Kevin Hagen

Highest Rated: 100% Shenandoah (1965)

Lowest Rated: 76% The Learning Tree (1969)

Birthday: Apr 3, 1928

Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA

For veteran character actor Kevin Hagen, it all began when he was spotted by a talent agent while performing in a southern California stage production of Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms." That led to a guest role on the classic 1950's series "Dragnet" and a steady, uninterrupted stream of work thereafter. His first regular TV series role came in the form of the oddly named Western "Yancey Derringer." At the opposite end of the TV spectrum, he played an alien on the series "Lost in Space." There was also the 1965 film role of a Confederate soldier who kills the James Stewart's son in another Western, "Shenandoah." Finally, in the mid-1970's, Hagen broke through to a mass audience as Dr. Hiram Baker on "Little House on the Prairie." He appeared in 113 episodes from 1974 to 1983 as well as multiple "Prairie" TV films. He even went on to portray Baker in a one-man stage show, "A Playful Dose of Prairie Wisdom."