Ron Harper, 'Land of the Lost,' 'Planet of the Apes' Actor, Dies at 91

Ron Harper, the ruggedly handsome leading man of '60s TV who charmed as Uncle Jack on the kids' series "Land of the Lost" in the '70s, has died at 88.

His daughter broke the news of his March 21 passing on social media over the weekend, writing, "It's with a heavy heart that I must share the news of my father's passing... He laid his head down to rest and never woke up again... Although it was not public knowledge, Alzheimer's Dementia started to take his mind from him years ago, it's hard to believe he is physically gone now too. I know he'll be watching over all of us, until we meet again."

Harper was born January 12, 1933, in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania. After attending Princeton, a stint in the Navy, and studying with Lee Strasberg, he understudied Paul Newman in "Sweet Bird of Youth" on Broadway in 1959.

He made his TV debut with "Tales of Wells Fargo" in 1960, with various guest spots following soon after, including on "Thriller" (1960), "Wagon Train" (1960), and "Shotgun Slade" (1961).

His first shot at being a series regular was on "87th Precinct" (1961-1962), a gritty Manhattan cop drama based on a series of novels by Ed McBain.

Next, he played one half of a couple of young marrieds with Connie Stevens on the series "Wendy and Me" (1964-1965), which featured George Burns as himself.

Other series-regular gigs included the "The Jean Arthur Show" (1966), the reclusive '30s star's final filmed work; and "Garrison's Gorillas" (1967-1968), a spy thriller.

Harper's two most fondly remembered series were the short-lived but cult-classic TV adaptation of "Planet of the Apes" (1974), on which he co-starred with James Naughton and Roddy McDowall, and "Land of the Lost" (1976), the bonkers Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning adventure that placed an unsuspecting family back in the age of the dinosaurs.

Harper replaced Spencer Milligan on the latter show as its father figure, lasting throughout the final season. He declined a cameo in the 2009 Will Ferrell film adaptation, citing the poor script.

As for "Apes," it was the kind of show everyone thought could run forever, but fell short. According to Blog of the Planet of the Apes, Harper — who played Alan Virdon — is quoted in the upcoming book "The Unofficial Oral History of Planet of the Apes: Vol. II" as saying, "Just before the series aired, I did an interview and they said, ‘Well, you’ve finally got one that’s gonna go. It can’t miss.’ The motion pictures made something like $160 million, and everybody expected the series to be a shoo-in. I thought we were going to be on for at least a couple of years. It didn’t work out that way. It was very disappointing, because it really should have and could have been much more than it was.”

Also a staple of soaps, Harper worked on "Where the Heart Is" (1971-1973), "Love of Life" (1980), "Another World" (1980), "Loving" (1983-1995), "Capitol" (1985-1987), and "Generations" (1990-1991).

He was also seen on such shows as "Remington Steele" (1984), "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1993), "Melrose Place" (1995), "Boy Meets World" (1998), "Walker, Texas Ranger" (1998), "The West Wing" (2001), and "Cold Case" (2008), retiring after 2015.

He is survived by his daughter