Joseph Bernard (actor)

Joseph Bernard
Joseph Bernard
Born	December 12, 1923; Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	April 3, 2006 (aged 82); New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, acting teacher
Years active	1951–1995
Spouse(s)	Bina (1952–2001; her death; 2 children)
Family	Bella J. Bernard (daughter) Sam Bernard (son) Molly Bernard (granddaughter)

Joseph Bernard (December 12, 1923 – April 3, 2006) was an American actor and acting teacher who appeared in 25 Broadway plays and several movies and TV appearances in the 1950s through 1970s.

Bernard was born in Brooklyn, New York, and studied at New York's New School for Social Research with acting teacher Stella Adler. One of his New School classmates was Marlon Brando.^[1]

Bernard was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the D-Day invasion of France. After the war, he appeared in the play Winter Soldiers and then Skipper Next to God, directed by Lee Strasberg and starring John Garfield, with whom he became friends. Garfield was Bernard's best man at his marriage to his wife, Bina, whom he wed in 1952. Bina died in 2001.^[1]

Bernard appeared in Murder, Inc., the Stanley Kramer film Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), in which he played an assistant to the American prosecutor, played by Richard Widmark, and a number of other films that included Ice Station Zebra. His television roles included appearances on Star Trek, The Twilight Zone (in the 1961 episode The Shelter), and Mission: Impossible.^[1]

In 1968, he became an executive director and teacher at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in Hollywood. He moved to Las Vegas in 1979 and established the Joseph Bernard Acting Studio.^[1]

In addition to directing episodes of The Flying Nun TV series, Joseph wrote both stage plays and screenplays. His original theater production Take Off Your Clothes, I'll Make You A Star, based on his experiences as an acting teacher, had runs in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Bernard and his son, writer/producer Sam Bernard, collaborated on the screenplay for the feature film Payback (1995) for Trimark Pictures.

He is Molly Bernard's grandfather.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Murder, Inc.	Mendy Weiss
1961	Judgment at Nuremberg	Maj. Abe Radnitz
1968	Don't Just Stand There	Police Inspector
1968	Ice Station Zebra	Dr. Jack Benning
1970	R. P. M.	4th Professor at dining table	Uncredited
1971	The Steagle	Max Levine
1971	Brute Corps	Sheriff Alvarez
1972	Stand Up and Be Counted	Executive	Uncredited
1973	The Baby	Mr. Foley
1973	The Laughing Policeman	Avakian's Brother
1974	Hangup	Proprietor
1983	The Man Who Loved Women	Dr. Simon Abrams
1985	Fever Pitch	Bernstein
1986	Heat	Pit Boss
1992	Mikey	Dr. Schaefer
1993	Warlock: The Armageddon	Sutherland

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d White, Ken (2006-04-06). "Actor, teacher Joseph Bernard dies at age 82". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2009-01-30. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)