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In 1979, Schallert was elected president of the 46,000-member Screen Actors Guild, an honor held at one time or another by James Cagney, George Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston and other screen notables. Most of them had little to do but conduct meetings and issue statements. With Schallert it was different.
In 1980 he led the union as it staged a 13-week strike over such issues as actors' pay for films made for the then-new cable television industry.
He told the Los Angeles Times his message to actors was that "we have to respect ourselves as artists" and recalled the pre-union days when actors were sometimes expected to work until midnight and be back at work six hours later.
Schallert was defeated in his bid for a second two-year term as SAG president in 1981 by "Lou Grant" star Ed Asner, who had strongly criticized the agreement the union had reached to end the strike. Asner ran into his own controversies as SAG chief by taking stands critical of U.S. foreign policy, and he decided not to seek a third term in 1985. He was succeeded by none other than Schallert's former screen daughter, Duke.

BackInTex wrote:Played Patty Duke's father on The Patty Duke Show

He was 93.

Former SAG president as well.

In 1979, Schallert was elected president of the 46,000-member Screen Actors Guild, an honor held at one time or another by James Cagney, George Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston and other screen notables. Most of them had little to do but conduct meetings and issue statements. With Schallert it was different.
In 1980 he led the union as it staged a 13-week strike over such issues as actors' pay for films made for the then-new cable television industry.
He told the Los Angeles Times his message to actors was that "we have to respect ourselves as artists" and recalled the pre-union days when actors were sometimes expected to work until midnight and be back at work six hours later.
Schallert was defeated in his bid for a second two-year term as SAG president in 1981 by "Lou Grant" star Ed Asner, who had strongly criticized the agreement the union had reached to end the strike. Asner ran into his own controversies as SAG chief by taking stands critical of U.S. foreign policy, and he decided not to seek a third term in 1985. He was succeeded by none other than Schallert's former screen daughter, Duke.