Eugene Harrison Roche (September 22, 1928 - July 28, 2004) was an American actor. He was the original "Ajax Man" in 1970s television commercials.
Roche was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Mary M. (née Finnegan) and Robert F. Roche, who was in the U.S. navy. He was the father of 9 children including actors Eamonn Roche, Brogan Roche, and Emmy Award- winning writer/producer Sean Roche. Roche died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack, aged 75.
Roche made his Broadway debut in 1961 as a bit player in the play "Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole" with Darren McGavin and went on to act in "Mother Courage" with Anne Bancroft in 1963 and "The White House" with Helen Hayes in 1964. In Hollywood, Roche would go on to appear in a myriad of supporting character roles, both dramatic and comedic, that would define his acting career.
Television comedy would became his forte on with recurring roles on "Soap" (1977),"Night Court" (1984), and "Perfect Strangers" (1986), while choice support parts came his way on film, including The Late Show (1977) and Foul Play in (1978) with stars Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn.
Roche was also known on Airwolf as US Senator William Dietz in the pilot episode Shadow of the Hawke in season 1 and as a drunken friend of Dominic Santini's named Eddie in the episode Firestorm in season 2.
Roche also appeared as "Pinky Peterson", one of Archie Bunker's buddies, on the hit CBS-TV series "Ail in the Family". In a memorable Christmas Day episode called "The Draft Dodger" (Episode 146, 1976), Pinky, whose son was killed in the Vietnam War, has Christmas dinner with the Bunkers, then consoles and befriends a houseguest acquaintance of Gloria and Mike (David Brewster, portrayed by actor Renny Temple), who was a draft evader living in Canada, at the time, much to the chagrin of Archie. Roche reprised the role in a few more All in the Family episodes during the next couple of seasons.
