THE CAST

Hal Linden

Hal Linden’s career has spanned more than 65 years with memorable roles on stage, television, in film and a cabaret-style variety show that he tours nationally. Linden is perhaps best known for his

portrayal of police precinct captain Barney Miller in the hit television series that aired on ABC from 1975-1982, earning multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his work. He made his Broadway debut in 1957 in the musical Bells Are Ringing opposite Judy Holliday and subsequently toured with the national company. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in 1971 for his portrayal of Mayer Rothschild in The Rothschilds. To date, he has performed in more than 20 Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. His outstanding stagecraft led to roles on both the big and small screen. His feature film credits include: Bells Are Ringing (1960), When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? (1979), Starflight One (1983), Out To Sea (1997) with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, A New Life (1988) with Alan Alda, and Time Changer in 2002.

Audiences know Linden best from his many roles on television. He hosted ABC’s FYI, a sixty-second information series, (similar in format to the network’s popular Schoolhouse Rock), which aired three times a day in the early 1980s and for which he earned two Emmy Awards. Linden garnered a third Emmy in 1984 for his portrayal of a rabbi in The Writing On The Wall, for the CBS series Schoolbreak Special. He hosted the popular ABC children’s series Animals, Animals, Animals in the 1970s. The show, produced by ABC News, earned numerous Emmys and the Peabody Award. More recently, he’s had numerous guest appearances on some of television’s most popular shows including: Royal Pains, Supernatural, Two Broke Girls, Hot In Cleveland, Gilmore Girls, Will and Grace, The Drew Carey Show, The Nanny, The King of Queens, Touched By An Angel, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: SVU.

Bernie Kopell

Bernie's career is the history of classic television and, if you accept the medium as an art form, a virtual living national treasure. While he may be best known to people for his role as Dr. Adam Bricker on The Love Boat, Kopell has also appeared on well over a hundred TV series over the decades. His television roots stretch back all the way to the days of the immortal Jack Benny, Steve Allen and Danny Kaye. Over the years, he has played some of the most memorable characters on TV, from the diabolical Siegfried, head of Kaos on Get Smart, to a Puerto Rican dentist on The Flying Nun, to Marlo Thomas’ neighbor, Jerry Bauman on That Girl. He has had guest spots on virtually every television comedy show since television practically began. Now, thanks to Nick at Night, TV Land, and the popularity of these shows, Kopell jokes with mock dismay, “My Whole life is coming back to me!” He has been honored with a special stone on the Celebrity Path at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in New York City. Since he grew up in Brooklyn and used to visit the garden on field trips as a schoolboy from nearby P.S. 130, he found it “very sweet and humbling” to be recognized along with Mel Brooks, Mary Tyler Moore and Barbara Streisand to name just a few.

Tim Jerome

(Standby). Broadway: principal roles in Phantom of the Opera, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, Grand Hotel, The Rothschilds, Me and My Girl (Drama Desk and Tony nominations), La Boheme, Cats, The Moony Shapiro Songbook and Man of La Mancha. Toured as Alfie Doolittle in My Fair Lady. About a dozen films. Board service: AEA, SAG and AGMA. Attended Cornell University, Ithaca College and Manhattan School of Music. Founded NMTN—now MainStreet Musicals— in 1984.