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Making my way through a hodgepodge of Disney live action films recently (circa late ‘50s through late ‘70s), I notice a definite hierarchy of the actors who played father figures in these productions. In the upper echelon, there is Fred MacMurray (seven Disney productions), constantly befuddled but always kindly, even in his grumpier moments - most definitely the Absent Minded Paterfamilias. He was there early on in The Shaggy Dog (1959), which set the template for the Disney family formula: generational conflict (those darned kids and their hormones or, depending on the age of the child actors, their love of furry critters); the aforementioned furry critters (dogs/cats/lions/ducks most prominently) causing havoc; slapstick chases; and cartoonish bad guys winding up with paint or goo or some appropriately gunky substance drenching their person. MacMurray's late-career prominence in Disney films mirrored his 12-year stint on television's My Three Sons and established a Disney trend from those early decades of grabbing actors and actresses during their small-screen hiatuses and making films relatively cheaply.

Next there would be Dean Jones, who starred in nearly a dozen Disney films of the 1960s and 1970s as well numerous big and small screen remakes and continuations of these films (particularly The Love Bug) in the 1980s and 1990s. With a mega-watt smile and an "aw, shucks" demeanor, he could be sincere and dopey, often both at once. If Dean Jones could be considered a "poor man's Fred MacMurray" (meant as affectionately as possible), then Ken Berry would be the poor man's Dean Jones. Indeed, he only appeared in two Disney productions (the second Herbie film, where he actually took over the lead from Jones) and The Cat from Outer Space. Best known for long-running roles on F Troop, Mayberry R.F.D. and Mama's Family - none of which I can claim to have seen - he seemed like a cartoon variation on a generic leading man's good looks, which means he was ideal for sitcoms and kids' films.

Finally, there is Edward Herrmann, Emmy-award wining character actor (he played Franklin Delano Roosevelt in several well-received TV films of the 1970s) known to '80s teens as the head vampire in The Lost Boys and to the current generation of television viewers as Lorelai Gilmore's father. He only starred in one Disney film, 1979's The North Avenue Irregulars, but he made quite the impression as a) his features vaguely suggested those of my father's so it was like my dad was in the movie and b) this connection was furthered by the fact that Hermann played a single father and minister in the film and my dad, while not a proselyte by career, had briefly flirted with the seminary and occasionally filled in on Sundays at our Methodist congregation. Herrmann's role is actually secondary to those of the titular ladies, whom he recruits to help take down an illegal numbers racket, and per the Disney formula there is an epic slapstick car chase and lots of furry animals loose at the climax. He gets to ride a motorcycle, is robbed of his pants at one point, and is more or less required to be the straight man in a sea of insanity, which he pulls off quite nicely.

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