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Franklyn Seales was a stage and television actor best known for his role as the meticulous business manager Dexter Stuffins on the NBC sitcom "Silver Spoons." He also appeared in films, notably portraying a real-life cop killer in "The Onion Field."
Born in 1952 on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, Seales was one of eight children. His family moved to the United States in 1960, settling in New York City.
A painter since age six, Seales initially intended to study art at Pratt Institute. However, John Houseman discovered him while Seales was helping a friend audition by performing the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet." Houseman immediately offered him a full scholarship to Juilliard, where Seales studied acting as part of Houseman's Acting Company in the early 1970s.
Seales' breakthrough came with the PBS television drama The Trial of the Moke (1978), in which he played Lt. Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point.
His film debut was in the 1979 true-crime drama The Onion Field, where he portrayed a weak, gullible ex-con recently released from jail who is persuaded by a fast-talking killer, played by James Woods, to commit a senseless crime that leads to the murder of a police officer.
From 1983 to 1987, Seales gained recognition for his role as Dexter Stuffins on the NBC sitcom Silver Spoons (1982), which also starred John Houseman as the stoic Grandpa Stratton.
Later in life, Seales primarily worked in non-profit Equity-waiver theaters on Los Angeles' Westside, performing in plays ranging from theater of the absurd to Shakespeare. Los Angeles Times critic Lawrence Christon described him as "one of America's most compelling stage actors."
As a member of the prestigious L.A. Theatre Works, Seales was among 36 actors who each contributed $6,000 to perform classic plays on the radio. Other members included James Earl Jones, Ted Danson, Richard Dreyfuss, Bonnie Bedelia, Stacy Keach, Michael York, and Ed Asner.
Seales' final performance was in "Nothing Sacred" at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in the fall of 1988. This comedic adaptation of Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons," directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, featured Seales as Uncle Havel, an aristocratic fop and former military man. For this role, he drew on memories of the English colonels and majors from his native St. Vincent during its time as a British colony, recalling "their little sticks and stiff mustaches."
Despite his versatility, Seales acknowledged that being a light-skinned black man limited the roles available to him.
Franklyn Seales passed away on Monday, May 14, 1990, from complications related to AIDS at his family's home in Brooklyn, New York. He had been unable to work for several months prior. The Los Angeles Times obituary noted that Seales "as an actor came to be seen as a link between the tradition of black Africa and the sophistication of classical Anglo drama."
He was survived by his mother, three brothers, and three sisters. A memorial service was scheduled at Juilliard.
