Richard Paul

Richard Paul (6 June 1940 – 25 December 1998) was an American actor.

He was a panelist in three incarnations of Match Game:
 * Match Game (1973)
 * Match Game (1979)
 * Match Game PM

Early Life
Paul was born in Los Angeles, California. He earned a B.A. in public affairs from Claremont Men's College and an M.A. in psychology from California State University, Los Angeles. He was near completion of his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, but gave up his career as a therapist to become a full-time performer.

Career
Richard Paul was nicknamed "Pige Paul" by Slim Pickens while filming an episode of The Love Boat (1977) after local pigeons anointed a new suit jacket.

In 1980 he guest starred in the ABC comedy One in a Million which aired for only one season. From 1977 to 1979 he portrayed Mayor Teddy Burnside in Carter Country, and later played the recurring character of Cabot Cove Mayor Sam Booth in Murder, She Wrote.

The role of Bob Halyers in the "Clean Up Radio Everywhere" episode of WKRP in Cincinnati (1978) was written for him by the show's creator. Paul played Jerry Falwell twice: once in Fall From Grace, a Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker TV movie made in 1990, and then in The People vs. Larry Flynt in 1996.

Paul was in the film Eating Raoul (1982), written and directed by Paul Bartel. Also in 1982, he co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Herbie, the Love Bug. He also appeared in Bartel's short film The Secret Cinema, which was part of the Amazing Stories series on television. Paul also appeared in Not for Publication, written and directed by Bartel.

Personal Life
He volunteered with Actors and Others for Animals. He was on the Mental Health Advisory Board of Los Angeles County. He volunteered at childhood immunization clinics for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. He read books into tapes by special request at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles. He married Patty Oestereich on 7 September 1968 in Pasadena, California, and they remained married until his death of cancer at age 58 on Christmas Day 1998 at his home in the Studio City area of Los Angeles.