Todd Susman

Last updated
Todd Susman
Born (1947-01-17) January 17, 1947 (age 77)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1970–present
Spouses
  • Judy Susman (divorced)
Bella Kardonov
​
(m. 1982)​
Children4

    Todd Susman (born January 17, 1947) is an American actor.

    Contents

    Early life

    A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Susman graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in 1965. [1]

    Career

    Susman has appeared in over one hundred different television series and commercials and was also featured in the Broadway production of Hairspray , the 1970s films Star Spangled Girl (1971), The Loners (1972), Little Cigars (1973) and California Dreaming (1979). He later appeared in the major studio films Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Coneheads (1993), The Juror (1996), and the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009). Susman was in the 2007 independent film, The Big Bad Swim , and the 2009 comedy, The Flying Scissors . [2] He also voiced the lead character in the 2002 video game Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix .

    Susman had supporting roles in the films Only The Strong (1993), Night of the Running Man (1995), Bodily Harm (1995), Just Write (1997), Blast from the Past (1999), High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (2003), The A Plate (2011) and The Discoverers (2012).

    In addition, he appeared in the TV Movies Death Scream (1975), Portrait of an Escort (1980), Thornwell (1981), The Other Victim (1981), City Killer (1984), I Married a Centerfold (1984), The Guardian (1997), The Superagent (2009) and You Don't Know Jack (2010). He portrayed Sergeant Dobbs in the 1986 TV mini-series Fresno .

    Susman's better known television roles include, between 1984 and 1989, as Officer Shifflett on 20 episodes of Newhart , and as the unseen P.A. system announcer on 46 episodes of the television series M*A*S*H (a task he shared with actor Sal Viscuso, who provided the voice on 37 episodes), and one guest role in January 1974, as Private Danny Baker. Susman played Harold Bloom in 5 episodes of Orange is the New Black . [3] He portrayed Ben Braxton in 6 episodes of Empty Nest , Victor Bevine in 4 episodes of St. Elsewhere , Glen in 4 episodes of Grace Under Fire , Bill in 4 episodes of Coach , and 4 different characters in 4 episodes of Barney Miller .

    In 1976, he was a regular on the six-episode CBS adventure series Spencer's Pilots . [4] He portrayed Ted Lapinsky in The Waltons (the episodes 'The Home Front' (1979) and 'The Unthinkable" (1980)) and appeared as detective Spade Marlow in the 1991 episode of The Golden Girls titled "The Case of the Libertine Belle". Before that, Susman submitted a pilot series for Grant Tinker for MTM Enterprises about an innocent young man arriving in New York City to start his career. [5] Other television shows Susman has appeared on since 1971 include Love, American Style (3 episodes), Room 222 (3 episodes), Kojak , Eight Is Enough , The White Shadow , Little House on the Prairie , Lou Grant , Remington Steele , Alice , Hill Street Blues , The Facts of Life , Cagney & Lacey , Night Court (3 episodes), Who's the Boss? , Punky Brewster (3 episodes), Webster (4 episodes), ALF , Highway to Heaven , Murder, She Wrote , Blossom (2 episodes), Married... with Children , The Commish , ER , Suddenly Susan , Law & Order , Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , and Bull .

    In 2012, Susman appeared in the original cast of the off-Broadway Westside Theatre show, "Old Jews Telling Jokes", in which Jessica Shaw of Entertainment Weekly called his portrayal "the funniest moment...delivered with a Yiddish accent as thick as schmaltz". [6] Jason Zinoman of The New York Times also complimented his performance, saying "the incongruity between content and form is perfectly tuned, and Mr. Susman benefits from resisting the urge to oversell the joke". [7] David Finkle of TheaterMania.com also said Susman "often scores simply through his feigned stoicism". [8]

    In 2013, Susman, along with the Old Jews Telling Jokes cast and The Chew personality Carla Hall, appeared at Carnegie Deli to unveil the "OJTJ sandwich", named for the comedy group. [9]

