Hayden Rorke, ‘Jeannie’ Show Actor, Dies

Veteran stage, screen and television actor Hayden Rorke, who played Dr. Bellows on 140 episodes of the popular TV series, “I Dream of Jeannie,” died Wednesday of cancer at his home in Toluca Lake. He was 76.

Rorke’s career spanned more than half a century. He appeared in 243 plays, 53 films and numerous TV shows, including “I Love Lucy” and “Perry Mason.” It was the role of the fatherly Air Force psychiatrist on Barbara Eden’s “I Dream of Jeannie” that made his face a familiar one in U.S. homes.

Rorke was born in Brooklyn on Oct. 23, 1910, and performed Shakespeare and other classics with Walter Hampton’s repertory company, according to a statement from his family.

His mother, Margaret Hayden Rorke, who died in 1969 at the age of 84, was a longtime textile industry figure and created colors used in the inaugural ball gowns of both Eleanor Roosevelt and Mamie Eisenhower.

She also standardized the red, white and blue shades of the American Flag during the administration of Herbert Hoover and coordinated colors used by the American armed forces. She created colors for the movie industry during the early days of color filming.

Hayden Rorke leaves his brothers, James, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Edward, of Casper, Wyo.

A funeral Mass will be said Saturday at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Sherman Oaks, followed by a graveside service at Holy Cross Cemetery.