The veteran actor died of natural causes at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on June 12, according to the Schell family.

Ronnie Schell, Gomer Pyle actor, dies at 94

The veteran actor died of natural causes at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on June 12, according to the Schell family.

By Kathleen Perricone

June 12, 2026 6:43 p.m. ET

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Ronnie Schell on 'Gomer Pyle' in 1964. Credit:

CBS Photo Archive/Getty

- Ronnie Schell, who played Gomer Pyle's best friend on the CBS sitcom, has died at the age of 94.

- The veteran actor passed away from natural causes at UCLA Medical Center, according to his family.

- Schell appeared in some of the most popular TV shows of all time, including *Mork & Mindy*, *Charlie's Angels*, *Happy Days*, and *The Golden Girls*.

Ronnie Schell, the only remaining cast member of *Gomer Pyle: USMC*, has died. He was 94.

The veteran actor passed away on Friday at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles due to natural causes, his family announced to Deadline.

Ronnie Schell at the 2021 Saturn Awards.

Albert L. Ortega/Getty

Schell is best known for playing Pvt. Duke Slater, the best friend of Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors), for 92 episodes of the CBS sitcom, a spinoff of *The Andy Griffith Show* that followed Mayberry's beloved auto mechanic as he joined the Marines.

"That was my big break," Schell recalled on *That's Classic* in 2021. He was invited to audition for the part of Pvt. Slater by Dick Linke, the manager of Nabors and Griffith, who caught his stand-up act in San Diego.

The character was meant to offset the two "bigger than life" leads, naive Gomer Pyle and his abrasive sergeant Vince Carter (Frank Sutton), and "represent the viewing audience," explained Schell. "In other words, [he] would look at them and go, 'what's wrong with these guys?' That was Duke's character in the beginning... Then that evolved into more comedy from Duke later on. And the rest is history."

During the show's fourth season in 1967, Schell left to star in his own sitcom for the network, *Good Morning World*, playing a morning radio disc jockey. It was ultimately canceled after 26 episodes and Schell returned to *Gomer Pyle* for its fifth and final season.

"[*Good Morning World*] was a good show, but unfortunately it was opposite NBC when [the network] first did first-run movies," Schell explained in 2021. "That was a big thing in the United States. So, every Friday night or Tuesday or whenever it was, people in America would look in the *TV Guide* and say, 'Who should we watch tonight, Cary Grant or Ronnie Schell?'"

*Good Morning World*, co-created by Carl Reiner, also featured Goldie Hawn in her first professional role, as Schell's onscreen girlfriend, no less. The up-and-coming star didn't like to rehearse, Schell revealed, and after three weeks of her shenanigans, he reprimanded Hawn.

Ronnie Schell with Goldie Hawn on 'Good Morning World' in 1967.

CBS Photo Archive/Getty

"I said, 'Goldie, you're never going to make it because you don't have the stamina and the obedience," he recalled with a laugh. "'Watch me. I've been in this business for years and I know what I'm doing. I'm a pro. You're not going to do it.' Year later, she won the Academy Award for *Cactus Flower*."

Schell, a California native, got his start as a stand-up comic during his senior year at San Francisco State University and made his TV debut on a 1959 episode of the quiz show *You Bet Your Life* hosted by Groucho Marx.

Over the following five decades, Schell appeared on some of the most popular shows of all time, including *Mork & Mindy*, *Charlie's Angels**,* *Happy Days*, *Dukes of Hazzard*, *The Golden Girls*, and *Saved by the Bell*.

"I think the only big show I missed, and I regret not doing it, is *M*A*S*H*," he revealed on *That's Classic*.

Ronnie Schell with Robin Williams on 'Mork & Mindy' in 1979.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Schell also appeared in 24 films, including lending his voice to *Jetsons: The Movie *in 1990. His last role was in the 2022 horror film, *Toomie: The Hungry Tumor*, which also featured *The Love Boat**'*s Ted Lange.

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Schell is survived by his wife of 58 years, Janet Rodeberg, and their two sons, Greg and Chris.

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