Your Wife, which won the Peabody Award for Best Mystery of the Year. That Girl (1966–1971) and other work Bessell's best-known TV role was as Donald Hollinger, Marlo Thomas's boyfriend and fiancé on the hit series That Girl, which ran for five seasons from 1966–71. When That Girl ended its run, he tried his hand at another sitcom, Me and the Chimp in which he played Mike Reynolds, a dentist who is persuaded by his children to take in a runaway chimpanzee. Created by Garry Marshall, the show had a short, unsuccessful run of 19 episodes in 1972. In 1974, Bessell carried the lead role in the television film Bobby Parker and Company. It was not until 1975 that Bessell would appear in another sitcom, as Joe Warner, the boyfriend of Mary Richards, for two episodes on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In the 1980s, he appeared in several other TV movies, including Breaking Up Is Hard to Do and The Acorn People. He also played regular roles on a pair of short-lived sitcoms, Good Time Harry and, in his last major role, Hail to the Chief, as the husband of Patty Duke's character, the fictional first female President of the United States. Bessell moved into directing, helming episodes of The Tracey Ullman Show and Sibs. In 1989, he shared an Emmy as a producer on Fox Broadcasting's The Tracey Ullman Show, which was honored as best variety or comedy program. Death Bessell died on October 6, 1996, due to a ruptured aortic aneurysm at age 61. He is interred in Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica, California. Personal life Bessell was married to Linnell Nobori and had two daughters, Sarah and Mary. References External links 1935 births 1996 deaths Male actors from New York (state) American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American television directors People from Manhasset, New York Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica 20th-century American male actors Deaths from aortic aneurysm Manhasset High School alumni