About Richard Eastham
Richard Eastham was an American actor of stage, film, and television, a concert singer known for his deep baritone voice, and an inventor. In 1981 he appeared as Wesley Northridge on The Waltons “The Lumberjack” (TV Episode 1981) Prompted by his playing of a guitar in The Sound of Music, Eastham invented the "Sidewinder", a mechanical device that attaches. Eastham's birth name was chosen in honor of Miss Helen Dickinson Swift, one of his mother's college classmates. Eastham, and he attended Soldan High School. On Broadway, Eastham was the understudy for Ezio Pinza as "Emile DeBecque" in South Pacific, eventually replacing Pinza on stage.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.