David Birney

2022 - 5 - 3

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Deadline"

David Birney Dies: 'Bridget Loves Bernie', 'St. Elsewhere' Actor Was 83 (Deadline)

David Birney, Bridge Loves Bernie and St. Elsewhere actor, has died at the age of 83.

Although CBS never admitted to caving in to the protests, Bridget Loves Bernie was canceled after its debut season. One of his co-stars in a 1989 production of the Twain play was Baxter, whom he had married following the cancellation of Bridget Loves Bernie. In 2011, Baxter wrote in her memoir Untied: A Memoir of Family, Fame and Floundering, that Birney had been abusive during their marriage, an accusation he denied in a lengthy public statement calling Baxter’s claims “a fairy tale.” His highest-profile post-Bernie role came in 1982, when he was a regular cast member during the debut season of NBC’s St. Elsewhere. He left the series after one season to appear in Amadeus on Broadway. Birney followed up the series with various TV movies and series guest spots, making his biggest subsequent splash as John Quincy Adams in the 1976 series The Adams Chronicles. Also that year he starred in a short-lived TV adaptation of the 1973 film Serpico. Although he had small roles in a number of television series beginning in the late 1960s, Birney found his signature role in the short-lived Bridget Loves Bernie, a CBS situation comedy about the marriage of Jewish cab driver and writer Bernie Steinberg, played by Birney, and Catholic schoolteacher Bridget Fitzgerald, played by Meredith Baxter (the co-stars would marry in real life following the show’s cancellation). In 1967, he performed in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of A Comedy of Errors, and in 1969 he made his Broadway debut as Cleante in Molière’s The Miser. In all, he appeared in seven Broadway productions through 1985, including The Good Woman of Setzuan (1970), The Playboy of the Western World (1971), An Enemy of the People (1971), Antigone (1971), Amadeus (1980) and Benefactors (1985).

David Birney, Actor in 'St. Elsewhere' and 'Bridget Loves Bernie ... (Variety)

David Birney, who starred on the first season of the buzzy medical drama 'St. Elsewhere,' has died at 83.

He took on many of Shakespeare’s most famous roles, from Hamlet to Romeo to Macbeth, in regional theaters across the country, in addition to more contemporary fare. “I only took the TV series because the options for actors get fewer and fewer. He also had roles and recurring spots on many classic TV shows, including “Murder, She Wrote,” “The Love Boat” and “Hawaii Five-0.” I came in in the mid‐sixties when British actors dominated the American theater, and for an actor wanting to do Shakespeare, you had to steal those parts around the country by hook or by crook. His life partner Michele Roberge confirmed the news to The New York Times, and said he died due to Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Santa Monica. After all, we’re all actors, and nobody asks if it’s difficult being Protestant and playing Macbeth, or being Jewish and playing Irish.”

David Birney, Star of St. Elsewhere and Bridget ... (PEOPLE.com)

David Birney's ex-wife Meredith Baxter told PEOPLE in an exclusive statement: "My heart goes out to our children, Kate, Peter and Mollie"

The threat doesn't come from a harmless show such as ours, but from within." The former couple got married in 1974 and divorced in 1989. Birney also appeared on Broadway in The Good Woman of Setzuan (1970), The Playboy of the Western World (1971), An Enemy of the People (1971), Antigone (1971) and Benefactors (1985), according to Deadline. "I was very saddened by the death of David Birney. My heart goes out to our children, Kate, Peter and Mollie. David was a dominant influence in their lives and the loss of him will be deeply felt," the Family Ties actress said. Birney went on to play John Quincy Adams in the PBS production of The Adams Chronicles and took on the role of Frank Serpico in an NBC adaptation of Sidney Lumet's 1973 film Serpico. "But intermarriage is on the rise, nevertheless.

David Birney, star of 'St. Elsewhere' and 'Bridget Loves Bernie,' dead ... (New York Post)

David Birney, star of TV's "Bridget Loves Bernie" and "St. Elsewhere" and Broadway's "Amadeus," died Friday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. after a ...

His final credited role was a guest spot on the CBS police procedural drama “Without a Trace” in 2007. He also had two grandchildren and his brothers, Glenn and Gregory. The son of an FBI agent, Birney was born on April 23, 1939, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in English literature in 1961, then earned his master’s in theater from UCLA, Variety reported. “I only took the TV series because the options for actors get fewer and fewer,” he told the Times at the height of his new TV fame in 1972. “I came in in the mid-’60s when British actors dominated the American theater, and for an actor wanting to do Shakespeare, you had to steal those parts around the country by hook or by crook. The pair had three kids of their own before getting divorced in 1989.

David Birney, Actor on 'Bridget Loves Bernie' and 'St. Elsewhere ... (Hollywood Reporter)

David Birney, who starred with his future wife Meredith Baxter on the CBS sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie, has died from Alzheimer's. He was 83.

“I came in in the mid-’60s when British actors dominated the American theater, and for an actor wanting to do Shakespeare you had to steal those parts around the country by hook or by crook. The following year, he starred with Blythe Danner in Ron Cowen’s Summertree, with his turn as a soldier killed in Vietnam landing him Theatre World and Clarence Derwent awards. “I only took the TV series because the options for actors get fewer and fewer,” he said. Each divorced at the time, Birney and Baxter (who had two kids from her first marriage) wound up getting married for real in May 1974. Their characters wed during the third episode and lived in an apartment above a deli owned by Bernie’s folks. Birney was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2017.

Actor David Birney Dies At 83 (Forbes)

Actor David Birney, who rose to early fame in one season CBS sitcom Bridget Loves Birney, died on Friday at his home in Santa Monica from Alzheimer's ...

Next was drama Glitter, which aired in the 1984 to 1985 season, with his final regularly scheduled series, Live Shot, in 1995. His New York debut was with Joe Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival as Antipholus of Syracuse in Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. While working continually in the theatre, Birney made his television debut in the daytime drama Love Is a Many Slendored Thing in 1967.

David Birney, St. Elsewhere and Bridget Loves ... (EW.com)

David Birney, the television, film, and stage star best known for his role as Bernie Steinberg in the short-lived sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie, ...

Born in Washington D.C. and raised in Cleveland, Birney attended Dartmouth College and UCLA where he majored in English literature and theater, respectively. In 1972, he found fame in television as the husband of Meredith Baxter (who would go on to be his future real-life wife) in the CBS sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie. While the show itself was short-lived due to controversial protests about the couple's interfaith marriage, Birney went on to have a successful career on the small screen, earning acclaim for his role in the first season of the medical dramedy St. Elsewhere. His last known television role was in 2007, when he guested on the police procedural Without A Trace. Birney's Broadway debut came in 1969 when he performed in Molière's The Miser. He went on to star in numerous stage productions, including The Playboy of the Western World and Amadeus on Broadway, as well as Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and A Moon for the Misbegotten in regional theater.

David Birney, Viola Davis, Meg Ryan + More! (vermilioncountyfirst.com)

DAVID BIRNEY DIES AT 83: According to The New York Post, Bridget Loves Bernie star David Birney died on Friday (April 29th) at his home in Santa Monica, ...

David Duchovny is set to star opposite her as part of a couple that reunites decades after they break up due to being “snowed in, in-transit, at an airport overnight.” DAVID BIRNEY DIES AT 83: According to The New York Post, Bridget Loves Bernie star David Birney died on Friday (April 29th) at his home in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 83—after battling Alzheimer’s disease for five years. Watchmen writer Christal Henry is expected to write and executive produce the series.