Dan Resin, a character actor whose aristocratic pronunciation was used to great comic effect in his role as the Ty-D-Bol Man as well as his appearances in films such as Caddyshack, has died from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. He was 79.
Resin was a Broadway-bred actor who broke into films with a small part in the Terrence Malick-scripted comedy Deadhead Miles, followed soon thereafter by a role playing the young Richard Nixon in the 1972 parody Richard. Resin appeared in films like The Happy Hooker, The Sunshine Boys, Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To, The Private Files Of J. Edgar Hoover, and Soggy Bottom U.S.A. and had a recurring role on the 1977 sitcom On Our Own before playing Ted Knight’s cohort “Dr. Beeper” (a.k.a. Dr. Frankenputz) in Caddyshack. It was a small part, but he did get this memorable exchange:
But while Resin continued to appear in films and TV shows throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s like The Man With One Red Shoe and Wise Guys, he was most successful as a commercial pitchman, at one time doing as many as two or three ads a week. Among his most famous: The Ty-D-Bol Man, the nattily dressed nautical enthusiast who spends his days yachting around your toilet tank.
Resin semi-retired from acting in the late ’90s, after which he devoted himself to being an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church.