Somebody e-mailed me this question, I'd appreciate any help. Thanks.

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Do you know the name of the gardener on Father Knows Best. And who played him.

Thank you so much for your help

Debbie

I seem to remember his character name as "Frank" but was pronounced Fraunk.

His real name was Natividad Vacio, and he played Frank Smith on the series. His Spanish pronunciation was "Fronk" . He was great actor in a great series!!

That was a horrible episode

There were several episodes with him, and they were definitely not stand-out episodes. He was definitely played stereotypical. In one of the later episodes the head of a committee (for a ceremony involving the visiting governor) said he could not imagine allowing Frank to give something to the governor (I don't remember the exact details)(the committee head was played by David White, later Larry Tate on Bewitched). Discrimination, pure and simple. But Jim intervened, and the ceremony went well.

Frank was definitely my favorite recurring character on the show. I wish he would have made more appearances.

The character of "Fronk" was played with a broad accent and mannerisms. Such a portrayal of a Hispanic gardener would not fly today, but Fronk was a sympathetic and fun character. The actor who played him was Mexican-American.