Shelley Berman

A comedy veteran in the truest sense of the term, Shelley Berman conquered all forms of entertainment – stage, screen and recordings – in a career spanning seven decades. And yet, he did some of his most memorable work in recent years, appearing as the elderly Nat David, doting father of Larry David, on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (2000- ). Unlike the character he played on the hit show, Berman entered his eighties, still as sharp as ever.

Berman was born Feb. 3, 1926 in Chicago, IL, and from childhood, he had his heart set on the stage. His dreams were interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the U.S. Navy. Upon his honorable discharge in 1945, he immediately got back on course, enrolling at Chicago’s Goodman Theater as a drama student. Not long after, he fell for Sarah Herman, a fellow student, whom he married in 1947.

Following his graduation from Goodman, Berman joined the Woodstock Players, performing stock theater in Woodstock, IL alongside fellow performers Geraldine Page (who would later dominate Broadway) and Tom Bosley (later known as Mr. Cunningham on TV’s “Happy Days”). With all the stage work, Berman truly honed his talents and grew confident enough to leave Illinois in 1949 to seek out work elsewhere. As he and his wife made their way across the country, Berman took odd jobs to support them, including managing a drug store and working as a dance studio instructor. Once the couple arrived in New York City, Berman landed the coveted job of sketch writer for “Tonight!” (NBC, 1953-57), starring Steve Allen. Despite his success as a television writer, the stage spotlight still beckoned him enough that he was drawn back to Chicago, where he joined the comedy troupe, The Compass Players – the first incarnation of what would become the famed Second City troupe.

Alongside Second City classmates such as Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Berman again found himself in a master class of fellow performers. And yet, he gravitated toward solo work, devising a routine with an imaginary telephone which allowed him to do sketches on stage by himself. He left the troupe in 1957, refining his own style of comedy which amounted to him seated solitary on a stool and performing monologues and vocal essays – in contrast to literal stand-up comics who told jokes and paced up and down the stage. He performed regularly at a Chicago club called Mr. Kelly’s, where his biting, satirical shows gained popularity and eventually the attention of Verve Records.

In 1959, he released Inside Shelley Berman , which eventually went gold and was the first non-musical album to win a Grammy. Among its notable routines were “The Morning After the Night Before,” a sobering look at a drunken night, and “Buttermilk,” which cemented his reputation as anxiety-ridden in a world out of his control. A sample line: “It’s not the buttermilk that bothers me. It’s the way the glass looks after you’re through drinking it that makes me sick.” His work touched a nerve with everyday men caught up in an increasingly complex world, often connecting to audiences on a deeply personal level that would go on to pave the way for the rise of the neuroses as a voice of reason, a la Richard Lewis and Woody Allen. With Inside Shelley Berman , the comic almost single-handedly legitimized the comedy album as a potent force of popular art and entertainment at that time. Over the years, Berman eventually released five more albums for the company, two of which, The Edge of Shelley Berman , and Outside Shelley Berman would also go gold. The latter featured the poignant, “Father and Son,” about the Jewish father whose son wants to go to New York to become an actor.

As his popularity grew, Berman became a staple of television talk and variety shows, appearing with Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Perry Como, Dean Martin and Dinah Shore on their respective shows. He logged 21 appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” (CBS, 1948-71) alone. Again, Berman parlayed his success back to his love of the stage, appearing on Broadway in “A Family Affair,” “The Odd Couple,” “Damn Yankees,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “I’m Not Rappaport.”

As television programming increased in popularity, Berman also appeared in a number of guest spots, including a memorable episode of “The Twilight Zone” (CBS, 1959-64) entitled, “The Mind and the Matter,” in which he played a telekinetic fed up with the world. The episode was written especially for him by Rod Serling. He went on to appear in guest spots on “Bewitched” (ABC, 1964-72) and “Mary Tyler Moore,” (CBS, 1970-77).

But by then, Berman’s career had already started to stall, nearly coming to a halt with two unrelated events. First, Berman had agreed to be the subject of a documentary – one of the first of its kind – called “Comedians Backstage” (NBC, 1963). In this early precursor to today’s reality television, Berman was caught on-camera getting angry over a ringing telephone offstage which interrupted the last moments of a personal monologue about the death of his father. Whereas Berman’s reaction, which included him slamming the phone to the floor, would have done little harm today, at the time, such a display of emotion was considered improper and vulgar. Berman developed a sour reputation, and began to fall out of favor with both the public and show business powers-that-be. The other was much more personal. Berman and Sarah had adopted two children, Josh and Rachel. Berman had developed a strong bond with his son, and was planning for his bar mitzvah when young Josh was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died at age 12, leaving Berman utterly devastated.

By the late 1970s, Berman slowly returned to television work. He landed a recurring role on the cult television classic, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” (syndicated, 1976-78), and appeared in a handful of guest spots, including “Emergency” (ABC, 1972-79) and “CHiPs” (NBC, 1977-83). By the next decade, the sixty-something actor continued to land work long past the age most of his fellow actors were retiring to Palm Springs. The supporting roles picked up again in the late 1980s, including a spot on “Night Court” (NBC, 1984-1992) and then a regular guest starring role as Ben Flicker on “L.A. Law.” (NBC, 1986-1994). These notable appearances sparked a resurgence of guest spots, including two season-three episodes of the popular sitcom, “Friends” (NBC, 1994-2004) – “The One Where Rachel Quits” and “The One Where Chandler Can’t Remember Which Sister.”

Decades after his last release, in 1995, Berman released a new comedy album, Live Again ! On the big screen, Berman played Judge Ira in 2004’s “Meet the Fockers,” and later played a judge in several episodes of “Boston Legal” (ABC, 2004-).

But it was on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” where Berman stood out the most, holding his own against comedy great Larry David. Berman played David’s somewhat senile father to perfection and exposed a new generation to his comedic talents. The largely improvised nature of the show also allowed Berman to call up his long ago skills, honed on the Second City stage.

In between performances, Berman found time to teach comedy writing at USC’s School of Cinema-Television in the Master of Professional Writing program since 1982. He also continued to defy father time by headlining in Las Vegas several times a year and landing movie roles, such as in the comedy “Holiday” (2006), co-starring Jack Black and Cameron Diaz.