Howard St John October 9 1905 March 13 1974 was a Chicagoborn character actor who specialized in unsympathetic roles His work spanned Broadway film and television He is probably best remembered for his bombastic General Bullmoose which he played in the stage and screen versions of the 1956 musical Lil Abner Description above from the Wikipedia article Howard St John licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia