DONALD PLEASENCE, 75, accomplished British actor of stage, film and television and the original face of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, died Feb. 2 at his home in France from heart ailments.

     Following early stage and film work, Pleasence first gained notice as evil Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood, the first TV series produced by Britain’s ITC, seen on CBS from 1955 to 1958. He went on to play a memorable range of sneering villains and sympathetic characters in such films as “1984,” “The Great Escape,” “The Caretaker,” “Look Back in Anger,” “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” “Fantastic Voyage,” “The Night of the Generals,” “The Madwoman of Chaillot,” “Telefon,” “Halloween” and its sequels, “Escape from New York” and the 1979 “Dracula.” His other TV appearances included episodes of Danger Man, The Twilight Zone, Espionage, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, Hawaii Five-0, Jesus of Nazareth, Columbo and even Saturday Night Live.

     When James Bond finally came face to face with Blofeld, the previously unseen chief of SPECTRE, in the fifth Bond film, “You Only Live Twice,” Pleasence gave the role a perfectly underplayed menace (aided by a shaven head and facial scar). Although he is remembered as the first and arguably best Blofeld, Pleasence was in fact a last-minute substitute for an unknown Czech actor who fell ill as filming began.

ROBERT LANSING, 66, TV leading man in hard-nosed, world-weary roles, died Oct. 23, 1994, from cancer at a hospital in New York. He received good notices in Broadway roles and appeared in such films as “The 4-D Man,” “A Gathering of Eagles” and “Under the Yum Yum Tree,” but was best known for his long TV career. After numerous parts on anthology series and a stint on daytime’s Young Doctor Malone, he starred as Detective Steve Carella on NBC’s 1961 87th Precinct series, based on Ed McBain’s novels. In 1964 he played Gen. Frank Savage in 12 O’Clock High but was inexplicably let go after the first season when ABC moved the show to an earlier timeslot and decided Lansing was not a “7:30 actor.” He returned in 1966 at the height of the spy craze in The Man Who Never Was, playing an American agent who assumed the identity of a millionaire industrialist who happened to be his exact double. The show was canceled in mid-season.

     In the ’80s, he briefly co-starred with Desi Arnaz, Jr. in the silly Automan, then played the mysterious “Control” on The Equalizer. He guest-starred in countless other series such as Checkmate, Thriller, The Twilight Zone, Wagon Train, Ironside, Mannix, Gunsmoke, The Name of the Game and Star Trek’s “Assignment: Earth” episode, the pilot for a proposed series that would have seen Lansing and a very young Teri Garr as agents of an alien power solving problems on Earth.

DAVID WAYNE, 81, versatile and likeable actor in impish, dry-witted and cantankerous roles for 50 years, died Feb. 9 from lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He conquered Broadway as Ensign Pulver in “Mr. Roberts” and in his Tony-winning roles as Og the leprechaun in “Finian’s Rainbow” and Sakini in “The Teahouse of the August Moon.” His notable films include “Portrait of Jennie,” “Adam’s Rib,” “How to Marry a Millionaire,” “The Three Faces of Eve,” “The Last Angry Man,” “The Andromeda Strain,” “The Apple Dumpling Gang” and the 1974 remake of “The Front Page.”

     On television, Wayne is fondly remembered as Inspector Richard Queen in the lovingly produced 1975-76 Ellery Queen series. He was also a regular on Dallas for a year and starred in the comedy series Norby (1955), The Good Life (1971) and House Calls (1979). He played the crazed Mad Hatter in two Batman stories and the evil scientist in the 1975 TV production of “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman.” Other TV credits too numerous to list include appearances on many anthology dramas and variety shows, and episodes of The Twilight Zone, Wagon Train, Route 66, Burke’s Law, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Night Gallery, Ironside, Cade’s County, Hawaii Five-0, Gunsmoke, Mannix, The Streets of San Francisco, Barney Miller and St. Elsewhere.

ROBERT EMHARDT, character actor fondly remembered for villainous roles in such series as The Man From U.N.C.L.E., died Dec. 26, 1994, from heart failure at his home in Ojai, Calif. Reports of his age ranged from 85 to 93. His heavyset appearance was an asset in sinister roles and he once understudied Sydney Greenstreet. He established a successful career on Broadway in the ’40s and in the ’50s began to appear in pictures such as “3:10 to Yuma,” “Kid Galahad,” “Underworld USA,” “The Group” and “Scorpio.” In the ’60s he took on TV villain roles, appearing twice during the 1966-67 season on U.N.C.L.E. and in such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Invaders.

