Steve Landesberg

Stephen Landesberg (November 23, 1936December 20, 2010) was an American actor and comedian known for his role as the erudite, unflappable police detective Arthur P. Dietrich on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller, for which he was nominated for three Emmy Awards. Life and career Landesberg was born on November 23, 1936, in the Bronx, New York, to Ann Landesberg, a milliner, and Abraham Landesberg, a grocery store owner. He was Jewish. He was part of improv group New York Stickball Team, which performed several shows that aired on cable television shortly after Barney Miller went off the air. Landesberg was a member of the cast of the 1974 CBS situation comedy Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers. He made guest appearances on The Tonight Show, The Rockford Files, Law & Order, Saturday Night Live, The Golden Girls, Ghost Whisperer, That '70s Show and Everybody Hates Chris. He starred in Starz's original show Head Case as Dr. Myron Finkelstein. He appeared in the motion pictures Wild Hogs, Leader of the Band, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He appeared in 124 episodes of Barney Miller as Det. Sgt. Arthur Dietrich, starting from the last episode of the 1975 season until the end of the series in 1982. Landesberg also co-starred in the TV pilot Black Bart, a spin-off of Blazing Saddles. He attempted a comeback to television playing a public defender in Seattle in an unsold sitcom pilot, The Best Defense, later aired on June 19, 1995, on ABC.