1. Barnard Hughes was born in Bedford Hills, New York, the son of Irish immigrants Marcella "Madge" and Owen Barnard Hughes.
16 Facts About Barnard Hughes
1. 2.
Barnard Hughes attended La Salle Academy and Manhattan College in New York City.
3.
Barnard Hughes served in the United States Army during World War II.
4.
Barnard Hughes married actress Helen Stenborg on April 19,1950, and remained married until his death.
5.
Barnard Hughes changed the "e" in his first name to an "a" to help his acting career on the advice of a numerologist.
6.
Barnard Hughes auditioned for the Shakespeare Fellowship Repertory company in New York City on the advice of a friend, and ended up joining the company for two years.
7.
Barnard Hughes won Broadway's 1978 Best Actor Tony Award for his performance as the title character in Hugh Leonard's Da.
8.
Barnard Hughes played the old man who gave a ride to Felix and Oscar in The Odd Couple II and was featured in The Fantasticks.
9.
Barnard Hughes appeared on TV in such series as Naked City, The Secret Storm, Dark Shadows, Love Story, Blossom, and Homicide: Life on the Street.
10.
Barnard Hughes made three appearances in The Bob Newhart Show as the father of Dr Robert Hartley.
11.
Barnard Hughes was the central character in three sitcoms: Doc, in which he played a physician; Mr Merlin, in which he played Merlin, a magician mentoring a 20th-century teenager; and The Cavanaughs, co-starring Christine Ebersole, in which he played the family patriarch.
12.
Barnard Hughes sang "Danny Boy" in one episode of the latter series.
13.
Barnard Hughes made a memorable appearance as The King in the PBS mini-series Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
14.
Barnard Hughes made recurring appearances on daytime dramas including Guiding Light, The Secret Storm and As the World Turns as well as a brief appearance as a private investigator in an early episode of Dark Shadows.
15.
Barnard Hughes did many voice-overs for various television commercials including Kix cereal.
16.
Barnard Hughes died of natural causes on July 11,2006, just five days before his 91st birthday.