Ronnie Schell, Gomer Pyle: USMC Actor, Dead At 94

Ronnie Schell, the character actor who portrayed Pvt. Duke Slater on "Gomer Pyle: USMC," has died at the age of 94, Deadline reports. The news was confirmed by the actor's family. 

The actor died Friday at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. His official cause of death was natural causes. 

"Gomer Pyle: USMC" was a spinoff of "The Andy Griffith Show" that followed Mayberry's auto mechanic as he joined the Marines. Schell's character Duke was the best friend of the titular Gomer for 92 episodes of the CBS sitcom. (It ran for a total of 150 episodes and five seasons.)

Schell left the series during its fourth season to star in his own CBS sitcom, "Good Morning World," where he played morning radio DJ Larry Clarke alongside a young Goldie Hawn. After its cancelation after just 26 episodes, the actor returned to "Gomer Pyle" for Season 5, which became that series' last.

The actor's other TV credits include "The Patty Duke Show," "Arnie," "The New Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Girl With Something Extra," "Sanford & Son," "The Dukes Of Hazzard," "Charlie's Angels," "One Day At A Time," "Mork & Mindy," and "The Love Boat." 

On the film side of things, he appeared in "Gus," "The Shaggy D.A.," "The Devil and Max Devlin," and "Fatal Instinct." He also provided his voice for animated fare such as "Jetsons: The Movie," "Rover Dangerfield," "Smurfs," "Goober and the Ghost Chasers," and more.