Warren Berlinger
American actor (1937–2020)
title: "Warren Berlinger" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1937-births", "2020-deaths", "male-actors-from-brooklyn", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-musical-theatre-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "jewish-american-male-actors", "musicians-from-brooklyn", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-jews", "deaths-from-cancer-in-california"] description: "American actor (1937–2020)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Berlinger" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American actor (1937–2020) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Warren Berlinger |
| image | Warren Berlinger early 1960s.JPG |
| caption | As Larry Barnes, younger brother of Joey Barnes, in The Joey Bishop Show. |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Valencia, California, U.S. |
| occupation | Actor |
| yearsactive | 1946–2016 |
| spouse | |
| children | 4 |
| :: |
| name = Warren Berlinger | image = Warren Berlinger early 1960s.JPG | caption = As Larry Barnes, younger brother of Joey Barnes, in The Joey Bishop Show. | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Valencia, California, U.S. | occupation = Actor | yearsactive = 1946–2016 | spouse = | children = 4
Warren Berlinger (August 31, 1937 – December 2, 2020) was an American character actor, with Broadway runs, movie and television credits, and much work in commercials.
Early life
Warren Berlinger was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, of Jewish heritage, the son of Frieda (née Shapkin) and Elias Berlinger, a building contractor. His family owned Berlinger's Glass Store on Avenue D.
Career
Berlinger appeared in nine Broadway productions across his career, beginning at nine years old with the original 1946 Broadway production of Annie Get Your Gun, with Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton. Notable Broadway roles include young Bibi in The Happy Time (1951), Johnny in Take a Giant Step (1953), the son of Macdonald Carey and Kitty Carlisle in Anniversary Waltz (1954), and Buddy Baker in Neil Simon's first Broadway comedy Come Blow Your Horn in 1961. He co-starred in both the 1958 Broadway stage production and the Hollywood movie adaptation of the drama Blue Denim (winning a Theatre World Award for the stage version). Berlinger played the starring role of the clever window washer J. Pierpont Finch in the 1963 London stage production of Frank Loesser's Pulitzer-Prize winning musical satire How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Shaftesbury Theatre, which ran for 520 performances.
He began his long TV career as a teenager in live NYC television, and would appear in drama anthologies, TV series, soap operas, and the original Howdy Doody show. He guest-starred on dozens of shows over six decades, most often as the comic friend, relative, co-worker, neighbor, or "average Joe." In 1965, Berlinger was the star of Kilroy, a segment of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Other memorable portrayals include episodes of Charlie's Angels, Happy Days (including an appearance as "tough-as-nails" United States Army recruiter Sergeant Betchler), That Girl, as Marlo Thomas's stingy cousin Howard (Season 1, Episode 27) and as Dr. Goldfisher (Season 4, Episode 25), Love, American Style, Operation Petticoat, Friends, Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. In 1975, he was a special guest member of the show Emergency! playing the role of heart transplant patient Frank Fenady alongside Jeanne Cooper. He also starred in an Archie Bunker-type sitcom entitled "Warren."
Berlinger had regular and recurring roles on The Joey Bishop Show from 1961-1962, Bracken's World (1969-1970), The Funny Side (1971), A Touch of Grace (1973), Operation Petticoat (1978-1979), Happy Days (1975-1981), Too Close for Comfort (1982-1986), and Shades of LA (1990-1991).
In 1966, he played Phillip Short in the movie Spinout.
as a character actor began in 1956 with the film Teenage Rebel, and continued in the movies Because They're Young (1960), The Wackiest Ship In The Army (1960), Billie (1965) and Thunder Alley (1967).
Berlinger worked with Elvis Presley in the 1966 film musical Spinout.
In 1960, he appeared with Jack Lemmon and Rick Nelson in The Wackiest Ship in the Army as Radioman 2nd class A.J. Sparks.
His other films include The Long Goodbye (1973), The Girl Most Likely to... (1973), Lepke (1975), I Will, I Will... for Now (1976), The Shaggy D.A. (1976), The Magician of Lublin (1979), The Cannonball Run (1981), The World According to Garp (1982), Ten Little Indians (1989), Hero (1992) and That Thing You Do! (1996).
In 2006, Berlinger marked his 60th anniversary in show business. He was both honorary mayor and honorary sheriff of Chatsworth, California.
His final acting credit was a 2016 episode of Grace and Frankie.
Personal life
In 1960, Berlinger married actress Betty Lou Keim, who died in 2010. They had four children.
Berlinger died from cancer on December 2, 2020, at the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, California; he was 83.
Filmography
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Teenage Rebel | Dick Hewitt | |
| 1956 | Three Brave Men | Harry Goldsmith | |
| 1959 | Blue Denim | Ernie | |
| 1960 | Because They're Young | Buddy McCalla | |
| 1960 | Platinum High School | Crip Hastings | |
| 1960 | The Wackiest Ship in the Army | Radioman 2nd Class A.J. Sparks | |
| 1961 | All Hands on Deck | Ens. Rudy Rush | |
| 1965 | Billie | Mike Benson | |
| 1966 | Spinout | Philip Short | |
| 1967 | Thunder Alley | Eddie Sands | |
| 1973 | The Long Goodbye | Morgan | |
| 1973 | The Girl Most Likely To... | Herman Anderson | TV movie |
| 1975 | Emergency! | Frank Fenady | Season 5, Episode 5: "Heart Transplant Patient" |
| 1975 | Lepke | Gurrah Shapiro | |
| 1975 | Happy Days | DJ Charlie the Prince | |
| 1975 | The Four Deuces | Chico Hamilton - the Arch Rival | |
| 1976 | I Will, I Will... for Now | Steve Martin | |
| 1976 | Harry and Walter Go to New York | Stage Manager | |
| 1976 | The Shaggy D.A. | Dip | |
| 1977 | Happy Days | Sergeant Betchler | Season 4, Episode 20: "The Physical" |
| 1979 | The Magician of Lublin | Herman | |
| 1981 | The Cannonball Run | Shakey Finch | |
| 1982 | The World According to Garp | Stew Percy | |
| 1986 | Free Ride | Dean Stockwell | |
| 1986 | Blacke's Magic | Officer Gunther | Episode 12: "Wax Poetic" |
| 1987 | Going Bananas | Palermo | |
| 1988 | Outlaw Force | Capt. Morgan | |
| 1988 | Take Two | Apartment Manager | |
| 1989 | Ten Little Indians | Mr. Blore | |
| 1992 | Hero | Judge Goines | |
| 1996 | That Thing You Do! | Polaroid T.V. Host | |
| 2003 | They Call Him Sasquatch | Howard Dell | |
| :: |
References
References
- "Spinout - MGM 1966". IrishElvisFanClub.com.
- Moniuszko, Sara M.. "Warren Berlinger, actor in 'Happy Days,' 'Cannonball Run' and 'Blue Denim,' dead at 83".
- Barnes, Mike. (2020-12-02). "Warren Berlinger, Actor in 'Blue Denim,' 'Come Blow Your Horn' and 'Cannonball Run,' Dies at 83".
- (5 December 2020). "Warren Berlinger, Film and Television Character Actor, Dies at 83". The New York Times.
- ''Happy Days'', ''TV Guide'', https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/happy-days/episode-20-season-4/the-physical/100197/
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