. But he rarely complained. In 1995 he told USA Today that during his Charmin period he worked perhaps 16 days a year. ‘It was like a paid vacation,’ he said. ‘I had a great run.'”
Wilson is survived by his wife, Meg; a son, Stuart; two daughters, Wendy and Melanie, a television actress; and five grandchildren.