Severn Darden

Severn Darden (November 9, 1929 – May 27, 1995) was a comedian and actor, and an original member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe. He is probably well known in the film industry for playing the Himmler-like Kolp in the Planet of the Apes films.

Background

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he attended the University of Chicago. Darden’s offbeat and intellectual sense of humor, appropriate for someone who attended the University of Chicago and in fact a major element in the style of The Second City at that time, is evident throughout his work.

One example of his offbeat humor is the way he squeezed the phrase "Know thyself" into the seven-character limitation of a New Mexico license plate: NOYOSEF.

Darden appeared in various movies and television series. The comedy The President's Analyst is probably his best known film role; Darden had a major part as a low-key Soviet agent. An early film, "LUV" (1967) (based on the play of the same title by Murray Schisgal), in which he played a junk dealer, also starred Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Elaine May, and Nina Wayne.

He also played a stuffed shirt toy manufacturer in an episode of The Monkees, the cold-hearted Kolp in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and a highly-respected, but befuddled college dean, in the 1985 comedy Real Genius.

In 1986, he was featured in the Off-Broadway improvisational sketch comedy show, Sills & Company, directed by Paul Sills.

After triple heart bypass surgery, he lived in semi-retirement in Los Angeles before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1992. He died there of congestive heart failure at age 65.

Works

Routines

The Metaphysics Lecture was ostensibly given by Prof. Walther von der Vogelweide, a reference to the famous medieval poet of the same name. An announcer introduces it as A Short Talk on the Universe, and then Darden continues: "Now, why — you will ask me — have I chosen to speak on the Universe, rather than some other topic. Well, it's very simple: there isn’t anything else!" The lecture is loaded with digressions.

Oedipus Rex was another Prof. Walther von der Vogelweide lecture (with the assistance of the rest of the Second City cast). The subject was "free will and necessity in the light of...Oedipus Rex", or "what would have happened to Oedipus if he had read the book before going on the journey". The professor plays the role of Oedipus and refuses to perform the actions that would cause his fate, but other circumstances produce the same results. The Sphinx actively tries to wheedle him into answering her riddle correctly. For example, she says, "Think of the power—of the glory—". He responds, "I don't need power and glory, I'm a full professor."

The Second City sketch Football Comes to the University of Chicago satirized the university and its students, presenting a possible explanation for the failure to introduce football. A typical coach teaches "Football 202" and struggles with the intellectual students. Darden plays Morgenstern, a student who states his field is the "history of arithmetic". After the coach mentions the football positions called "ends", Morgenstern asks where the beginnings for those ends are, because ends must have beginnings, according to Aristotle. The coach presents the football, and Morgenstern declares, "It's a demi-poly-tetrahedron."

Movies

As actor:

• Dead Heat on a Merry-go-round (1966)
• Fearless Frank (1967)
• LUV (1967)
• The President's Analyst (1967)
• They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
• The Hired Hand (1971)
• Vanishing Point (1971) (supporting role) as J. Hovah
• Cisco Pike (1972)
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
• Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
• I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? (1975)
• Mother, Jugs And Speed (1976)
• Wanda Nevada (1979)
• In God We Trust (1980)
• Hopscotch (1980)
• Saturday the 14th (1981)
• Real Genius (1985)
• Back to School (1986)
• The Telephone (1988)

Other movie credits include:

• The Last Movie (1971) (composer)

Television series

• Night Gallery: "You Can't Get Help Like That Anymore" (1972)
• The Ghost Busters: "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...Together, for the First Time!"
• The Six Million Dollar Man, episodes "The Secret of Bigfoot" (parts I and II) and "The Return of Bigfoot, part I" (all 1976).
• The Bionic Woman, "The Return of Bigfoot: Part II" (1976)
• Cheers (1981)

Recordings

• The Metaphysics Lecture (recorded Jan. 30, 1961) and Oedipus Rex appeared on an LP collection of comedy routines featuring Darden titled The Sound of My Own Voice (and Other Noises), Mercury OCS 6202, OCLC 12851697 .
• Football Comes to the University of Chicago is available on CD 3 of the collection But Seriously: the American Comedy Box, Rhino R2 71617, 1995, ISBN 1568264577 .

References

External links

• Severn Darden at the Internet Movie Database
• an excerpt from Encounters and Reflections: Conversations with Seth Benardete. The New York University professor recalls some anecdotes from his time as a University of Chicago student, including some of Darden's escapades. His brother, Dr. José Benardete, is cited in the Metaphysics Lecture as the author of an imaginary work.