Highway To Heaven Actors You May Not Know Passed Away
Premiering on NBC in 1984, "Highway to Heaven" would air more than 100 episodes — and entrench itself firmly near the top of the Nielsens — before coming to a close five years later.
Beloved "Bonanza" and "Little House on the Prairie" star Michael Landon starred in the series, cast as an angel dispatched from heaven to assist and teach moral messages to everyday people. His first assignment, a former police officer played by Victor French, would become his partner for the rest of the series, as they travelled across the country on their mission from God.
In addition to starring in the lead role, Landon created the series for NBC, worked as one of its primary writers, and directed the majority of the episodes. French also directed multiple installments, all part of a lifelong friendship. The duo had a long history, having previously starred together on "Bonanza" and "Little House," both TV classics.
It's been more than 30 years since "Highway" was taken off the air; in the time since, many of the show's cast members have passed away. Below, a look back at their impressive careers and legacies.
Michael Landon
As the creator, star, and one of its main writers and directors, Michael Landon was the primary creative force behind "Highway to Heaven." The series had its plug pulled before Season 5, a decision likely impacted by the 1988 Writers Guild strike, although NBC cited a downward trend in viewing numbers. The final episode aired August 4, 1989; tragically, both French and Landon would die within the next two years.
One of Landon's final roles, his time as probationary Jonathan Smith would come to define his last years. The TV icon passed away from cancer in 1991, his last appearance coming on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" as he spoke candidly about his cancer and the unfortunate tabloid coverage surrounding his battle.
His final role came in "Us," a pilot episode of a television series that was never picked up due to his untimely death. Just like "Highway to Heaven," Landon had written and directed the first episode of the show, in addition to playing the lead role.
Earlier in his career, Landon had made a name for himself with "Bonanza," the 1959 – 1973 series whose 432 episodes made it one of the longest-running live action series in TV history. When "Bonanza" ended, Landon jumped into "Little House on the Prairie," where he played Charles Ingalls for 180 episodes and a number of TV movie specials. While Landon didn't create either of these popular shows like he did with "Highway," he did write and direct many episodes of each.
Victor French
As the human counterpoint to Michael Landon's angel character, Victor French was Landon's right hand man on "Highway to Heaven" and a close friend in real life. The pair met while making "Bonanza," where Landon starred and French played four different supporting characters over the years. The two then worked extensively on "Little House" and — after an unenthusiastic response to his attempt at becoming a sitcom star with 1977' "Carter Country" — reunited for "Highway."
French died of cancer in 1989, shortly after finishing the fifth season. Despite his official cause of death being listed as lung cancer, Landon believed that he had actually, "drank himself to death," as recorded in the book "Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love" written by Karen Grassle, who played Ma Ingalls on "Little House on the Prairie" alongside Landon and French.
Alongside "Bonanza," French frequently acted in other Western projects, with shows like "Gunsmoke" and "The Virginian" and movies like "Death of a Gunfighter" and "Rio Lobo" with John Wayne. Even French's first movie role was a Western with a small, uncredited part in the 1960 classic "The Magnificent Seven." He also had a notable role in the Oscar-winning film "An Officer and a Gentleman.
"The network wanted a name actor," French said to the Washington Post about his "Highway" involvement, which had him directing every third episode. "But Michael stood by his guns. That role changed my career. Michael is really my angel. "
James Troesh
Occupying a rare place in Hollywood as one of the industry's only quadriplegic actors, California native Troesh got his acting start on an episode of "Airwolf" in 1985, then continued acting sporadically into the 2000s.
His longest-running role, however, was playing Scotty Wilson in 7 episodes of "Highway"; he also earned a "story by" credit on one episode as a writer. Troesh was one of the favorite recurring characters of Victor French. "I went home (one day) and started watching one of our shows that had a quadriplegic actor in it, and I started crying," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. "I thought, 'Thank God, I'm in a show in which that actor is able to do that.'"
Since parts for quadriplegic actors are rare, Troesh didn't have many roles throughout his career, but he was a small part of the television series "Boston Legal" and appeared in "A Winner Never Quits" and "Rise and Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story," both films about athletes who suffer career-threatening physical tragedies.
