Hal Linden

Hal Linden replaced Sydney Chaplin in the Broadway production of Bells Are Ringing in 1958. In 1962, he was cast as Billy Crocker in the revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. In 1966, he performed in the industrial musical Diesel Dazzle. His stage career gained renewed prominence in 1971 when he starred as Mayer Rothschild in The Rothschilds, earning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. In 1973, he co-starred with Tony Lo Bianco in the NBC television film Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside, which served as a proposed series pilot.

In 1974, Linden was cast in the title role of the ABC sitcom Barney Miller, which aired from 1975 to 1982. During the run of the series, he also hosted the ABC children’s programs Animals, Animals, Animals and FYI, winning Daytime Emmy Awards in 1984 and 1985 for his work on FYI. After Barney Miller concluded in 1982, he appeared in the television films I Do! I Do! (1982) and Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (1983). In 1984, he co-starred in the television film Second Edition, and in 1985 portrayed Jack L. Warner in the biopic My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn.

Linden starred in the NBC series Blacke’s Magic in 1986. He co-starred in the film A New Life (1988) and guest-starred on The Golden Girls in 1991. In 1992, he led the ABC series Jack’s Place, which ran until 1993. He appeared in the CBS sitcom The Boys Are Back (1994) and won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1995 for his 1994 guest appearance on CBS Schoolbreak Special. In 1996, he appeared in the television film The Colony, and in 1999 guest-starred in The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds... It Leads. In 1997, he portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in the Madison Square Garden production of A Christmas Carol.

In 2001, Linden starred in the Broadway production of The Gathering at the Cort Theatre. He also voiced Eli Selig on the animated series The Zeta Project and narrated episodes of Biography and The American Experience. In 2008, he appeared as Arvide Abernathy in Guys and Dolls at the Hilbert Circle Theatre. He starred in the Toronto production of Tuesdays with Morrie (2009), appeared in On Golden Pond in 2011, and starred in Under My Skin at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2012. In 2013, he guest-starred on Supernatural and appeared in The Scottsboro Boys at the Ahmanson Theatre. In 2014, he guest-starred on 2 Broke Girls, and in 2015 appeared in The Twenty Seventh Man at the Old Globe Theatre.

In 2011, Linden began touring with the cabaret show An Evening with Hal Linden: I’m Old Fashioned, which ran through 2012 and was later released on DVD. He released the album It’s Never Too Late in 2011.