Around the world, Bernie Kopell is instantly recognized as "Dr. Adam Bricker", the ship's' medic on board ABC's long running hit comedy The Love Boat.
Bernie was born and raised in Brooklyn, went to Erasmus High and then on to NYU where he majored in Dramatic Art. Following his graduation, Bernie fulfilled his military obligation in the United States Navy which curiously assigned him to be the librarian at the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia, and later sent him out to sea aboard the USS Iowa, where Bernie got his first taste of life aboard a sea faring vessel.
Driving a taxi in 1958, Bernie got an unexpected "break." He picked up Dick Einfeld who was about to produce The Oregon Trail starring Fred MacMurray at 20th Century Fox. Bernie managed to convey to Dick during the ride to the airport that he was not really a "cab driver", but a temporarily misplaced actor. Einfeld cast Bernie as President Polk's secretary! Bernie got his SAG card and two entire lines - "Yes, sir." - "No Sir."
In the early 1960's, Bernie became associated with the Players' Ring Theater in Los Angeles. It was here that he performed a variety of character roles and discovered his facility for accents and dialects. His television debut was in 1961 as a Cuban heavy on the CBS soap The Brighter Day. This role lasted for three months. In retrospect, it hardly seems conceivable that Bernie spent his first four years in the business almost exclusively as a Latin! He played a Mexican on The Danny Kaye Show, The Jack Benny Show and The Steve Allen Show. He was a Puerto Rican dentist on The Flying Nun, a Mexican small town mayor, hotel owner and bartender on My Favorite Martian and a Mexican divorce lawyer on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
As a shyly assertive Russian peddler in The 49th Cousin at the Players' Ring Theatre, Bernie caught the attention of Producer Leonard Stern. His mastery of the difficult Russian dialect coupled with the strength of his acting prompted Stern to cast Bernie as "Siegfried" in the popular series Get Smart. Stern also cast him as "Howard Wagner" in the prestigious CBS Special Death of a Salesman, starring Lee J. Cobb.
From the mid 60's through the early 70's, Bernie could be seen concurrently as "Siegfried," on Get Smart, as Marlo Thomas' neighbor "Jerry" on That Girl, as "Louie Palluci" on The Doris Day Show and on Bewitched as the 100 year old apothecary, a Viennese psychiatrist, a blonde hippie and a German submarine captain.
In 1973, Bernie starred as Charlie, the hot-shot ladies clothing salesman in Needles and Pins. In 1975 he starred as "Alan-a-Dale" in the Mel Brooks cult comedy, When Things Were Rotten.
After The Love Boat, Bernie got back to character work as an arrogant Russian wine expert who tries to dump his young wife of three years - with no settlement! This was on the highly regarded Steven Bochco show, Civil Wars.
Bernie starred as Lenny Ganz in Neil Simon's Rumors at The Burt Reynold's Jupiter Theatre. He then continued with Rumors on a very successful tour. On the Travel Channel, Bernie enjoyed hosting the very popular Railway Adventures Across Europe.
In LA he starred in the World Premier of A History of Shadows, and a well received revival of Death of a Salesman. Bernie and Catrina Honadle opened their production of Neil Simon's Rumors at the Whitefire Theatre in Los Angeles in June of 1996. It got marvelous reviews, sensational word of mouth, and ran for a phenomenal 11 months. Three weeks before closing, Bernie starred in Dick Van Dyke&Mac226;s Diagnosis Murder. On the Diagnosis Murder set, Bernie worked with his old pals Jack Klugman, Wayne Rogers and of course Dick Van Dyke. They'd all heard about Rumors, had been planning to come, and took this opportunity to make a party of it. They all came together and that same night Neil Simon came as well! It was the best performance ever. Neil Simon was ecstatic and said "This should have been my New York production!".
Bernie recently completed starring in the comedy-horror feature film Bug Buster along with Randy Quaid. And also the romantic feature for television Follow Your Heart playing mentor to Ted McGinley.
In his private life, Bernie is married to producer-actress Catrina Honadle. On Halloween, October 31, 1997, Bernie and Catrina celebrated the birth of their first son, Adam Alexander. They welcomed their second son, Joshua Grant on August 7, 2002. They both have big blue eyes, but Adam has auburn-brown hair, while Josh has blond. Bernie recently did a personal appearance in Las Vegas while the Rodeo Championships were in town and he observed that diaper changing is like calf roping - you better do it fast and you better do it right!
Bernie is a health and fitness devotee and works out faithfully with a jump rope. He is the California Chairman of the American Heart Association's "Jump Rope for Heart" program.
He frequently participates in and has won many celebrity tennis tournaments benefiting worthy charities around the world. Bernie hosted his own pro-celeb tennis and golf tournament this past March 28th-30th at the Woodmont Country Club in Ft. Lauderdale, benefiting the Alzheimer's Association.
Recently Bernie has starred on Aaron Spellings Charmed and introduced baby Adam to Katie Couric on the Today Show. He reminisced about his experiences on The Love Boat for Entertainment Tonight and Bewitched for E's biography of Elizabeth Montgomery. Most recently he talked about his experiences and adventures on the soon to be aired A&E specials on The Love Boat and That Girl (the Marlo Thomas Show).
Coming to movie theaters this Fall, Bernie stars with Shirley Jones, Linda Carter and Frank Gorshin in the feature film Bloodhead, written and directed by Christopher Coppola. In Bloodhead Bernie comes back to his "character actor" roots playing a "scuzzy" Southerner who slyly does everything he can to keep the young leads from achieving their goal. He loved 'ripping into" this not too pleasant "desert rat" with a three week growth of beard.
After receiving the T.V. Land award, this past March, for "Most Amazing Cast Cross Over" for The Love Boat on Charlie's Angels, Bernie was quoted in T.V. Guide saying ... 'I'd like to thank T.V. Land for letting my life flash before my eyes every day!" With the constant running of The Love Boat, Get Smart, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and now Bewitched, viewers are being reminded once more of Bernie's comedic range and versatility.