A writer and actor, Troesh made history as the only quadriplegic actor to be in both the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild, and he served on the Writers Guild's Writers with Disabilities Committee. He wrote the Christian movie "Color of the Cross," and in 2008 filmed "The Hollywood Quad," a proposed sitcom starring Troesh as a fictionalized version of himself; co-starring Bryan Cranston, the show never progressed past the pitch stage. Troesh passed away a few years later in 2011, at age 54.
Charles Quertermous
Playing multiple roles on "Highway to Heaven" across the show's third, fourth, and fifth seasons, Charles Quertermous was a familiar face to the show's audience. The series provided his final acting work ahead of his death of cancer in 1989, the same year the show was brought to a close.
Not much is known about Quertermous, as he never had much of a spotlight shined on his personal life. His acting roles were all within the world of television and the bulk of his roles were small, often unnamed parts. Quertermous appeared in many TV movies and shows throughout his life, but "Highway to Heaven" was the only one that had him return for multiple episodes. The majority of his overall career was spent on soap operas, with small appearances on the likes of "Days of Our Lives," "Knots Landing," and "The Young and the Restless." He also popped up occasionally on popular shows like "Magnum, P.I." and "Hill Street Blues."
Tom Kindle
Tom Kindle began acting in the late 1970s, with one-off roles on television shows like "The Incredible Hulk" and "Fantasy Island." One of his first acting gigs was on two episodes in the sixth season of "Little House on the Prairie." He would reunite with stars Michael Landon and Victor French five years later for "Highway to Heaven." Kindle played multiple characters on the show, popping up as a new character on each of the show's first three seasons.
Kindle was also a small part of big shows like "Mork & Mindy," "Cheers," "Family Matters," "Remington Steele," "Newhart," and both "M*A*S*H" and "AfterMASH." Kindle didn't work as often in feature films, but he did have small roles in notable titles like "Alligator," "Buddy Buddy," and "The Rocketeer." His final role was a bit part in the TV movie "Love, Cheat & Steal"; he passed away three years later in 1996.
Lew Ayres
Born all the way back near the turn of the century in 1908, Minnesota-born Ayres began his acting career at the tail-end of the silent era and found great success right out of the gate.
After a couple of small early roles, he landed his big break in 1930 as the star of the best picture Oscar winning war film "All Quiet on the Western Front." Ayres capitalized on that success by starring in dozens of movies throughout the remainder of the 1930s, sometimes headlining as many as six films per year. By the end of that decade, he had become best known for playing the character Dr. James Kildare, a role he would take for a total of nine feature films for MGM from 1938 — 1942, as well as a 1960 television pilot that wasn't picked up.
Ayres had many great film roles over the years, with perhaps the zenith of his career arriving in 1948 when he played Dr. Richardson in "Johnny Belinda," a role that earned him a best lead actor Oscar nomination. By the '70s, his star power wasn't quite what it used to be and he found himself commonly guest-starring on single episodes of shows like "Columbo" and "Kung Fu," the latter of which netted him an Emmy nomination. Ayres was approaching 80 when he joined the cast of "Highway to Heaven" in 1985, which wound up being one of his last projects; he died in 1996 at 88 years of age.
Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy McGuire led a long, illustrious career as an actor who spent half a century in the film and television industries. Finding success right out of the gates, her first acting gig was the titular starring role in 1943's "Claudia," in which she played the child bride of an adult husband. She had many other strong roles over the next few years and, before the end of the decade, she had earned her first and only Oscar nomination for a leading role in Elia Kazan's "Gentleman's Agreement," alongside John Garfield and Gregory Peck. McGuire didn't win in her category, but the film did take home the best picture Academy Award, which helped rocket her to greater stardom.
After acting exclusively in feature films throughout the 1940s, McGuire made her initial foray into television in the '50s, picking up her first of three Emmy nominations for her performance on the show "Climax!" By the 1980s, McGuire's career was beginning to wind down, but she was still acting regularly on shows like "The Love Boat" and "St. Elsewhere."
Her recurring role as Jane Thompson (Jonathan's former wife) on "Highway to Heaven" arrived at the tail-end of her career, and her appearance in "We Have Forever" (Season 4, Episodes 17 and 18) marked one of the most powerful Landon-directed episodes. A hip injury forced her into a type of mandatory retirement following her final performance in the 1990 TV movie "The Last Best Year." She remained outside the public spotlight for the next decade, passing away in 2001 at 85 years old.
Ivor Barry
A Welsh actor who carved a niche for himself in both the U.K. and the U.S, Barry forged a four-decade career with more than a hundred movies and television shows.
