1. Leonard Joel Baker was an American actor of stage, film, and television, best known for his Golden-Globe-nominated performance in the 1976 Paul Mazursky film Next Stop, Greenwich Village and his 1977 Tony Award-winning performance in the stage play I Love My Wife.
Lenny Baker was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the middle child of William, who owned his own plumbing business, and Bertha Lenny Baker.
Lenny Baker began acting in kindergarten, where he was cast as an elephant in a school play, and from fourth grade on, he was "constantly" on stage, eventually becoming the vice president of Brookline High School's dramatic society.
Lenny Baker then went to the Center Stage in Baltimore until he made his Off Broadway debut in 1969 in City Scene.
Lenny Baker followed with three plays by Israel Horovitz at the Manhattan Theatre Club, a performance in The Year Boston Won the Pennant at Lincoln Center, as well as roles in Summertree and The Real Inspector Hound.
In 1974, Lenny Baker went to Paris, where he performed two Israel Horovitz one-act plays: Hop Scotch and Spared.
Lenny Baker later did a season with the New York Shakespeare Festival, during which he appeared in Henry V and Measure for Measure.
Beyond Broadway, Lenny Baker performed in other regional theater productions in Chicago, St Louis, and his native Boston.
Lenny Baker spent five summers at the O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference and its Theatre for the Deaf in Waterford, Connecticut, working with young playwrights.
Lenny Baker was hesitant to commit to more than one year, stating:.
Lenny Baker appeared in a number of television shows, such as Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, The Rockford Files, and Taxi.
However, as a child, Lenny Baker had been self-conscious about his body, particularly his prominent nose:.
Lenny Baker was a proponent of actors going to college, believing a "good liberal education is essential" to grounding actors in all the arts.
Lenny Baker's final television performance was a guest-star appearance on the sitcom Taxi in 1979.
Lenny Baker's last noted stage performance was in March 1980, in which he reprised the one-act Horovitz plays he had performed in Paris.
Ehrenstein's 2003 LA Weekly essay includes a quote from actor Anthony Holland that indicates that Lenny Baker lived in Los Angeles in 1980.
Lenny Baker died on April 12,1982, at the Community Hospital of South Broward in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
Lenny Baker is buried in Moses Mendelsohn Memorial Park in Randolph, Massachusetts.
Lenny Baker was highly praised by critics, including Clive Barnes and Walter Kerr.
Lenny Baker won the Tony Award for his performance in I Love My Wife.