Barry Primus

Barry Primus (born February 16, 1938) is an American television and film actor, director, and writer. Career While Primus is primarily an actor, he has also worked as a writer and director in films in which he has acted. For the first decade of his career, he was employed as a stage actor. He gained some experience on TV in shows like The Defenders, East Side/West Side and The Virginian. He then made his initial film appearance in the Manhattan-filmed The Brotherhood (1968). His other films include Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (film) (1971) Boxcar Bertha (1972), Autopsy (1975), Heartland (1979), The Rose (1979), Night Games (1980), Absence of Malice (1981), and Guilty by Suspicion (1991). He had a recurring role on the TV series Cagney and Lacey (1982 — 1988) as Christine Cagney (Sharon Gless)'s boyfriend, Sergeant Dory McKenna, whose drug problem compromises his performance as a fellow police officer.