Harold (Hal) Peary (born Harrold Jese Pereira de Faria, July 25, 1908 – March 30, 1985), an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, film, television and animation, with an unmistakable, booming voice, who is remembered best as the title character of the popular radio comedy series The Great Gildersleeve.

Born in San Leandro, California to Portuguese parents blank">http://www.portuguesefoundation.org/famous.htmDistinguished Americans & Canadians of Portuguese Descent , Peary (pronounced Perry) began working in local radio as early as 1923, according to his own memory, and had his own show as a singer, The Spanisher Serenader, in _San Francisco, but moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1937. In Chicago his radio work included Fibber McGee and Molly, where he originated the Gildersleeve character as a Fibber McGee neighbor and nemesis in 1938 and went through several first names and occupations before settling on Throckmorton P. He also worked on the horror series Lights Out and other radio programs.

Peary's Gildersleeve proved popular enough that it was thought to try the character in his own show. Gildersleeve was transplanted from Wistful Vista to Summerfield, situated as slightly less pompous and cantankerous ("You're a haaa-aa-aard man, McGee" was a famous catch-phrase), and considerably more domesticated: he was now raising the orphaned children, Marjorie and Leroy, of his late sister, while tending first his manufacturing company and later Summerfield's water supply (as commissioner). The Great Gildersleeve premiered August 31, 1941 and became a steady hit for the rest of the decade, Peary's booming voice and flustered character catchphrases ("You're a brii-iii-iight boy, Leroy!") becoming one of the most familiar American radio presences. Thanks to four films during the 1940s, he was a pleasant big-screen presence as well.

In 1950, however, the magic ride ended when Peary jumped to CBS amidst that network's legendary talent raids. He believed The Great Gildersleeve would jump with him, but it proved to be the biggest mistake of his career. Peary and the show's producer and sponsor, Kraft Foods, fenced over his desire to have more singing spots on the show. He was a fine singer in the prewar crooning style, but the show's producers didn't think it melded with his comic persona.

Radio historian Gerald Nachman, in Raised on Radio, said Peary and his agent, MCA, had negotiated fruitlessly to get Peary a stake in the show's ownership. When CBS began already luring Jack Benny (also an MCA client) and others away from NBC, mostly by offering the performers better capital-gains terms against the still-high postwar U.S. taxes than NBC was willing to do, Peary listened and signed with the network.

The problem was that Kraft wasn't willing to make the move with him, and they had a replacement in the wings, Willard Waterman, whose voice resembled Peary's. To his credit, Waterman who had known Peary since their early radio days in Chicago refused to appropriate the famous Gildersleeve laugh, believing Peary alone should have title to that trademark.) Gildersleeve without Peary struggled on a few more radio years (by its final season, listeners heard only repeat broadcasts of earlier episodes) and bombed on television.

Peary began a new CBS situation comedy, The Harold Peary Show. It is sometimes known as Honest Harold but that title actually belonged to the fictitious radio show Peary's new character hosted. As Nachman and others observed, The Harold Peary Show came across a little too much like "Gildersleeve Lite" an impression only enhanced when Shirley Mitchell, who'd played love interest Leila Ransom on Gildersleeve, joined the cast and it lasted only a year.

A talented singer as a child, Peary later went into radio in 1925. By 1929, he had his own radio show and got big break in 1935 when he was cast in the Fibber McGee and Molly Show as Throckmorton Gildersleeve. In 1939, Peary was making a personal appearance in a theatre promoting the Fibber McGee and Mollie Show and casually did what would be his trademark giggle. It caught on with the audience and Peary incorporated in the Gildersleeve character. Peary eventually got his own radio show, THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE, which debuted on 8-31-41 and ran for 17 years. It was one of the longest-running comedy shows in radio history, leaving the air in 1958. Peary left the Gildersleeve radio show in 1951. He went on to make numerous feature films, four of them based on the Great Gildersleeve radio show. His career in films tapered off by the fifties, but he became busy in television and records in that decade. His last film appearance was in 1964, TV appearances continued into the early 70's.