He first came into contact with the "Highway to Heaven" team while making "Bonanza," where he guest starred on two episodes in the seventh and 14th seasons. Around that same time, Barry was also guest starring on hit shows like "The Partridge Family," "Mannix," "Bewitched," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "Hawaii Five-O," "Mission: Impossible," and plenty of others. Behind the scenes, he worked as a translator and writer of adaptations in the late '50s and early '60s.
Barry played multiple roles on "Highway" over the years — including the "foremost psychologist in the state," called to testify in "With Love, the Claus" (Season 4, Episode 12) against Santa Claus. Barry also landed a significant role in "Weird Science," which became the biggest mainstream movie hit of his career when it hit theaters in 1985. Barry had a couple of other roles after "Highway to Heaven," including a minor part in the cult movie "Action Jackson," but his acting career came to an end by 1988. He spent the next several years in retirement, off the radar before dying of heart failure in 2006.
Bill Erwin
Bill Erwin led a prolific acting career that saw him amass an incredible body of work, with nearly 250 movie and television roles. Erwin began acting in 1941 before taking an extended leave from the craft to serve in World War II, where he reached the rank of Captain in the Air Force. When he returned home in the late 1940s, he wasted no time diving back into acting. For over 60 years, Erwin worked tirelessly, playing both small and large roles in projects of every genre, but with a particular knack for comedy. He routinely appeared in several movies and television shows annually, until his final performance in a Season 2 episode of "My Name is Earl" in 2006.
On "Highway to Heaven," Erwin played both Clarence Kelly and Santa Claus. He had already played Santa two years earlier on an episode of "Who's the Boss?" and would play St. Nick again several years later on an episode of "The Jeff Foxworthy Show." Some of the biggest hits from his lengthy career include "Home Alone," "The West Wing," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles," "The Golden Girls," "Full House," "The Jeffersons," and "Seinfeld," for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Sid Fields. He passed away in 2010, just shy of reaching 100 years old.
Paul Walker
Fans of the "Fast & Furious" franchise (among other movies) are likely familiar with Paul Walker. as well as the details of his tragic vehicular death at the age of 40. What they may not know, however, is that he appeared on multiple episodes of "Highway to Heaven" as an early teenager at the beginning of his career. Walker's very first acting gig was a role in the "Highway to Heaven" episode "Birds of a Feather" (Season 2, Episode 6), and he returned as a different character for two more episodes in Season 3.
Walker would continue trying to make a name in television for the next few several years, with roles on the sitcom "Throb" and the soap opera "The Young and the Restless." Around the turn of the century, he moved into feature films with an eclectic mix of movies like "Meet the Deedles," "Pleasantville," "Varsity Blues," and "She's All That." Just a couple years later, he starred in the first "The Fast and the Furious," and his career charged to new heights. Walker kept busy with sequels while making room for other movies like "Running Scared" and "Flags of Our Fathers." His death coincided with the filming of "Furious 7," and his role was completed partially through the use of stand-ins and CGI recreations.
David Spielberg
David Spielberg — no relation to Steven — was a hard-working Southern character actor. His jam-packed career included almost 150 film and television roles, running the gamut from soap operas to horror films.
His acting debut was on the ABC soap opera "One Life to Live." Spielberg's first major role arrived in 1973, when he was cast as the titular Ted on "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," a television adaptation of the Oscar-nominated film of the same name from a couple years prior. The series was also an early role for a young Jodie Foster, and co-starred bigger names like Anne Archer and Robert Urich. Unfortunately, the show was met with poor viewership, and was canceled before the first season was over.
After his big starring role was met with a quick cancellation, Spielberg reverted to mostly playing supporting roles on TV shows for an episode or two at a time. He played three different characters on "Highway to Heaven" across seasons two, four, and five. After the series ended, Spielberg worked with Michael Landon again on the pilot for "Us," which was shelved after Landon's death.
Some of Spielberg's most memorable roles were in John Carpenter's "Christine," the TV series "The Practice" (in which he played one of the lead roles for two seasons), and Woody Allen's Oscar-nominated film "Alice." He continued acting until his final role in 2007's "Flight of the Living Dead," dying several years later in 2016.
