GRANTS PASS, Ore., July 14 (UPI) -- The actor known to millions as the gentle Doc Baker on TV's "Little House on the Prairie" has died of cancer at age 77.
Kevin Hagen died Saturday at his Grants Pass, Ore., home a year after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer, Daily Variety reported Thursday.
The Chicago native played a number of Western bad guys before landing on the prairie with Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert.
His first movie was Disney's 1958 "The Light in the Forest" and his career as a Western heavy was spawned with the 1965 James Stewart film "Shenandoah."
Hagen appeared on TV's "Gunsmoke," "Rawhide," "Cheyenne" and "Yancy Derringer," and later everything from "Bonanza" to "Perry Mason," "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," and "Mission: Impossible."
He portrayed Doc Baker in "Little House" from 1974 to 1983.
Baker is survived by his wife, Jan, and a son.