    Personal life

    In a 1971 news article, Susman mentioned he moved to Los Angeles because a friend told him he could make $500 a week as a writer. Unfortunately, the plan did not go well and he ended up making $60 a week as a writer for American International Pictures. [10]

    Susman has one child with his first wife Judy, who is a working actress. [2] He married Bella Kordonov on November 6, 1982; they have three children. [11] [4]

    Filmography

    Film

    YearTitleRoleNotes
    2022 Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game Sam Gensberg
    2012 The Discoverers Dr. Salter
    2011The A PlateLieutenant Stan Carlson
    2010 You Don't Know Jack Stan LevyTV movie
    2009 The Flying Scissors Frank Johnson
    The SuperagentSolarTV movie
    The Taking of Pelham 123 Supervisor
    2006 The Big Bad Swim Martin Webber
    2003 High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story Max Ungar
    1999 Blast from the Past Butcher
    1997The GuardianMickey CashulinTV movie
    Just Write Priest
    1996 The Juror Bozeman
    1995 Bodily Harm Jerry Roth
    Night of the Running Man Meyer Weiss
    1993 Coneheads Ron
    Only the Strong Mr. Cochran
    1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Foreman
    1984 I Married a Centerfold Bill BodellTV movie
    The City KillerJerryTV movie
    1981The Other VictimTim McQuireTV movie
    ThornwellKetchumTV movie
    1980Portrait of an EscortTed QuinnTV movie
    1979 California Dreaming Jordy Banks
    1975 Death Scream Jimmy CrescentTV movie
    1973 Little Cigars "Buzz"
    1972 The Loners Alan
    1971 Star Spangled Girl Norman Cornell

    Television

    YearTitleRoleNotes
    2020–2021 For Life Judge Ira Walker2 episodes
    2018–2021 Bull Judge Mathias Cleary3 episodes
    2014 Alpha House Saul Watt4 episodes
    2013–2014 Orange Is the New Black Harold Bloom5 episodes
    2012 Person of Interest Henry BrooksEpisode: "'Til Death"
    2000 Angel Magnus BryceEpisode: "Guise Will Be Guise"
    Futurama P.A. Announcer (voice)Episode: "War Is the H-Word"
    1999 ER Dr. Sam JenkinsEpisode: "Greene with Envy"
    1997 The Burning Zone Henry Newland [12] 2 episodes
    1995–1997 Coach Bill4 episodes
    1995–1996 Grace Under Fire Glen4 episodes
    1995 Step by Step HowardEpisode: "Midnight Caller"
    The Invaders Captain Johnson2 episodes
    1994–1995 Empty Nest Ben Braxton6 episodes
    1994 The Commish

    Gideon 'Giggy' Fisher

    		Episode: "Romeo and Juliet"
    1994 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Eugene LadermanEpisode: "The Ides of Metropolis"
    1992 Scorch Jack Fletcher (voice)6 episodes
    1991 The Golden Girls Detective Spade MarlowEpisode: "The Case of the Libertine Belle"
    Sons and Daughters Roger2 episodes
    1990 City Roger Barnett13 episodes
    1989 Have Faith Arthur Glass7 episodes
    1989 Highway to Heaven Mr. CarlyleEpisode: "Goodbye, Mr. Zelinka"
    1989 ALF JimboEpisode: "Hide Away"
    1987 Punky Brewster Mike DeatonEpisode: "Beer & Buffalos Don't Mix"
    1986 Fresno Sergeant Dobbs4 episodes
    1985–1988 St. Elsewhere Victor Bevine4 episodes
    1985 Fame Jim ParkerEpisode: "Leroy and the Kid"
    St. Elsewhere Dr. Westphall's Insightful Moving ManEpisode: "Slice O'Life"
    1984–1989 Newhart Officer Shifflett20 episodes
    1983–1984 Goodnight, Beantown Augie Kleindab2 episodes
    1982 Star of the Family Leo Feldman10 episodes
    1981 Little House on the Prairie MaxEpisode: "The Legend of Black Jake"
    1979–1980 The Waltons Ted Lapinsky3 episodes
    1978 Eight is Enough ArtieEpisode: "The War Between the Bradfords"
    1976 Spencer's Pilots Stan Lewis11 episodes
    1975 The Bob Crane Show Marvin Susman14 episodes
    1974 M*A*S*H Pvt. Danny BakerEpisode: "Operation Noselift"
    1973–1979 M*A*S*H P.A. System Announcer47 episodes
    1971, 1973 Room 222 Barney, Archie, Arthur Billings3 episodes