Richard Bull
Known for his role as Nels Oleson on 145 episodes of "Little House on the Prairie," Landon brought Richard Bull along when he created "Highway to Heaven," though his role was much smaller and only lasted for a couple of episodes due to the transitory nature of the series. Bull had first worked with Landon on "Bonanza," in which he appeared as two different characters in Season 11 and Season 14.
Bull didn't have a lot of starring roles, but he was involved in many large movies and shows that would come to be considered classics. Some of his biggest films included the Steve McQueen version of "The Thomas Crown Affair," "The Andromeda Strain," and "The Parallax View." Some of his television highlights without Landon included "ER," "Hill Street Blues" (as Furillo's dad), "It's Gary Shandling's Show," "Mannix," "The Partridge Family," and other big shows. His final role was in the 2011 Showtime series "Boss," opposite Kelsey Grammer. He died shortly after at the age of 89.
Andy Romano
The recurring role of Caz on "Highway to Heaven" was played by Andy Romano, whose entry into acting came via 1960's television with "Gunsmoke," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and the subsequent "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." He then became a prominent fixture of the swinging '60s teen-beach-movie sub-genre. He played a member of the Rat Pack in "Bikini Beach," "Pajama Party," and "Beach Blanket Bingo," and played the role of J.D. in "Beach Party," "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini," and "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini."
Once the teen-beach-movie craze died down, Romano went back to acting mostly in television shows like "Bewitched," "The F.B.I.," "M*A*S*H," "The Six Million Dollar Man," and Adam West's "Batman." Most of his TV work was confined to just one or two episodes, but he played more substantial parts on "Get Christie Love!," "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue," and the short-lived 1979 series "Friends," unrelated to the popular sitcom from many years later.
The year after "Highway to Heaven" went off the air, Romano landed what was arguably the biggest and best feature film role of his career, playing first base coach Pepper Leach in 1989's "Major League." The latter half of his career included a few more notable side roles in big films like "Bugsy," "Under Siege," "Eraser," and "The Fugitive." His final performance was in a short film released in 2003, at which point he went into retirement. Almost 20 years went by with Romano living outside the Hollywood system in Washington state, until his recent death in 2022.
Eddie Quillan
Eddie Quillan was born into a family of performers near the start of the century in 1907. Before acting for the stage and screen, Quillan's first years as a performer were spent in the world of vaudeville, where he toured theaters with his family, who doubled as the full vaudeville troupe. He was performing on stage by the time he was seven years old, and was performing for the camera before he had turned 20.
Quillan started in the silent era as the star of numerous comedic shorts, then navigated the shift into talkies as cinema progressed. Working hard and often, Quillan amassed a staggering 225 credits on his filmography before passing away of cancer in 1990. His extensive filmography included such classics as "Mutiny on the Bounty," "The Grapes of Wrath," "Young Mr. Lincoln," "Brigadoon," and dozens of others. Quillan was well into old age by the time "Highway to Heaven" came around, and he played a character named Clyde in Season 1 and appeared as "Burt the tramp" in "Basinger's New York" (Season 3, Episode 13). The series wound up being one of his final shows, followed only by individual episodes of "The A-Team" and "Matlock."
Eve Brent
Eve Brent played three different roles on "Highway to Heaven" over the years, from "Eve the waitress" to her largest, playing Marjorie Anderson in Season 5's fifth episode, "The Reunion."
Since the 1950s, Brent spent her time with both large and small roles in films and television shows. Her first acting gig was a supporting role in the 1955 film noir "The Female Jungle." That same year, she acted on four different TV shows, including a lead role in 1955's pilot episode of the "Judge Roy Bean" TV series. She played Letty Bean, the niece of the titular character in the show's debut episode, but the role was recast with Jackie Loughery for the rest of the series.
Some of Brent's biggest projects include "Forty Guns," her starring role as Jane in "Tarzan's Fight for Life," "The Barefoot Executive," and small, uncredited appearances in major movies like "Coogan's Bluff" and "Airport." Shortly after her time on "Highway to Heaven," she made an appearance on "Twin Peaks," where she paid a memorable visit to the perfume counter central to the mystery of Laura Palmer. What was likely the best role of her career arrived in 1999, as a key part of the ensemble cast of the Oscar-nominated "The Green Mile" as Elaine Connelly, the retirement-home friend of the main character in the present-day framing device. Brent continued doing good work until her death in 2011 at 82. Some of her last roles include a guest appearance on "Community" and a bit part in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Her final film, "Ticket Out," was released posthumously.
