Warren Berlinger

Trained at New York's Professional Children's School, Warren Berlinger made his first stage appearance at the age of 11. At 17, Berlinger was showered with critical praise for his performance in the 1955 Broadway production A Roomful of Roses, in which he appeared with his future wife, actress Betty Lou Keim. Both Berlinger and Keim repeated their roles in the 1956 film version of Roses, retitled Teen-age Rebel. In 1958, he won a Theatre World Award for his performance in Blue Denim, again re-creating his role in the 1959 film adaptation. He scored a huge hit in the 1963 London production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, essaying his favorite role, J. Pierpont Finch. In films, Berlinger's stock-in-trade has been the portrayal of plump, good-natured schmoes; he was still conveying this image into the 1980s and 1990s in films like The World According to Garp (1982) and Hero (1992). On television, he played the lead in the "Kilroy" episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color(1965) and had regular roles on The Joey Bishop Show (1961), as Joey's brother Larry, The Funny Side (1971), A Touch of Grace (1973), Operation Petticoat (1977) and Small and Frye (1983). Distantly related to comedian Milton Berle, Warren Berlinger appeared with "Uncle Miltie" in the 1975 feature Lepke.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide