Bob Dishy
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (October 2021) |
Bob Dishy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Stage, television actor |
| Years active | 1955-2014 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Bob Dishy is an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Biography
[edit]Early life and education
[edit]Dishy grew up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. His father, a salesman, was born in Beirut and his mother in Jerusalem. He is of Sephardic Jewish origin.[1]
Dishy first because interested in acting while in fifth grade, when he performed in a student play. After graduating from New Utrecht High School,[1] he majored in drama at Syracuse University, graduating in 1955[2].
While at Syracuse he performed in student musical productions. He also performed at resorts that maintained resident summer theater companies, Green Mansions in New York and Tamiment in Pennsylvania, that put on new revues every week. He worked alongside Carol Burnett, Woody Allen and Sheldon Harnick.[1]
Upon graduation from Syracuse he was cast as a baseball player in Damn Yankees.[2] His acting career was interrupted by service in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s,[3] during which he toured military bases in a show called Rolling Along in '57 after winning an All-Army Entertainment Contest.[1]
Career
[edit]Dishy played Sergeant John J. Wilson, Columbo's polite, respectful assistant in two episodes of Columbo ("Now You See Him" and "The Greenhouse Jungle"); Rose’s titular love interest “Mister Terrific” in an episode of The Golden Girls; and Dr. Schenkman, the marriage counselor for Niles and Maris, in an episode of Frasier. He also appeared in several episodes of Law & Order.
His film appearances include Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? (1975), The Big Bus (1976), The Last Married Couple in America (1980), First Family (1980), Author! Author! (1982), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986), Critical Condition (1987), Stay Tuned (1992), Used People (1992), Don Juan DeMarco (1994), Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and Along Came Polly (2004).
He was a regular on That Was The Week That Was, a weekly satirical series that aired on NBC-TV in 1964–65.
He made his stage debut as a replacement for the ballplayer Rocky in the original run of the hit musical Damn Yankees: a role he reprised ten years later for the TV adaptation. In 1965 Dishy co-starred with Liza Minnelli in the Broadway musical, "Flora, The Red Menace" directed by George Abbott.
Selected appearances
[edit]| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1955 | Damn Yankees |
| 1960 | From A to Z |
| 1965 | Flora the Red Menace |
| 1967 | The Unknown Soldier and His Wife |
| Something Different | |
| 1968 | The Goodbye People |
| 1969 | A Way of Life |
| 1971 | The Mary Tyler Moore Show |
| That Girl | |
| 1972 | The Creation of the World and Other Business |
| All in the Family | |
| Columbo, episode "The Greenhouse Jungle" | |
| 1974 | An American Millionaire |
| 1976 | Sly Fox |
| Columbo, episode "Now You See Him" | |
| 1978 | Alice |
| 1979 | Murder at the Howard Johnson's |
| 1980 | Barney Miller |
| 1981 | Grownups |
| 1986 | Brighton Beach Memoirs |
| 1988 | The Golden Girls |
| 1989 | Cafe Crown |
| The Tenth Man | |
| 1993 | My Boyfriend's Back |
| 1994 | Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story |
| Don Juan DeMarco | |
| 1998 | Frasier |
| 1999 | The Price |
| 2002 | Morning's at Seven |
| 2004 | Along Came Polly |
| Sly Fox | |
| 2014 | The Angriest Man in Brooklyn |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Berkvist, Robert (1982-01-10). "Bob Dishy, Stage Comic With A Flair For Drama". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-03-29.
- ^ a b "Drama Graduate Gets Good Role in 'Damn Yankees'". The Post-Standard. Syracuse, New York. 4 December 1955. p. 16. Retrieved 29 March 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Dishy, Bob 1934(?)– Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
