Severn Darden

Known for ActingBorn 1929-11-09Died 1995-05-27

Severn Teakle Darden Jr. (November 9, 1929 – May 27, 1995) was an American comedian and actor, and a founding member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe as well as its predecessor, the Compass Players. He is known from his film appearances for playing the human leader Kolp in the fourth and fifth Planet of the Apes films. His live comedy improv skit under the character of "Walther von der Vogelweide" was influential with two generations of comic performers. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he attended the University of Chicago, where he was a "campus legend" according to poet Paul Carroll. Darden’s offbeat and intellectual sense of humor was a major element in the style of The Second City at that time, and is evident throughout his work. Carroll described him as a combination of surrealistic New Orleans and tough, caustic "Chicago Style" comedy. An example of his offbeat humor is the way he squeezed the phrase "Know thyself" into the seven-character limitation of a New Mexico license plate: NOYOSEF. Darden was a core comedian in Paul Sills' Compass Players, the first improvisation theater in the US; it performed around the Chicago area during the mid-1950s. Sills went on to found The Second City in 1959 and brought in many of the comedians from Compass Players, including Darden.Read more

Movies & web series

A Cry for Love

Never Con a Killer

Playmates

Bongo Wolf’s Revenge

Take Five

The Mama Cass Television Program

Point of View

The Double-Barrelled Detective Story

Once Upon a Midnight Scary

The Disappearance of Aimee

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Barbary Coast

Faerie Tale Theatre

The Princess Who Had Never Laughed

Lincoln

Occasional Wife

I Dream of Jeannie

The Fall Guy

Cheers

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Kolchak: The Night Stalker

Beauty and the Beast

Why Would I Lie?

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

The Practice

The Man and the City

Barney Miller

Starsky & Hutch

The Six Million Dollar Man

Laverne & Shirley

Honey West

Hopscotch

Rendezvous Hotel

Vanishing Point

Quarterback Princess

The Bionic Woman

The Man Who Died Twice

Alias Smith and Jones

The Virgin President

The Name of the Game

Daniel Boone

The Movie Murderer

A Small Circle of Friends

Real Genius

The Monkees

Baretta

Back to School

Model Shop