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Charles Richard Cathcart was born on November 6, 1924 in Michigan City, Indiana. He was a trumpeter for the U.S. Army Air Force Band, and was a member of big bands led by Bob Crosby, Ben Pollack, and Ray Noble.

After World War II he moved to Los Angeles. His friend Jack Webb was playing the part of trumpeter Pete Kelly in the movie Pete Kelly’s Blues and told Cathcart he should supply the music. The band from the movie stayed together in the 1950s for performances and recordings under the name Pete Kelly’s Big Seven.

Cathcart also supplied music for the television show Dragnet, which starred Jack Webb as Joe Friday. He spent much of his career from 1962 to 1968 as a musician on The Lawrence Welk Show. On the Welk show, he met Peggy Lennon, a singer with the Lennon Sisters, and the two married.

Trumpeter Dick Cathcart, who played in both Dixieland and big band genres, died on November 8, 1993 in Los Angeles, California.

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