Severn Darden

Severn Teakle Darden Jr November 9 1929 May 27 1995 was an American comedian and actor and a founding member of The Second City Chicagobased comedy troupe as well as its predecessor the Compass Players He is known from his film appearances for playing the human leader Kolp in the fourth and fifth Planet of the Apes films His live comedy improv skit under the character of Walther von der Vogelweide was influential with two generations of comic performers Born in New Orleans Louisiana he attended the University of Chicago where he was a campus legend according to poet Paul Carroll Dardens offbeat and intellectual sense of humor was a major element in the style of The Second City at that time and is evident throughout his work Carroll described him as a combination of surrealistic New Orleans and tough caustic Chicago Style comedy An example of his offbeat humor is the way he squeezed the phrase Know thyself into the sevencharacter limitation of a New Mexico license plate NOYOSEF Darden was a core comedian in Paul Sills Compass Players the first improvisation theater in the US it performed around the Chicago area during the mid1950s Sills went on to found The Second City in 1959 and brought in many of the comedians from Compass Players including Darden