Acting
Oct 29, 1923
New York City, New York, USA
Herschel Bernardi
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.
Feature Films (36)
A cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.
The Front
When a recently fired policeman falls in love with a French prostitute, he doesn't want her to be with other men, so he creates an alter-ego in order to become her only customer.
Irma la Douce
When a man is exposed to an alien gas, he acquires the ability to heal instantly and survive any injury or toxin.
I-Man
When a hypochondriac assumes that he is dying, he makes an elaborate plan to ensure his wife's happiness. However, trouble ensues when she misunderstands his intentions.
Send Me No Flowers
In this animated retelling of the classic tale, Abdul Aziz Magoo -- an ancestor of Mr. Magoo -- is the lamp-selling uncle of Aladdin. Tired of his nephew's laziness, Abdul insists that Aladdin find a wife. To his uncle's surprise, Aladdin falls in love with the beautiful Princess Yasminda. Before he can make his move, however, Aladdin is whisked away by the evil Wazir on a quest to find a magic lamp that will grant its owner unlimited power in the form of three magic wishes.
1001 Arabian Nights
Provides a personal narrative of the Jewish experience in America. Herschel Bernardi explains how the Jewish East Side deliberately abolished itself through hard work, union organizations and the desire "to be American." Uses period photographs, archival footage, and the recollections of an immigrant family told in the ethnic idiom of the time.
A Storm of Strangers: Jewish American
Television & Series (50)
Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.
Burke's Law
A former underworld lawyer goes to work for the Federal Government, determined to bring 100 top criminals to justice.
Cain's Hundred
Arnie is a television sitcom that ran for two seasons on the CBS network. It stars Herschel Bernardi, Sue Ane Langdon, and Roger Bowen. Bernardi played the title character, Arnie Nuvo, a longtime blue collar employee at the fictitious Continental Flange Company, who overnight was promoted to an executive position. The storylines mainly focused on this fish out of water situation, and on Arnie's sometimes-problematic relationship with his well-meaning but wealthy and eccentric boss, Hamilton Majors Jr.. Because he still held his union card, Arnie could negotiate tricky management/labor situations that no one else could. Arnie's surname was presumably a pun on nouveau riche, and possibly also on Art Nouveau. In addition to Bernardi, Bowen, and Langdon, cast members included Del Russel and Stephanie Steele as Arnie's son and daughter, Richard and Andrea; Elaine Shore as Arnie's secretary, Felicia; and Herb Voland as sour-tempered executive Neil Ogilvie. In its first season, despite being the lead-in to The Mary Tyler Moore Show on Saturday nights and winning an Emmy nomination as best comedy series, Arnie received only fair Nielsen ratings. For its second season, in order to increase its viewership, CBS made a major cast change in the show's format. Charles Nelson Reilly joined the cast as Randy Robinson, a TV chef who called himself "The Giddyap Gourmet," apparently a reference to The Galloping Gourmet.
