Kay Edwin Emmert Kuter (April 25, 1925 – November 12, 2003) was an American actor who appeared on television and in films. He is mostly recognized for his role as farmer Newt Kiley on the CBS sitcoms Green Acres and Petticoat Junction, which shared several characters.[1]

Kay E. Kuter
Kuter in Guys and Dolls, 1955
Born
Kay Edwin Emmert Kuter

(1925-04-25)April 25, 1925
DiedNovember 12, 2003(2003-11-12) (aged 78)
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
OccupationActor
Years active1954–2003

The son of art director Leo K. Kuter and silent screen actress Evelyn Edler, Kuter was born in Los Angeles, California. He performed mostly as a serious actor or "heavy" in many 1960s series, often in a beard, before taking the recurring role on the two comedy series.

He appeared in many films, including The Last Starfighter as Enduran, Warlock and Gross Anatomy. His last film role was in the 2004 film Forbidden Warrior. He also provided voice work for animated films, including providing the voice of Santa Claus in Annabelle's Wish and the voice of Grimsby in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, replacing Ben Wright, who died in 1989. In his later years, he did extensive voice acting in video games, including playing the bartender Griswold Goodsoup in The Curse of Monkey Island and Dockmaster Velasco / the casino croupier in Grim Fandango, both well-known LucasArts Adventure games of the 1990s. He was probably best known to video game fans as Werner Huber in The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery. He was the voice of "Hershey's Kisses" commercials for 14 years.

He made guest appearances on many television series, including The Rifleman, Bonanza, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction as Anatole Guttenoff in the twelfth episode of the third season, Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Cytherian in the season four episode "The Nth Degree", and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Bajoran Sirah in the first-season episode "The Storyteller". He also appeared on ER, the Charmed episode "Happily Ever After", the Outer Limits episode "The Premonition" as a "Limbo Being" caught in time, Seinfeld as the Latvian Orthodox priest, The X-Files episode "The Calusari" as the head Calusari, and Frasier as a vagrant who wants a kiss from Martin Crane.

Death

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Kuter died on November 12, 2003, from pulmonary complications at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, aged 78. He is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.[2]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1959 Frontier Doctor Slim Perkins Episode: "Superstition Mountain"
1969–1970 The Virginian Jonah Sills, Will 2 episodes
1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation Cytherian Episode: "The Nth Degree"
1993 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Sirah Episode: "The Storyteller"
1993 Seinfeld Priest Episode: "The Conversion"
1994 In Search of Dr. Seuss Dr. Seuss (voice) Television film[3]
1995 The X-Files Head Calusari Episode: "The Calusari"
1995 Fantastic Four Ego the Living Planet (voice) Episode: "To Battle the Living Planet"
1995 Izzy's Quest for Olympic Gold Citius (voice) Television film[3]
1999 Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Anatole Guttenoff Episode: "Anatole"

Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1954 Sabrina Ernest Uncredited
1954 Drum Beat Veteran Soldier Uncredited
1954 Désirée Lackey Uncredited
1955 City of Shadows Bartender Kink
1955 The Cobweb Patient Uncredited
1955 Guys and Dolls Calvin
1956 The Steel Jungle Stringbean
1956 The Mole People Priest Uncredited
1957 The True Story of Jesse James Fleming Uncredited
1957 Designing Woman Hotel Clerk Uncredited
1957 Under Fire Arnold Swanson Uncredited
1958 The Light in the Forest Fiddler Uncredited
1959 The FBI Story Barber Uncredited
1960 The Big Night Mailman
1964 Mary Poppins Man in Bank Uncredited
1967 A Time for Killing Owelson
1970 Watermelon Man Dr. Wainright
1984 The Last Starfighter Ambassador Enduran
1987 Zombie High Dean Eisner
1989 Warlock Proctor
1989 Gross Anatomy Professor
1992 Love Field Announcer (voice)
1993 The Seventh Coin Professor Walker
1995 Babe Man at Sheep Trial Uncredited
1997 Annabelle's Wish Santa Claus (voice) Direct-to-video[3]
1998 The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story Biranyi (voice) Direct-to-video[3]
2000 The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea Grimsby (voice) Direct-to-video[3]
2001 The Hollywood Sign Robbie Kant
2003 Grand Theft Parsons Undertaker
2005 Forbidden Warrior Yawn Posthumous release

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
1997 The Curse of Monkey Island Griswold Goodsoup [3]
1998 Grim Fandango Dockmaster Velasco, Croupier [3]

References

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  1. ^ Lentz, Harris (April 20, 2004). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003. McFarland. pp. 234–235. ISBN 9780786417568 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Kay E. Kuter (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 23, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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