Steve Landesberg (Steve Landesberg)

Steve  Landesberg

Actor, Comedian. Best remembered as Arthur P. Dietrich, the intellectual, unflappably deadpan detective from the long-running 1970s television series “Barney Miller”. Born and raised in New York City, Landesberg began his career in the late 1960s as a stand-up comedian, alongside comics such as David Brenner and Jimmie Walker. He appeared in commercials and made his first appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” in the early 1970s. He would later appear in the short lived CBS television series, “Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers” before joining the cast of ABC’s “Barney Miller” in its second season (1976). As Detective Dietrich, whose impressive knowledge of obscure subjects both amazed and annoyed his fellow officers, he eventually became a series regular and remained until the end of the show’s run in 1982. Landesberg continued acting in guest spots on such TV shows as “The Golden Girls”, “Law and Order”, “Cosby”, “Ghost Whisperer”, “That ’70s Show”, and “Everybody Hates Chris”, and supporting roles in the motion pictures “Wild Hogs” (2007) and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (2008). He also did voice over work, playing several characters on the animated television series “Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law.” His last starring role was as Dr. Myron Finkelstein on the Starz comedy “Head Case,” for which he also wrote seven episodes. Landesberg died of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Initial reports claimed he was 65, but his daughter later informed the New York Times that the comedian often fibbed about his age and was actually nine years older than most published sources stated. “He got kind of a late start in show business, so he tried to straddle the generations”, she explained. “He fooled the whole world”. 

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Born

  • November, 23, 1936
  • USA
  • New York

Died

  • December, 20, 2010
  • USA
  • California

Other

  • Unknown

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