David Richard Gruner

Actor David Richard Gruner was born to John David Gruner (1933 - 2013) and Patricia Jameson Houser (1927 - 2005) in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He had one sibling Mark, who would also become an actor, and one half-sister. David Gruner and his brother Mark were raised in Los Angeles where they studied to become actors. On Tuesday July 15, 1969 the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News in Hollywood California reported that "David Gruner and Buddy Foster (were) signed by producer-director Jack Webb for featured roles in the "Juvenile Genius" segment of Dragnet.". David's acting career flourished in the 1970s on a number of television shows. He is likely best remembered for playing a boy, Tommy Tapscott, in the television show "Alias Smith and Jones" (1971), and playing Paul Harris in the television show "The Streets of San Francisco" (1972-1974). See The Streets of San Francisco - David Gruner, acting as Will Harper in Buddy Ebsen's tv show "Barnaby Jones" (1973), Shazam! (1974), Charles Hanover in "The Waltons ", "The Spoilers" (1974), and in "The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case" (1976) as a newsboy. In 1973, David attended Hollywood Professional High School in Los Angeles where he excelled. In fact, the Los Angeles Times, published on Sunday June 10th 1974, said that David Gruner was in the "Southern California 'A' Students" at the Hollywood Professional School. His brother Mark Gruner was born a year after David, on Dec 19th 1958. Mark played Robert Mueller in A Little Game (1971) by Paul Wendkos, and Perron in The Tribe (1974) by Richard A. Colla. His most notable role was Mike in Jaws 2 (1978), although he also had television roles in: The Tribe (movie), A Little Game (movie), Dan August (tv series), and The Brady Bunch (tv series). In the early 2000s David lived in Valley Village, North Hollywood, and Canoga Park California. According to his IMDb biography, David Gruner died of accidental asphyxiation at home. See David Richard Gruner: Obituary for additional details.