Trivia

Began his show-business career as an artist at Walt Disney Studios.

His television appearances in a single year were sometimes just as frequent as his film appearances. In 1959 alone, he made a total of nine guest appearances in several television series being aired at the time.

He once appeared in as many as 6 films in one year (1956). Some of these roles were very small, but crucially important to the film (e.g. Mr. Bascombe, the potential robbery victim, in Carousel (1956)).

Auditioned three times for the role of Matt Dillon on radio's "Gunsmoke." Turned the role down because he did not want to be typecast as a cowboy.

As a news reporter, earned his radio station a Peabody Award for his coverage of the U.N. conference in San Francisco.

Attended grammar school in Norway and France and learned to speak four languages.

After World War II, he worked as an announcer and news editor at such California stations as KMPC and KFWB. His work in radio news won him a Peabody Award for his coverage of the first United Nations news conference.

In addition to Dehner's voluminous movie and television work, he was in hundreds of old-time radio shows from the 1940's through the 50's, including over 100 episodes as Paladin on the radio production of "Have Gun Will Travel", which ran in parallel with the TV show of the same name, starring Richard Boone.

Earlier in his career he was employed as the musical director of a touring stock company and a bandleader, as well as securing gigs as a professional pianist. He worked as an assistant animator at Disney for $18 a week. He got the job because his father already worked for Disney. Dehner had originally studied art and acting was not his first choice profession.

He is buried in Carpinteria, California's cemetery.

At the end of many of his guest star appearances on various TV westerns, his staggering after getting shot became more and more exaggerated, elaborate, prolonged, and convulsive. The directors approved of that overacting, perhaps with a grin and to include a subtle lightening up of an obviously artificial, staged scene for the studio camera.