In 1953, as Thomas Poston, he was cast as "Detective" in the film
City That Never Sleeps. In 1957, Poston gained recognition as a comedic "Man in the Street" (along with his colleagues
Louis Nye,
Dayton Allen and
Don Knotts) on
The Steve Allen Show. For these performances, Poston won the 1959 Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Continuing Character) in a Comedy Series. In the fall of 1959, when the Allen program moved west to Los Angeles, Poston remained in New York, appearing frequently on Broadway and television game shows. His film career was limited, with appearances in films such as
William Castle's
Zotz! (1962),
The Old Dark House (1963),
Soldier in the Rain (1963),
Cold Turkey (1971),
The Happy Hooker (1975),
Rabbit Test (1978),
Up the Academy (1980) and
Carbon Copy (1981). He was cast as Michael Carrington's uncle Tom Anderson in
Grease 2 (1982), but his scenes were deleted. His television career covered the better part of five decades. When
Mel Brooks submitted his idea for
Get Smart to the
ABC network, ABC wanted Poston for the lead role of Maxwell Smart. When ABC passed on the show,
NBC picked it up and the lead went to
Don Adams. Poston, however, made a guest appearance on the show as a KAOS villain. He appeared in
Thriller during its second season in 1961. The episode, number six, was titled "Masquerade" and starred
Elizabeth Montgomery. In 1968, Poston played the role of the
Scarecrow, at
The Municipal Opera Association of St. Louis, production of
The Wizard of Oz.
Lana Cantrell played
Dorothy Gale, and Betty Low played the Sorceress of the North, also known as
Glinda. at
Walt Disney World's
Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. Poston was a recurring guest star on
The Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s, playing "The Peeper", a buddy of Bob's since college, whereby he and Bob would try to one-up each other with practical jokes. Poston later played the role of Franklin Delano Bickley on
Mork & Mindy. A longtime friend of
Bob Newhart, Poston also played George Utley, a simple country handyman of the Stratford Inn, on
Newhart, and appeared with Newhart in
Cold Turkey as the town drunk, Edgar Stopworth. He was nominated for an Emmy Award three times for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance on
Newhart in 1984, 1986, and 1987. He had a third role with Newhart in the short-lived sitcom
Bob. Poston had roles on many other television series:
Family Matters,
Murphy Brown,
Touched by an Angel,
Cosby,
Malcolm & Eddie,
ER,
Grace Under Fire, ''
That '70s Show'' (as
Kitty Forman's father, Burt Sigurdson),
Will & Grace, and guest starred in
an episode of
The Simpsons as the
Capital City Goofball. He played dentist/jeweler, Art Hibke, on ABC's
Coach, for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1991. He guest-starred in three episodes of
Home Improvement as a surly airport clerk in
Alpena, Michigan when Tim and Al get stuck there during a snowstorm on Christmas Eve in the episode "Twas the Flight Before Christmas", again as that character's brother in the episode "The Tool Man Delivers", and again as the third brother in the episode "Thanksgiving". In 2001, he appeared on
The Lone Gunmen episode "The Cap'n Toby Show" and in
King of the Hill episode "Now Who's The Dummy?" as Mr. Popper (voice). In 2005, he played the character "Clown" on the brief-lived NBC series
Committed and guest-starred on the ABC series
8 Simple Rules as Rory's unlawful friend Jake in the episode "Good Moms Gone Wild". In 2006, Poston guest-starred on an episode of
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, entitled "Ah! Wilderness" as Merle, which was his final role. == Personal life and death ==