DOUG McCLURE, 59, TV leading man best known for his long run in The Virginian, died of cancer Feb. 5 at his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. For 15 years he was rarely out of work in TV series, beginning with The Overland Trail (1960), as boyish sidekick to William Bendix, followed by his role as the boyish member of the detective team on Checkmate. In 1962, The Virginian premiered on NBC as television’s first 90-minute filmed series, with McClure as Trampas, the villain of the novel and film versions but now a happy-go-lucky, boyish sidekick. McClure also played Trampas in the unsuccessful 1970-71 revamp of the series, retitled The Men From Shiloh. In the 1972-73 season, he was one of the three high-tech agents—the happy-go-lucky one—on Search. And in 1975, he co-starred with William Shatner in the western spoof Barbary Coast. In 1977, he finally had a meatier role in Roots. He guested in shows such as Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Magnum, P.I. and Murder, She Wrote before taking still another series role in the 1988 syndicated comedy Out of this World.

NOAH BEERY, JR., 81, veteran actor who capped his long career with the role of James Garner’s father on The Rockford Files, died Nov. 1, 1994, at his California ranch. Born to show business, he made his debut as a child in “The Mark of Zorro” (1920) with his father Noah Beery and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. His uncle was Oscar-winning character actor Wallace Beery. His notable film roles included “Sergeant York,” “Red River,” Only Angels Have Wings,” “The Spirit of St. Louis” and “Inherit the Wind.”

     On television, Beery found regular roles on Circus Boy, Riverboat, Hondo, Doc Elliot, The Quest and The Yellow Rose, in addition to the six-year run of The Rockford Files in which he played “Rocky,” genial father of put-upon private eye Jim Rockford. Countless other TV roles included episodes of Wanted Dead or Alive, Wagon Train, The Real McCoys, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Virginian, Combat, Police Story and The Waltons.

WILLARD WATERMAN, 80, bombastic radio and TV actor who was second to portray the Great Gildersleeve, died Feb. 2 in Burlingame, Calif., from bone marrow disease. He was a journeyman radio actor, appearing in most of the popular shows of the ’30s and ’40s before replacing Hal Peary as the endearingly pompous Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve in 1950. Peary originated the character on Fibber McGee and Molly, then, in broadcasting’s first spin-off, began The Great Gildersleeve series in 1941. When he tired of the role, he was deftly succeeded by Waterman, who had an uncannily similar voice and delivery. Waterman continued as Gildy until the radio series ended in 1958, and starred in NBC’s unsuccessful attempt to transfer the show to TV in the 1955-56 season. He was Mr. Quigley on Dennis the Menace (1959-63) and did TV guest shots in the early ’60s before turning mostly to stage work.

RICHARD MARKOWITZ, 68, veteran composer for The Wild Wild West and other series, died Dec. 6, 1994, in Los Angeles. Starting out as a band leader and singer in the ’40s, Markowitz toured with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company as composer and conductor before moving into film scoring in the late ’50s. He composed the music for such pictures as “The Hoodlum Priest,” “The Wild Seed” and “Bus Riley’s Back in Town” but really made his mark in television beginning with the theme song and scores for The Rebel in 1959. He went on to compose for Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-0, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, The FBI, The Invaders, Mannix, Police Story, Columbo and many others. But he will be best remembered for his strikingly original Wild Wild West theme—commissioned by CBS after a more conventional western theme song by Dimitri Tiomkin was deemed unsuitable—and his scores for much of that series’ first two seasons.

IAN BALLANTINE, 79, founder of three leading American paperback book publishers, died March 9 at his home in Bearsville, N.Y., after a heart attack. He and his wife, Betty, started Penguin U.S.A. in 1939 to reprint British Penguin classics. They left in 1945 to launch Bantam Books, publishing paperback editions by leading American authors. In 1952, they formed Ballantine Books, which quickly became one of the leading publishers of paperback originals in the science fiction, fantasy and mystery genres.