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Howard Hesseman, Dr. Johnny Fever on ‘WKRP in Cincinnati,’ Dies at 81


Howard Hesseman, who made a career out of portraying off-the-wall characters, none more popular than the disc jockey Johnny Fever on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, has died. He was 81.

Hesseman died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles of complications from colon surgery he first had last summer, his wife, actress and acting teacher Caroline Ducrocq, told The Hollywood Reporter.

A member of the San Francisco improv group The Committee and a real-life DJ back in the 1960s, Hesseman also was known for his stint as out-of-work actor turned history teacher Charlie Moore on the ABC comedy Head of the Class. (He quit that show after four seasons to aim for a movie career.)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv ... 235084085/

Hugh Wilson, who created WKRP, was an advertising executive in Atlanta earlier and worked closely with a popular Atlanta station, WQXI. Hesseman's character, Dr. Johnny Fever, was based on the Atlanta disc jockey Skinny Bobby Harper from WQXI, who was on the air when I was a student at Tech.

It was the Phone Cops.