Richard Masur

A reliable character player of stage, screen and TV since the mid-1970s, Richard Masur has long been a familiar if unremarkable face. With his large mobile features, boyish demeanor and fairly indeterminate age, Masur has played a wide variety roles in most popular genres. In features, he has regularly shifted from comedy (the bewildered Dad of Sean Astin in "Encino Man" 1992) to drama ("The Man Without a Face" 1993), from Western ("Heaven's Gate" 1982) to sci-fi ("The Thing" 1982; "My Science Project" 1985), alternately lovable (the amiable Uncle Phil in "My Girl" 1991 and "My Girl 2" 1994) and venal (a NYC PR man intent on sprucing up the image of Nicaraguan dictator Somoza in "Under Fire" 1983). Masur's film roles tend to be fairly small but occasionally indelible such as his portrayal of an unflappable admissions recruiter for Princeton who comes to interview young Tom Cruise at an inopportune time in "Risky Business" (1983). Recent feature credits include playing the used car salesman husband of Julie Kavner in the framing story of Billy Crystal's "Forget Paris" and Michael Keaton's construction boss in "Multiplicity" (both 1995). All in all, however, TV has afforded Masur greater opportunities to shine.

The NYC native was raised in Yonkers, the son of a druggist father and high school teacher mother. As a college freshman, Masur began as a pre-med majoring in anthropology. Accompanying a friend to an audition for a school play, he was asked to read and won the part. Masur soon switched his major to Theater Arts, and later pursued his study of acting at the Yale School of Drama. He racked up stage experience as an actor and technical director at the Hartford (CT) Stage Company. In 1973, Masur originated a role in the New Haven production of the rugby drama "The Changing Room" before moving with the show to Broadway. TV writer-producer Norman Lear saw Masur in a performance and invited him to do a guest shot on "All in the Family". Masur made his TV acting debut on February 2, 1974 playing a mentally challenged delivery boy who becomes smitten with Gloria (Sally Struthers). He moved from NYC to Los Angeles six months later.

In the fall of 1974, Masur made a memorable guest shot on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". By the following year, he was co-starring as the harried manager of "Hot L Baltimore" (ABC, 1975). This quickly led to work as a regular on the first season of "One Day at a Time" (CBS, 1975-76), and a recurring role on the "MTM" spin-off "Rhoda" (CBS, 1975-76). 1976 marked Masur's debut in TV-movies in "Having Babies", an ABC medical drama. Though a frequent series guest star and the star of several busted sitcom pilots, he would receive most of his best roles in "social problem"-oriented TV-movies.

Masur proved chilling as a producer of child pornography in the well-received "Fallen Angel" (CBS, 1981). He continued to gravitate toward serious subjects with a supporting role in the lauded child abduction docudrama "Adam" (NBC, 1983) which he reprised for the sequel "Adam: His Song Continues" (NBC, 1986). Masur garnered an Emmy nomination playing the defense attorney of battered wife-turned-murderess in "The Burning Bed" (NBC, 1984). As a change of pace, he proved comfortable battling supernatural evil with the rest of the ensemble in the miniseries "Stephen King's 'It'" (ABC, 1990) as he was in the far more ambitious award-winning "And the Band Played On" (HBO, 1993). Masur's more recent telefilm highlights include a supporting role in "My Brother's Keeper" (CBS, 1995), an AIDS drama, and in "Hiroshima" (Showtime, 1995).

Segueing to directing, Masur helmed an Oscar-nominated live-action theatrical short "Love Struck" (1986). He subsequently garnered a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for helming "Torn Between Two Fathers" (ABC, 1989), a presentation of "ABC Afternoon Specials". Masur's other directing credits include episodes of "The 'Slap' Maxwell Story", "The Wonder Years", and "Picket Fences" (a series on which he played the recurring role of reactionary postal worker-turned-mayor Ed Lawson).

Masur was elected third vice-president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1993 and served as president from 1995 to 1997.