Georgia Schmidt
Born in 1904, Georgia Schmidt didn't begin performing on camera as quickly as other actors. She was approaching her 60s by the time she made her small-screen debut in an episode of the cop show "87th Precinct." She made her big screen debut the following year in "House of the Damned," then continued to move back and forth between the two acting mediums regularly.
Despite her start coming later than most, Schmidt wasted no time racking up credits. She built up an impressive body of work as a character actor, appearing on major shows like "Star Trek," "Night Gallery," "The Odd Couple," "Starsky and Hutch," "Charlie's Angels," "CHiPs," "The Incredible Hulk," "Magnum, P.I.," "Knight Rider," "Hill Street Blues," and "The Twilight Zone." She was often credited as some variation of old lady or elderly woman and used her advanced age to her advantage.
Georgia Schmidt played Loretta in the first two episodes of "Highway to Heaven" in 1984. When she returned to the series in 1986 to play Mrs. Caldy, it would be the final role of her career. 11 years later, Schmidt passed away of natural causes at the age of 92.
Paul Comi
Before becoming an actor, Paul Comi served as a decorated soldier in the Korean war. He earned not one, not two, but three Purple Hearts for his service.
Upon returning home, he tried his hand at acting in student theatre productions, and it wasn't long until he found success in Hollywood in both film and television. Two of his best film roles featured him acting opposite Gregory Peck ("Pork Chop Hill" and the original "Cape Fear"), and he also gave memorable performances on "Star Trek," "The Twilight Zone," and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." He played one of the main supporting roles on the series "Ripcord," and played several different characters over the years on the shows "The F.B.I.," "The Virginian," "The Big Valley," and "The Wild Wild West."
Comi continued co-starring in notable movies over the years, including "The Towering Inferno" and "Howard the Duck," the latter of which marked the end of his feature film career. The last stage of Comi's time in Hollywood was spent entirely in television, including three different appearances on "Highway to Heaven" as different characters. His TV roles remained consistent into the '90s, when he stepped away from acting in 1995 after his final guest appearance on an episode of "Baywatch." He spent the next two decades in retirement until his death in 2016.
John McLiam
John McLiam was a multi-talented thespian who acted in 177 movies and television shows throughout his 40-year acting career. But as impressive as his screen acting career was, McLiam also made a mark as a stage actor, entertaining even more audiences in numerous Broadway productions. Before beginning his screen acting endeavors, he first became a decorated intelligence officer for the Navy in World War II.
A few years after the end of the war, McLiam began acting in television, eventually transitioning to the big screen as well. He was a part of multiple classics, including "My Fair Lady," "Cool Hand Luke," "Sleeper," "In Cold Blood," "First Blood," "The Iceman Cometh," and "The Missouri Breaks," where he acted alongside Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando.
Before joining the cast of "Highway to Heaven," McLiam first crossed paths with Michael Landon on one episode of "Bonanza" and three episodes of "Little House on the Prairie." He continued acting after his time on "Highway," popping up on shows like "The A-Team," "Northern Exposure," and "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but the bulk of his career was already behind him as he entered old age. He died of melanoma in 1994.
Stuart Nisbet
Stuart Nisbet was a prolific character actor who appeared in almost 200 movies and TV shows. Working frequently with Michael Landon over the years, they first acted alongside each other on several episodes of "Bonanza." A few years later, they collaborated on the made-for-TV movie "It's Good to Be Alive" in 1974, which Landon directed but did not appear as an actor. The pair acted together again on "Little House on the Prairie", when Nisbet made a guest appearance on a single episode. Nisbet also acted on an episode of the show "Father Murphy," which Landon wrote and produced but again did not act in. The final of their many collaborations was "Highway to Heaven," which utilized Nisbet in both the first and fourth seasons.
Nisbet had no shortage of roles away from Landon. He played small parts in huge movies like "In the Heat of the Night," "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot," Martin Scorsese's "Casino," and he even made a tiny appearance as an extra in "The Graduate." In the world of television, Nisbet was seemingly on every network series at one point of another, and was a more prominent fixture of the shows "Dragnet" and "The Virginian." Nisbet's final role was as a judge on an episode of "The Practice" in 2001. He passed away five years later at the age of 82.
