Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Delta House: Stephen Furst

Delta House aired from January until April 1979 on ABC.

Following the enormous success of the movie Animal House, all three networks rushed imitations onto the small screen. ABC had a leg up on the competition, however, as it had aquired the production team responsible for the movie as well as rights to the story-everything exept the title itself. So Delta House was Animal House brought to TV.

The setting was the same, Faber College in the early 1960's, where the riotous members of Delta House fraternity pulled pranks on Dean Wormer( John Vernon), who was constantly trying to get them kicked off campus, and his allies , the stuffy Rich brothers of Omega House.The series opened with the arrival of Blotto ,younger brother of the legendary Bluto Blutarsky ( John Belushi's unforgetable character in the film). Belushi wasn't available for the tv series , so the role was played by Josh Mostel , Zero Mostel's son . The other Delta's included portly Flounder( Stephen Furst), greasy mustachioed D-Day( Bruce McGill), Delta's president Robert Hoover ( James Widdoes), Otter ( Peter Fox), and Pinto ( Richard Seer).Doug Neidermayer and Greg Marmalard ( Gary Cookson, Brian Patrick Clarke) represented Omega House, and there were assorted girlfriends and faculty( although nobody studied much).

It all was a pretty pale imitation without Belushi and it lasted only about 3 months. That was longer than NBC's Brothers and Sisters( two and a half months) or CBS's Co-Ed Fever ( one telecast)!

Here's John Vernon's Obituary from USA TODAY

Actor John Vernon of 'Animal House' dies
Published February 3, 2005

LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Vernon, a stage-trained character actor who played cunning villains in film and TV and made his comedy mark as Dean Wormer in National Lampoon's Animal House, has died. He was 72.

Vernon died at home in his sleep Tuesday following complications from Jan. 16 heart surgery, his daughter Kate Vernon said Thursday.

The Canadian-born actor found satisfaction in his varied career, his daughter said.

"He loved the comedy that he was able to do, but his training was in drama and he really enjoyed the dramatic roles," she said.

Movie fans may know him best for his role in Animal House as Dean Wormer, who is bent on expelling the hard-partying Delta fraternity house. The movie, starring John Belushi and Tim Matheson, is one of the most popular comedies ever made.

Born in 1932 in Montreal, Vernon studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He did repertory work in England and was heard off-screen as the voice of Big Brother in the 1956 film 1984.

He returned to Canada to appear on stage and on television, including the starring role in the 1960s drama Wojeck, in which he played a coroner.

"John was superb. He really knew how to use the camera, and vocally he was just born to have a mike nearby," Ted Follows, his co-star in Wojeck, told The Canadian Press.

After appearing on Broadway in Royal Hunt of the Sun he became a steady player in U.S. films, making his debut in director John Boorman's Point Blank (1967) as a turncoat tossed to his death by Lee Marvin.

Vernon went on to work with other celebrated filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock (Topaz, 1969); Don Siegel (Dirty Harry, 1971), and Clint Eastwood (The Outlaw Josey Wales, 1976).

His deep, menacing voice was custom-made for the many bad guys he played.

He reprised his role in National Lampoon's Animal House in the TV spinoff Delta House (1979). Other comedy roles followed, including the part of Mr. Big in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka in 1988.

Vernon appeared in a DVD edition of Animal House as part of a satiric update on the characters. Wormer was portrayed as a curmudgeonly old man in a wheelchair.

For a page dedicated to Delta House go to http://www.tvofyourlife.com/DELTAHOUSE.htm

To go to the Official Stephen Furst Website go to http://www.stephenfurst.com/index.htm