• Also Credited As:
  Richard D. Masur
• Born:
  November 20, 1948 in New York City, New York, USA
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Director, Technical director (for theater companies)

Education

• State University of New York, Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, theater

Milestones

• 1971 Worked as an actor and technical director for the Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, CT
• 1973 Appeared in the New Haven production of The Changing Room
• 1973 Broadway debut, The Changing Room , played Jack Stringer, Number 4
• 1973 Portrayed Menelaus and Ajax off-Broadway in New York Shakespeare Festival production of Troilus and Cressida
• 1974 Moved to Los Angeles in August
• 1974 On February 2nd, made TV acting debut with guest shot on All in the Family (episode title: Gloria s Boyfriend ) as a mentally challenged supermarket stockboy whom Gloria befriends
• 1974 On October 12th, made guest shot on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (episode title: The Outsider ) as consultant who irks the newsroom staff with his efforts to bolster ratings
• 1975 Co-starred as the harried manager in the short-lived Lear-produced sitcom Hot L Baltimore on ABC
• 1975 Film debut in Whiffs
• 1976 TV-movie debut, Having Babies , an ABC medical drama
• 1977 Starred in Bumpers , a busted NBC sitcom pilot, as an assembly-line auto worker
• 1978 Starred as Dr. Arthur Murdock, a zoo veterinarian, on The Many Loves of Arthur , an unsold NBC sitcom pilot
• 1981 Played a child pornographer in the highly rated CBS TV-movie Fallen Angel
• 1981 TV miniseries debut, John Steinbeck s East of Eden on ABC
• 1983 Played the supporting role of Jay Howell in the acclaimed NBC docudrama Adam about missing children; reprised the role for the 1986 sequel Adam: His Song Continues
• 1984 Co-starred in Empire , a short-lived broadly played satire of corporate in-fighting spoof on CBS, played an incompetent sales vice president (ran one month)
• 1984 Garnered an Emmy nod for Best Supporting Actor playing Farrah Fawcett s defense attorney in the acclaimed telefilm The Burning Bed
• 1986 Co-starred as Mr. Carlton Davis, the head of a joke-playing family in Mr. Boogedy , an unsold hour-long pilot aired as part of ABC s Disney Sunday Movie ; reprised role for a two-hour 1987 TV-movie sequel, Bride of Boogedy , also aired on Disney Sunday Movie
• 1986 Film directing debut, helmed Oscar-nominated live-action short, Love Struck , produced by wife Fredda Weiss and starring Judge Reinhold
• 1987 Directed an episode of the Jay Tarses-produced sitcom The Slap Maxwell Story
• 1989 Directed a well-received installment of the ABC Afternoon Specials entitled Torn Between Two Fathers ; nominated for a DGA award for his direction (Dramatic Series, Daytime)
• 1991 Helmed two episodes of The Wonder Years , the popular nostalgic ABC sitcom
• 1993 Appeared in three consecutive episodes of the NBC legal drama L.A. Law as 1960s activist-turned-fugitive Barry Glassman (aka Jay Ellison)
• 1993 Elected third vice-president of Screen Actors Guild
• 1995 Directed an episode of Picket Fences
• 1995 Elected president of SAG
• 1996 As SAG president, worked on the merger plan between his guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA); put the guild on record as opposing the California Civil Rights Initiative (an anti-affirmative action measure); the initiative was subsequently voted in
• 1997 Re-elected to second term as SAG president
• Played David Kane, the much younger boyfriend of protagonist Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin), a regular during the first season of the hit Lear-produced sitcom One Day at a Time
• Played recurring role of Nick Lobo, the Las Vegas musician who dates Brenda (Julie Kavner), during the second season of the sitcom Rhoda
• Played the occasional recurring role of Ed Lawson, an unpleasant postal worker who eventually becomes mayor before meeting an unfortunate fate on the quirky CBS drama Picket Fences
• Raised in Yonkers, NY
• Seen performing on stage by TV producer-writer Norman Lear who invited him to appear on All in the Family
• Studied acting at Yale School of Drama
• While a freshman at SUNY-Stony Brook, accompanied a friend to an audition for a school play; asked to try out, won the part; changed major from anthropology (pre-med) to Theater Arts
• Worked in various technical positions at theater companies in the Northeastern US