Owen Bush
Owen Bush came into the entertainment world by way of radio. He spent most of the 1940s and 1950s working as a radio announcer and sportscaster in Kansas City, Missouri, where he met Robert Altman, who would go on to become one of the most celebrated American filmmakers of all time. Altman would later cast Bush in a multitude of narrative, documentary, and industrial projects throughout the '50s and '60s. He was in Altman's debut feature film, "The Delinquents," and the two kept working together as they both entered the world of television. Bush frequently acted in individual episodes on television shows that Altman directed before he hit it big, including "Peter Gunn," "U.S. Marshal," "Maverick," and "Bonanza," where he met Michael Landon.
Bush was no longer working with Altman by the time he hit his '70s stride with hits like "M*A*S*H" and "McCabe & Mrs. Miller," but he continued working with Landon. After "Bonanza," Bush acted alongside Landon on "Little House on the Prairie," in the John Wayne TV movie "Swing Out, Sweet Land," and, of course, on "Highway to Heaven." Bush continued acting right up until the turn of the century, with tiny roles in the 2000 films "The Independent" and "Red Letters." He passed away the following year.
Henry Kendrick
Henry Kendrick was a man of many talents and focuses. Not only did he spend decades working in the film and television industries, he also acted in dozens and dozens of theatrical productions. He divided his time between Hollywood and his home state of Arizona, where he had deep ties to both the local entertainment circle and politics. He worked in local radio and television prior to finding success in Hollywood. After appearing in movies like "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and "The Animals," and TV shows like "The High Chaparral" and "Gunsmoke," he returned home to mount a political campaign for one of Arizona's senate seats, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Kendrick passed away in 1990, shortly after "Highway to Heaven" went off the air. He spent his final days working hard and continued appearing in movies, right up until his death. Some of his final roles included brief appearances in "Raising Arizona," "Kid," "Thunder Alley," and the TV show "The Young Riders."
Alan Fudge
For many actors on "Highway to Heaven," the show arrived in the latter stages of their careers, as things were beginning to wind down. This was not the case for Alan Fudge, whose career continued going strong for decades afterward.
Before "Highway to Heaven," Fudge had already spent the 1970s establishing himself as a dependable character actor who appeared on every show from "Columbo" to "Kung Fu." He had also landed notable roles in hit movies like "Airport 1975," which was one of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of the year. Fudge continued doing the television rounds in the '80s and '90s, but began landing larger film roles, such as the ill-fated father of Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) in "The Natural."
Fudge was still thriving after the dawn of the 21st century, and the 2000s provided some of his best roles, like the memorable part of Dr. Diedrickson in the Coen Brothers' "The Man Who Wasn't There." Fudge found success in many popular modern television shows, including "The Office," "Big Love," "Grey's Anatomy," "How I Met Your Mother," and "7th Heaven," which utilized him in the supporting role of Lou Dalton throughout all eleven seasons. Fudge died in 2011 at the age of 67, of liver and lung cancer. His final acting project was a voice role in the video game "Star Wars: The Old Republic," released the same year as his passing.
Herb Edelman
Herb Edelman might be best remembered for his role as Stan Zbornak on "The Golden Girls," Dorothy's troublemaking ex-husband. He earned two Emmy nominations for his comedic performance on that show, serving as a key part of all seven seasons of the series. He played Dr. Cohn in the "Highway" heart-tugging "A Song for Jason" two-parter (Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2), which aired in 1985, the same year he began on "Golden Girls."
Edelman had already been acting for two decades before he landed that iconic character. He spent the '60s guest starring on individual episodes of various television shows until he landed one of the three lead characters on the CBS sitcom "The Good Guys," alongside Bob Denver and Joyce Van Patten. The show ran for one full season and a shortened second before having the plug pulled by the network. Edelman also played lead roles on the shows "Strike Force" and "Ladies' Man," and played major recurring roles on the series "Murder She Wrote," "St. Elsewhere," and the TV version of "Nine to Five."
His film roles tended to be a little smaller, but Edelman was in big movies like "In Like Flint" and "Barefoot in the Park," and he had bigger roles in "The Yakuza," and "The Odd Couple," where he played Murray the cop. Oddly enough, he was one of the only Americans in the Hong Kong action movie "Wheels on Meals" alongside kung-fu superstars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao. Edelman passed away of emphysema in 1996. His last acting project, the film "Cops n Roberts," was never released.