Kay Edwin Emmert Kuter (April 25, 1925 – November 12, 2003) was an American actor who appeared on television and in films. He is mostly recognized for his role as farmer Newt Kiley on the CBS sitcoms Green Acres and Petticoat Junction, which shared several characters.
The son of art director Leo K. Kuter and silent screen actress Evelyn Edler, Kuter was born in Los Angeles, California. He performed mostly as a serious actor or "heavy" in many 1960s series, often in a beard, before taking the recurring role on the two comedy series.
He appeared in many films, including The Last Starfighter as Enduran, Warlock and Gross Anatomy. His last film role was in the 2004 film Forbidden Warrior. He also provided voice work for animated films, including providing the voice of Santa Claus in Annabelle's Wish and the voice of Grimsby in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, replacing Ben Wright, who died in 1989. In his later years, he did extensive voice acting in video games, including playing the bartender Griswold Goodsoup in The Curse of Monkey Island and Dockmaster Velasco / the casino croupier in Grim Fandango, both well-known LucasArts Adventure games of the 1990s. He was probably best known to video game fans as Werner Huber in The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery. He was the voice of "Hershey's Kisses" commercials for 14 years.
He made guest appearances on many television series, including The Rifleman, Bonanza, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction as Anatole Guttenoff in the twelfth episode of the third season, Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Cytherian in the season four episode "The Nth Degree", and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Bajoran Sirah in the first-season episode "The Storyteller". He also appeared on ER, the Charmed episode "Happily Ever After", the Outer Limits episode "The Premonition" as a "Limbo Being" caught in time, Seinfeld as a Latvian Orthodox priest, The X-Files episode "The Calusari" as the head Calusari, the Boy Meets World episode "Turkey Day" as an outspoken trailer park resident, and Frasier as a vagrant who requests a kiss from Martin Crane.
Death Kuter died on November 12, 2003, from pulmonary complications at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, aged 78. He never married and had no children and was survived by his sister Jean Kuter Harvey of Las Vegas and nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills.Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Filmography
Television YearTitleRoleNotesRef.1959Frontier DoctorSlim PerkinsEpisode: "Superstition Mountain"1964–1970Petticoat JunctionNewt Kiley1965–1970Green AcresNewt Kiley1969–1970The VirginianJonah Sills, Will2 episodes1991Star Trek: The Next GenerationCytherianEpisode: "The Nth Degree"1993Star Trek: Deep Space NineSirahEpisode: "The Storyteller"1993SeinfeldPriestEpisode: "The Conversion"1994In Search of Dr. SeussDr. Seuss (voice)Television film A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.1995The X-FilesHead CalusariEpisode: "The Calusari"1995Fantastic FourEgo the Living Planet (voice)Episode: "To Battle the Living Planet"1995Izzy's Quest for Olympic GoldCitius (voice)Television film1999Beyond Belief: Fact or FictionAnatole GuttenoffEpisode: "Anatole"
Film YearTitleRoleNotesRef.1954SabrinaErnestUncredited1954Drum BeatVeteran SoldierUncredited1954DésiréeLackeyUncredited1955City of ShadowsBartender Kink1955The CobwebPatientUncredited1955Guys and DollsCalvin1956The Steel JungleStringbean1956The Mole PeoplePriestUncredited1957The True Story of Jesse JamesFlemingUncredited1957Designing WomanHotel ClerkUncredited1957Under FireArnold SwansonUncredited1958The Light in the ForestFiddlerUncredited1959The FBI StoryBarberUncredited1960The Big NightMailman1964Mary PoppinsMan in BankUncredited1967A Time for KillingOwelson1970Watermelon ManDr. Wainright1984The Last StarfighterAmbassador Enduran1987Zombie HighDean Eisner1989WarlockProctor1989Gross AnatomyProfessor1992Love FieldAnnouncer (voice)1993The Seventh CoinProfessor Walker1995BabeMan at Sheep TrialUncredited1997Annabelle's WishSanta Claus (voice)Direct-to-video1998The Jungle Book: Mowgli's StoryBiranyi (voice)Direct-to-video2000The Little Mermaid II: Return to the SeaGrimsby (voice)Direct-to-video2001The Hollywood SignRobbie Kant2003Grand Theft ParsonsUndertaker2005Forbidden WarriorYawnPosthumous release
Video games YearTitleRoleNotesRef.1995The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight MysteryWerner HuberLive-action1997The Curse of Monkey IslandGriswold Goodsoup1998Grim FandangoDockmaster Velasco, Croupier1998Heretic IISiernan2001Emperor: Battle for DuneUnit Response Voices2001Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraKan Hua, Narrator
References
External links