Charles Richard Cathcart (November 6, 1924 – November 8, 1993)[1] was an American Dixieland trumpet player who was best known as a member of The Lawrence Welk Show[2] in which he appeared from 1962 to 1968.

Dick Cathcart
Born(1924-11-06)November 6, 1924
Michigan City, Indiana, U.S.
DiedNovember 8, 1993(1993-11-08) (aged 69)
Los Angeles, California
GenresJazz, dixieland, big band, easy listening
OccupationMusician
Instrument(s)Trumpet, cornet

Cathcart was born in Michigan City, Indiana, United States.[3] He was a trumpeter for the U.S. Army Air Force Band and a member of big bands led by Bob Crosby, Ben Pollack, and Ray Noble.[4]

After World War II, he moved to Los Angeles. His friend Jack Webb was playing the part of trumpeter Pete Kelly in the movie Pete Kelly's Blues and told Cathcart he should supply the music.[3] The band from the movie stayed together in the 1950s for performances and recordings under the name Pete Kelly's Big Seven.[4] Cathcart also supplied music for the TV show Dragnet, which starred Jack Webb as Joe Friday.[3] He spent much of his career as a musician on The Lawrence Welk Show.[3] On the Welk show, he met Peggy Lennon, a singer with the Lennon Sisters, and the two married.[5]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1954 Dragnet Roy Cleaver
1955 Pete Kelly's Blues Trumpet Player / Webb's Cornet Double Uncredited
1956 Battle Stations Eddie Uncredited
1959 -30-
1961 The Last Time I Saw Archie Soldier Uncredited, (final film role)

References

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  1. ^ "Dick Cathcart". Secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Dick Cathcart Biography & Marriage To Peggy Lennon". Welkshow.org.
  3. ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 442. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  4. ^ a b Yanow, Scott. "Dick Cathcart | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Dick Cathcart Is Dead; Welk's Trumpeter, 69". The New York Times. 12 November 1993. Retrieved 14 November 2016.