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Pre-70s shows that acknowledged actor deaths

I

installLSC

I was having a conversation at work about old TV shows, and we were mentioning before the 70s it was near unheard for the death of an actor to be noted on a TV show. If an actor died (or was written out of the show) either they pretended the character was away or simply didn't mention them. What 50s/60s shows broke this taboo?
 
Actor George Cleveland, who played the grandfather on 'Lassie', died in 1957, and his character's death was acknowledged on the show.
 
installLSC said:
I was having a conversation at work about old TV shows, and we were mentioning before the 70s it was near unheard for the death of an actor to be noted on a TV show. If an actor died (or was written out of the show) either they pretended the character was away or simply didn't mention them. What 50s/60s shows broke this taboo?
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In 1972, Dan Blocker died right before Bonanza was about to start filming episodes for what became its final season. Lorne Greene and Michael Landon were devastated by his death. The Hoss character that Blocker played was beloved. They mention the death of the character in some episodes of that final season. They never considered replacing Blocker with another actor to play the role. This may have been the first time that a hit show acknowledged the death of an actor this way.

When a back injury forced Dick York to leave "Bewitched", they just hired Dick Sargent to take over the role. I guess they figured viewers wouldn't notice the difference. I also remember that "Barney Miller" did a tribute episode to Jack Soo when he died...
 
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installLSC said:
(or was written out of the show)
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Not in real life, but when Jean Hagen left Make Room for Daddy in 1956 after three seasons, they wrote in a sudden death and made Thomas a widower. They also advanced the timeline by a year so Thomas could begin dating. By the end of the 1955-56 season, Danny was engaged to Marjorie Lord, and the 1956-57 season started with a newly married couple and a new title, The Danny Thomas Show.
 
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