Veteran Actor Sidney Clute Dies; Portrayed Detective in TV Series

Sidney Clute, a veteran actor seen most recently as Detective Paul LaGuardia on the “Cagney & Lacey” television series for the past four seasons, has died of cancer. He was 69.

Clute died Wednesday at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica after a lengthy battle with the disease, which had kept him from appearing in new episodes of the CBS series, a publicist for the show said.

A native of Brooklyn, Clute received his early training in summer stock. He moved to Hollywood in the 1950s, appearing in a variety of roles on such acclaimed TV dramatic series as “Playhouse 90.” He was a frequent guest on such later series as “Dragnet” and “McCloud,” and portrayed the national editor on “Lou Grant” from 1977 to 1979.

He also was in films, among them “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming,” “Red Ball Express” and “The Big Fix.”

Clute is survived by two sisters, Eleanor Small and Rita Williams, and a brother, Fred Cohen.

Services were to be held Friday at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations to the Concern Foundation for Cancer Research in Beverly Hills.