David Harold Meyer better known as David Janssen was born on March 27, 1931 in Naponee, Nebraska
His father was Harold Meyer and his mother was Berniece Graf a former Miss Nebraska who
had toured as a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl. His parents divorced in 1935. His mother moved
with David to Los Angeles, California, and and in 1940 she married Eugene Janssen.
David attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, where he was a very good basketball
player. It was his stage mother who pushed him towards show business and he appeared
in bit parts in movies and used his stepfather’s surname as his stage name. He later enlisted
in the United States Army, where he became friends with fellow enlistees Martin Milner and Clint
Eastwood while posted at Fort Ord, California.
Janssen appeared in many tv shows. In 1962 He guest-starred on NBC's medical drama The
Eleventh Hour and he joined friend Martin Milner in a 1962 episode of Route 66.
David Janssen’s first starring series was in Richard Diamond, Private Detective from
(1957–1960) Janssen is probably best know for the very
popular TV show “The Fugitive” which ran from 1963 until 1967. He played a doctor who
was falsely accused of killing his wife. The final episode of The Fugitive held the
record for highest rating ever with an estimated 72 percent of the TV audience watching it
in August of 1967. His films included To Hell and Back, with Audie
Murphy. And though he was personally against the Vietnam war Janssen co-starred with John
Wayne in “The green Berets”. Other notable films were Marooned,with Gregory Peck and The
Shoes of the Fisherman, as a television journalist in Rome reporting on the election of a new
Pope, played by Anthony Quinn.
Janssen also starred in two the short lived tv series.
O'Hara, U.S. Treasury in (1971–1972) and Harry O in (1974–1976), as a disabled
San Diego-based private eye.
He also played in several made for TV movies during the 1970’s including Birds of Prey,
blackjack, Nowhere to run and the mini series Centennial.
Janssen was married twice. His first marriage was to model and interior decorator Ellie
Graham, whom he married in Las Vegas on August 25, 1958. They divorced in 1968. In
1975, he married actress and model Dani Greco. Sadly
David Janssen died of a sudden heart attack on the morning of February 13, 1980, at his home
in Malibu, California He was only 48 years old. At the time of his death, Janssen had
just begun filming a television movie playing the part of Father Damien, the priest who
dedicated himself to the leper colony on the island of Molokai, Hawaii.
Janssen was buried at the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. The
funeral was held on February 17. Suzanne Pleshette delivered the eulogy at the request
of Janssen's widow. Milton Berle, Johnny Carson,, Richard Harris, Rod Stewart and Gregory
Peck were among Janssen's pallbearers. David Janssen was very well liked by other
actors and performers who considered him a dedicated and hard working professional who
treated others kindly. For his contribution to the television industry,
David Janssen has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located on the 7700 block of Hollywood
Boulevard.