Frank Cady (September 8, 1915 – June 8, 2012) was a beloved American character actor who became one of the most familiar and welcome faces in television history, immortalized as the friendly general store proprietor Sam Drucker.
Cady achieved a unique feat in television by playing the same recurring character simultaneously across three different hit sitcoms. As the sensible and good-natured Sam Drucker, he was the heart of Hooterville, serving the communities of Petticoat Junction (where he was a regular for its entire seven-year run), Green Acres, and even making occasional appearances in The Beverly Hillbillies. Prior to this, he was also known for his long-running role as Doc Williams on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Before his television fame, Frank Cady had a prolific film career, often appearing in small but memorable roles in timeless classics. He was a witness in the film noir The Asphalt Jungle (1950), appeared in the sci-fi epic When Worlds Collide (1951), and was part of the neighborhood landscape observed by James Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, Rear Window (1954).
