Dwayne Hickman death: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis star dies aged 87
Actor died on Sunday due to complications from Parkinson’s disease
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Actor and TV producer Dwayne Hickman has died aged 87.
The network TV executive – who was best known for playing the lead role in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis – died on Sunday (9 January) due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.
A family representative said that Hickman was surrounded by family at his Los Angeles home when he died.
Born in 1934, Hickman went on to have a long career both behind and in front of the camera.
In the 1950s, he starred alongside Bob Cummings in The Bob Cummings Show, playing a girl-obsessed teenager. The show ran for five seasons from 1955 to 1959.
However, it will be the lead role of Dobie Gillis that he is best remembered for, with the US sitcom running from 1959 to 1963.
He reprised the role for the 1983 TV film Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis. His 1995 autobiography is titled Forever Dobie.
Hickman would go on to have a career as a publicist and talent booker, as well as working as a programming executive for CBS.
In retirement, Hickman focused on painting, but always said that he found it “sweet to see how much Dobie Gillis meant to a lot of baby boomers, who are always nice when I meet them”,
He is survived by his third wife Joan Roberts, and two sons from his first and third marriages.
Additional reporting by Associated Press.