Full name, Severn Teackle Darden; born November 9, 1929, in New Orleans, LA;died of a heart attack, May 27, 1995, in Santa Fe, NM. Comedian and actor. One of the founding cast members of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe in 1959, Darden began his career as a stand-up comedian with the Compass Players while attending the University of Chicago. Among his best remembered skits are Football at the University of Chicago and Krapp's Last Tape, a one-man drama written by Samuel Beckett. Darden often played a know-it-all German professorin skits for Second City; in 1954 he was awarded the role of the German Corporal Shultz in the play Stalag 17. From there the actor spent three seasons atthe American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut, performing roles in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet and All's Well That Ends Well. During the 1970s and 1980s Darden appeared in various television series including Barney Miller, Cheers, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker, as well as numerous television productions such as Beyond Westworld, Victory at Entebbe, Orphan Train, and the miniseries Sandburg's Lincoln. Principal filmwork consists of parts in Planet of the Apes, They Shoot Horses Don't They, and The Day of the Dolphin.
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