Happy Birthday, Richard Sanders!

Today is the birthday of actor-writer Richard Sanders. Sanders was a classically trained Shakespearean actor from Pennsylvania when he got the quirky role of Les Nessman, news director on WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982). While enjoying that role, Sanders also wrote five episodes of the series, all of them centering on his character.



During filming for the pilot, Sanders was injured when a light fell on him. There was nothing to be done except to put a band-aid over the injury and continue filming. From that day until the series' cancellation, Sanders chose to have a band-aid *somewhere* on Les' body in every single episode!

After the series ended he did various guest-star appearances on series such as Murder, She Wrote. He also returned to news-casting in the sequel series The New WKRP in Cincinnati (1991-1993). He is currently doing live theatre.

Happy Birthday, Richard Sanders! 

the original cast 1978-1982

The New WKRP (circa 1992)

Grand Marshall of the Lexington KY Christmas Parade in 1997