Obituaries : P. McGeehan; Radio Performer

Patrick McGeehan, an announcer and actor through much of radio’s classic period of the 1930s and ‘40s, is dead.

A foil for comic Red Skelton on “The Red Skelton Show” and narrator for “Ceiling Unlimited,” the aeronautical sagas Orson Welles conceived during World War II, McGeehan was 80.

He died Sunday at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, his wife, Bernice, said Wednesday.

For many years, McGeehan was one of a series of announcers who were the brunt of some of Skelton’s best known-lines.

He also was an actor on the “Maisie,” “Stars Over Hollywood” and “Aunt Mary” series and a guest on such programs as “The Jack Benny Program” and the “Fibber McGee and Molly” comedy series.

At his peak, McGeehan did more than 40 shows a week, Mrs. McGeehan said. He was the voice of the “Hour of St. Francis,” a Catholic radio show, where he gained worldwide recognition for his recitation of the peace prayer of St. Francis.

In addition to his wife, McGeehan is survived by a son and daughter. Services will be held at 2:30 p.m. today at St. Francis de Salle Church in Sherman Oaks.