Hal Linden

Hal Linden has performed in 15 Broadway musicals, won the 1971 Tony Award as best actor for "The Rothschilds" and earned three Emmys for dramatic work, but people still call him "Barney." And that's just fine with Linden, who portrayed Barney Miller from 1975 to 1982 on the ABC sitcom of the same name. Linden currently stars in Wendy Graf's play "Lessons," playing through Dec. 23 at the Lee Strasberg Theatre in West Hollywood. And while the play hasn't been critically well-received, Linden's performance has been welcomed with open arms.

"It's Never Too Late" is not only the title of Hal Linden's first CD of songs, it's also his mantra. A robust 80, the Tony Award winner for the musical "The Rothschilds" and star of the classic 1974-82 television series "Barney Miller" is "still kicking," as he describes it. And still singing, having just returned from doing 28 concerts in Florida — "generally for older people" — "with gigs for next year already. We got about eight or nine gigs starting in December. " Keeping busy, he adds quietly, is also helping him cope with the death of his wife, Frances, last year after 52 years of marriage.

Patrick Buchanan's star may be falling, four years at a time, but the presidential hopeful remains a reliable punch line. At one point in Arje Shaw's play "The Gathering," now in a pre-Broadway run at Brentwood's Wadsworth Theater, a Holocaust survivor's son, recently hired as a speech writer for President Ronald Reagan, is seated for Sabbath dinner with his family. The phone rings. It's his boss, Reagan communications director Buchanan.

Hal Linden has performed in 15 Broadway musicals, won the 1971 Tony Award as best actor for "The Rothschilds" and earned three Emmys for dramatic work, but people still call him "Barney." And that's just fine with Linden, who portrayed Barney Miller from 1975 to 1982 on the ABC sitcom of the same name. Linden currently stars in Wendy Graf's play "Lessons," playing through Dec. 23 at the Lee Strasberg Theatre in West Hollywood. And while the play hasn't been critically well-received, Linden's performance has been welcomed with open arms.

Hal Linden didn't star in the BBC-TV's acclaimed series "The Singing Detective," but its title neatly sums up his career. Long before he became famous in the title role of the comical cop on ABC-TV's "Barney Miller," Linden was a singing star on Broadway, doing such shows as 1958's "Bells Are Ringing" and 1970's "The Rothschilds," for which he won a Tony as best actor in a musical.

'Jack' Will Be Back: ABC Productions announced Monday that "Jack's Place," the one-hour romantic sitcom starring Hal Linden, has been renewed and will likely air midway through the 1992-93 season. The network has ordered 13 new episodes. The series, which is set in a neighborhood restaurant and co-stars Finola Hughes and John Dye, premiered on May 26 with a limited summer run that will conclude with tonight's episode at 10 on ABC.

A lot of us grew up, more or less, in the vicinity of Hal Linden. There he was, on the early '60s "Anything Goes" cast album as Billy Crocker, adjusting his bow tie and grinning. There he was, eight seasons on "Barney Miller," for which Linden won three Emmys as the stalwart center of a strong situation comedy. Even in less interesting ventures, Linden has proven a genial, versatile, classy presence.

As a child growing up in the Bronx, Harold Lipshitz dreamed of becoming a big-band leader. After receiving his high school diploma, he decided to change his name. "Swing and sway with Harold Lipshitz just didn't parse," Hal Linden explains, flashing a rueful smile. A half-century later, Linden is again confronting issues of identity and assimilation in "The Gathering," a play by Arje Shaw that explores the relationship of a Holocaust survivor to his son, grandson--and to his traumatic past.

It might have been a skit from the old "Carol Burnett Show": a woman marching in a Salvation Army band lets out a huge, high-pitched sneeze, doffs her uniform and steps into the spotlight wearing a spangly Bob Mackie gown. But not this time. This was Carol Burnett in her premiere appearance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, and the audience was loving it.

Patrick Buchanan's star may be falling, four years at a time, but the presidential hopeful remains a reliable punch line. At one point in Arje Shaw's play "The Gathering," now in a pre-Broadway run at Brentwood's Wadsworth Theater, a Holocaust survivor's son, recently hired as a speech writer for President Ronald Reagan, is seated for Sabbath dinner with his family. The phone rings. It's his boss, Reagan communications director Buchanan.

As a child growing up in the Bronx, Harold Lipshitz dreamed of becoming a big-band leader. After receiving his high school diploma, he decided to change his name. "Swing and sway with Harold Lipshitz just didn't parse," Hal Linden explains, flashing a rueful smile. A half-century later, Linden is again confronting issues of identity and assimilation in "The Gathering," a play by Arje Shaw that explores the relationship of a Holocaust survivor to his son, grandson--and to his traumatic past.

A lot of us grew up, more or less, in the vicinity of Hal Linden. There he was, on the early '60s "Anything Goes" cast album as Billy Crocker, adjusting his bow tie and grinning. There he was, eight seasons on "Barney Miller," for which Linden won three Emmys as the stalwart center of a strong situation comedy. Even in less interesting ventures, Linden has proven a genial, versatile, classy presence.

It might have been a skit from the old "Carol Burnett Show": a woman marching in a Salvation Army band lets out a huge, high-pitched sneeze, doffs her uniform and steps into the spotlight wearing a spangly Bob Mackie gown. But not this time. This was Carol Burnett in her premiere appearance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, and the audience was loving it.

Hal Linden didn't star in the BBC-TV's acclaimed series "The Singing Detective," but its title neatly sums up his career. Long before he became famous in the title role of the comical cop on ABC-TV's "Barney Miller," Linden was a singing star on Broadway, doing such shows as 1958's "Bells Are Ringing" and 1970's "The Rothschilds," for which he won a Tony as best actor in a musical.

"It's Never Too Late" is not only the title of Hal Linden's first CD of songs, it's also his mantra. A robust 80, the Tony Award winner for the musical "The Rothschilds" and star of the classic 1974-82 television series "Barney Miller" is "still kicking," as he describes it. And still singing, having just returned from doing 28 concerts in Florida — "generally for older people" — "with gigs for next year already. We got about eight or nine gigs starting in December. " Keeping busy, he adds quietly, is also helping him cope with the death of his wife, Frances, last year after 52 years of marriage.

'Jack' Will Be Back: ABC Productions announced Monday that "Jack's Place," the one-hour romantic sitcom starring Hal Linden, has been renewed and will likely air midway through the 1992-93 season. The network has ordered 13 new episodes. The series, which is set in a neighborhood restaurant and co-stars Finola Hughes and John Dye, premiered on May 26 with a limited summer run that will conclude with tonight's episode at 10 on ABC.