1. David Edwin Birney was an American actor and director whose career included performances in both contemporary and classical roles in theatre, film, and television.
24 Facts About David Birney
1. 2.
David Birney is noted for having played the title role in the television series Serpico.
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David Birney starred in Bridget Loves Bernie, an early 1970s TV series about an interfaith marriage that starred Meredith Baxter, whom he married after the series ended.
4.
David Birney portrayed Dr Ben Samuels in St Elsewhere from 1982 until 1983.
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David Birney's father, Edwin, worked as a special agent for the FBI; his mother, Jeanne, was a housewife before becoming a real estate agent.
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David Birney attended schools in Brooklyn, Ohio, and graduated from West High School in Cleveland.
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David Birney held a teaching assistant fellowship and was awarded an honorary Ph.
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David Birney worked continually in the theatre performing leading roles with some of the most important theatres in the country.
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David Birney had major roles at the American Shakespeare Festival, New York's Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre, the New York Shakespeare Festival, Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum, Washington, DC's Shakespeare Theatre, Princeton's McCarter Theatre, the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, and numerous regional theatres around the country.
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David Birney recorded numerous audiobook bestsellers, including works by Dean Koontz, Paul Theroux, Annie Dillard, and Orson Scott Card.
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David Birney was conferred the Audie Award for his reading of Julie Salomon's The Christmas Tree, and was bestowed several AudioFile Magazine Earphone Awards.
12.
David Birney played Anakin Skywalker in the radio adaptation of Return of the Jedi.
13.
David Birney starred in the episode "The Nomads" from the 1977 series Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected, known in the United Kingdom as Twist in the Tale.
14.
David Birney appeared in the TV series the Love Boat with his wife where he played an Italian escort to an American woman whose friend arranged the encounter.
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David Birney appeared in leading roles in many television films, including Long Journey Home and The Deadly Game.
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David Birney appeared in the soap operas The Best of Everything and Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.
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David Birney edited and adapted for the stage a two-character play based on some of Mark Twain's shorter works and letters.
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David Birney served on the Large Theatre Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts and was a board member of the Foundation for Biomedical Research.
19.
David Birney served on the Theatre and Dance Panel of the Jacob Javits Fellowship Foundation.
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David Birney initiated and chaired the Class of '61 Legacy: The American Tradition in Performance, helping to create a substantial endowment dedicated to live performance at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College.
21.
For five years, David Birney co-chaired the American Diabetes Association, speaking and fund raising for the Association.
22.
David Birney was an advisor for the Children's Rights Council, a national nonprofit organization advocating access to both parents after divorce or separation.
23.
David Birney published a lengthy statement on his website disputing the allegations.
24.
David Birney died on April 27,2022, at his home in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 83.