Herschel Bernardi
Born: 1923-10-30 in New York City, New York, USA
Died: 1986-05-09
Known For: Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Herschel Bernardi (30 October 1923, New York City – 9 May 1986, Los Angeles, California) was an American film, Broadway, and television actor. He is best known for his starring roles on Broadway including Fiddler on the Roof (as Tevye), Zorba, and Bajour, but he also acted in many television shows, including Harbor Command and The Eleventh Hour (both with Wendell Corey), as well as State Trooper, Peter Gunn. He was the lead in the CBS sitcom Arnie. Bernardi wrote at least one script for Peter Gunn. In Arnie, he starred for two years as someone plucked from the loading dock of a flange company to become an executive. Originally, the character was to receive a $25,000 annual salary, which was very good in those days. But, national economic woes caused producers to substitute the figure of $20,000 per year before airing. Born into the Yiddish theatre, Bernardi was appearing on the stages of 2nd Avenue with his acting family before he could talk. In the 1930s, Bernardi appeared in the Yiddish films of Edgar G. Ulmer and was later among those actors who made the transition from Yiddish-speaking roles in film to American films. Bernardi was also in several notable films, including Irma La Douce, Love with the Proper Stranger and the 1976 film The Front, a film about blacklisting in the entertainment industry. Bernardi was the victim of blacklisting during the 1950s, as were several other performers and the screenwriter and director on that film. Bernardi was a noted voiceover artist and narrator with hundreds of films, commercials and cartoons to his credit and was the original voice of StarKist Tuna animated character, "Charlie the Tuna". Herschel Bernardi also had two minor record hits, 1967's "If I Were A Rich Man", reflecting his success as Tevye, and 1971's "Pencil Marks On The Wall". Description above from the Wikipedia article Herschel Bernardi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
1986
- I-Man as Bogosian
- David and Goliath as Goliath (voice)
1985
- Hail to the Chief as Helmut Luger
1984
- Murder, She Wrote as Avery Mendelsohn
- Highway to Heaven
- Almonds and Raisins
1981
- The Million Dollar Face as Nick Ravenna
1979
- $weepstake$ as Meyer Bolinski
1978
- Actor as Nahum Favel Weissenfreund
1976
- No Deposit, No Return as Sgt. Max Turner
- The Front as Philip Sussman
- Good Heavens
1972
- Sand Castles as Alexis
- Journey Back to Oz as Woodenhead Pinto Stallion III (voice)
- No Place to Run as Hyam Malsh
1971
1970
- But I Don't Want to Get Married! as Walter Benjamin
- Arnie
- A Storm of Strangers: Jewish American as Narrator
1968
- The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
- Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as Self
- A Hatful of Rain as John Pope, Sr.
1967
- The Honey Pot as Oscar Ludwig (uncredited) (scenes deleted)
1965
- Honey West
- The Man from Button Willow as The Captain / Saloon Man#1 (voice)
- A Look Back at Crossbow as Narrator (uncredited) (voice)
1964
- Profiles in Courage as Gen. Daniel Sickles
- Send Me No Flowers as TV Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
- The Hangman as Narrator
1963
- The Fugitive as Captain Ames
- Burke's Law as Kid McCoy
- Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre as McCarthy
- Kraft Suspense Theatre as Joe Monti
- Mr. Novak as Mr. Otis
- Irma la Douce as Inspector Lefevre
- Vacation Playhouse as Jerome P. Baggley
- Love with the Proper Stranger as Dominick Rossini
- Grindl
- The Great Rights
1962
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self
- The Merv Griffin Show as Self
- Sam Benedict as Insp. Tony Delgano
1961
- The Mike Douglas Show as Self
- Dr. Kildare as Pico
- Cain's Hundred as Louis Strode
- The George Raft Story as Sam
- A Cold Wind in August as Juley Franz
1960
- The Flintstones as Silky (uncredited) (voice)
- Route 66
- Checkmate as Ned Hazly
- The Savage Eye as Kirk
1959
- The Untouchables as Benno Fisk
- The Detectives
- 1001 Arabian Nights as The Jinni of the Lamp (voice)
1958
- Naked City as Stanley Dorkner
- Peter Gunn as Lieutenant Jacoby
- Kraft Music Hall
- Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer as Joe Sale
- Murder by Contract as George
- Stakeout on Dope Street as Mr. Fennel
1956
- Tony Awards as Self - Nominee
- State Trooper as Jake Carney
1955
1954
1951
- The Red Skelton Show as Muggsy - a Hobo
- Schlitz Playhouse of Stars as Eddie
1948
- The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
1947
- Flying South as Wolf (voice) (uncredited)
1938
- The Singing Blacksmith as Yankel, as a boy