I grew up on a family dairy farm in rural Elyria, Ohio, located about 30 miles west of Cleveland. At an early age, I learned how to milk cows, bale hay, plant, and harvest crops. When I was in the fourth grade my father’s health prevented us from staying on the farm, so the family moved to Lorain, Ohio, into the home and greenhouse/florist business my father had grown up in, well known to locals as Bemis Florist.
In 1966, I graduated from Clearview High School, in Lorain, Ohio (which my grandfather Clifford was one of the founding board members) and in 2003 was honored as an inductee into the Clearview High School Distinguished Alumni Group.
Music and acting has always been a part of my life. I studied piano beginning at age 6, and began my theatre career at Workshop Players in Amherst, Oh. That experience was what truly “sparked” my interest in theatre.
In the fall of 1966, I entered the Conservatory of Music at Baldwin-Wallace College (now Baldwin-Wallace University) in Berea, Ohio, as a vocal performance major. However, during my freshman year, I was cast as one of the fathers in “The Fantasticks.” That show made me realize my real passion was for the stage, so the following year I switched my major to the theatre department. A few years later, and after many student productions, I graduated from BW in 1970. In 1998, I was honored to be the recipient of the BWC Alumni Merit Award. While in college, I was also a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and was chosen to be inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society.
My college summers were spent in Cooperstown, NY, doing summer stock at the Cooperstown Playhouse. It was a great training ground, as a new show was rehearsed and produced every two weeks during the three month summer season. Attached to the Cooperstown Playhouse was a small nightclub called the Act IV. After the show, actors were invited to perform their own material, as well as performing in JoAnn Miller’s Act IV Revue. The revue was a local hit and began to receive attention from some NY booking agents. So upon graduation from B-W, I went on the road with the Act IV Revue, playing clubs all over the country, including the now defunct Playboy Club circuit.
After two years on the road, I returned to Cleveland, and began my extensive and varied career, performing musical theatre & opera, as well as the related fields of commercial acting, which included jingle singing, voice-overs, on-camera and industrial films. In 1973 I was one of the original cast members of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living in Paris, which played for over two years in the State Theatre on Playhouse Square in Cleveland. That show is widely recognized as the show that helped save this historic theatre district. For seven seasons, I was also a regular guest artist at The Cleveland Play House, sang with the Cleveland Opera Co., and narrated with The Cleveland Orchestra. I was also a regular singer of the National Anthem for the Cleveland Indians, the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, as well as Cleveland’s National Air Show.
In 1986, while performing in “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” for the Kenley Players in Akron, I met and became friends with actor Robby Benson (star of One On One, and the voice of The Beast in Beauty and the Beast,) and his wife actress/singer Karla DeVito. They encouraged me to move to LA, which I did, and where I continued to build upon my career.
In 1992, I became the national spokesperson for the International House of Pancakes, or IHOP restaurants as they are commonly known. Starring in over 30 commercials for the company, my personal appearances for IHOP took me all over the USA and Canada, On New Year’s Day, 1999, I could be seen waving from high atop the IHOP float to the millions of people around the world who watch the Tournament of Roses Parade.
I have appeared in dozens of TV shows including “Law and Order, SVU,” “White Collar,” “The Blacklist,” “Married With Children”, “Dallas,” “Newhart,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Cheers,” “Coach,” and “Murder She Wrote” to name a few, and was featured in the films World Trade Center, directed by Oliver Stone, Nancy Drew, Billy, The Early Years, Pink Cadillac with Clint Eastwood, Distinguished Gentlemen with Eddie Murphy, and Naked Gun 2 1/2. In the fall of 1999, I co-starred in a new sitcom on UPN titled “Reunited” starring Julie Hagerty of Airplane fame. I also appeared with “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander in the Reprise! LA production of Promises, Promises, as well as starring opposite Lucie Arnaz in the musical Wonderful Town. For a year and a half, I toured in the First National Company of The Drowsy Chaperone (starring Georgia Engel of Mary Tyler Moore Show fame) in the role of Mr. Feldzieg.
In 2004, I originated the role of Ezekiel Foster in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, which had its World Premiere at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, as well as performing in companies on Broadway, Los Angeles, Detroit, Papermill Playhouse, (starring Lorna Luft, daughter of legendary singer and actress Judy Garland). I have also spent the last several holiday seasons touring North America in the First National Tour of White Christmas, starring Broadway and TV star John Schuck and Broadway’s Karen Ziemba.
I balanced out my professional life in Los Angeles with involvement in several different charity organizations that I still feel passionately about. A longtime supporter of law enforcement, in particular, the California Highway Patrol, I was honored as a Lifetime Member in the CHP 11-99 Foundation. For my song “The Badge of the CHP” I was honored with an Honorary Membership in the California Association of Highway Patrolmen. I wrote, produced, and performed the “The Badge of the CHP” in honor of my friend CHP Officer Bruce T. Hinman, killed in the line of duty in 1995.
For ten years, I did a week of volunteer work at The White House, preparing it for the Christmas holidays, where I was honored to have met both Presidents and First Ladies Bush and Clinton on several different occasions.
I now reside in NYC, where I continue my stage work both on Broadway as well as Off Broadway, as well as TV and film.