    Videogames

    YearTitleRole
    2010 Red Dead Redemption The Local Population
    2005 Bully Mr. Gordon
    2003 Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne Mobster / Policeman / Russian
    2002 Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix John Mullins
    2001 Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel Paladin Ziskele
    2000 Soldier of Fortune John Mullins
    1997 Dilbert's Desktop Games Pointy-Haired Boss / Fool Voices

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Thomas (actor)</span> American actor

    Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor. He is best known for his leading role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama series The Waltons for which he won an Emmy Award. He also received another Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe Award nominations for that role.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Klemperer</span> American actor (1920–2000)

    Werner Klemperer was an American actor. He was known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom Hogan's Heroes, for which he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1968 and 1969.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastian Cabot (actor)</span> English actor (1918–1977)

    Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was a British actor. He is best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman Giles French in the CBS-TV sitcom Family Affair (1966–1971). He was also known for playing the Wazir in the film Kismet (1955) and Dr. Carl Hyatt in the CBS-TV series Checkmate (1960–1962).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Abe Vigoda</span> American actor (1921–2016)

    Abraham Charles Vigoda was an American actor known for his portrayals of Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather (1972) and Phil Fish in both Barney Miller and Fish (1977–1978). His career as an actor began in 1947 performing with the American Theatre Wing and continued in Broadway productions throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloris Leachman</span> American actress (1926–2021)

    Cloris Leachman was an American actress and comedienne whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated and, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, most awarded performer in Emmy history. Leachman also won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award. In her early career, she was known for her versatility. Another unique trait of Leachman's acting style was her distinctive physicality, where she used props to accentuate and express her roles' characterizations.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Len Cariou</span> Canadian actor and stage director (born 1939)

    Leonard Joseph Cariou is a Canadian stage actor, singer and stage director. He gained prominence for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) alongside Angela Lansbury for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He also received Tony nominations for his roles in the Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical Applause (1970), and the Sondheim musical A Little Night Music (1973).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Tate Donovan</span> American actor

    Tate Buckley Donovan is an American actor, comedian and television director. He is known for portraying Tom Shayes in Damages, Jimmy Cooper in The O.C., and the voice of the title character in the 1997 Disney animated film Hercules, the animated television series of the same name and in a few Kingdom Hearts video games. He starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the 1992 film, Love Potion No. 9.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Convy</span> American actor, singer, game show panelist and host (1933–1991)

    Bernard Whalen "Bert" Convy was an American actor, singer, game-show panelist, and host known for Tattletales, Super Password, and Win, Lose or Draw.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Mays</span> American actor

    Lewis Jefferson Mays is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obie Awards.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Daly</span> American actor (born 1956)

    James Timothy Daly is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Joe Hackett on the NBC sitcom Wings and his recurring role as drug-addicted screenwriter J.T. Dolan on The Sopranos. He starred as Pete Wilder on the ABC medical drama Private Practice from 2007 to 2012. He is also known for his voice role as Clark Kent/Superman in Superman: The Animated Series and several animated Superman movies. From 2014 until 2019, he portrayed Henry McCord, husband of the Secretary of State, on the CBS political drama Madam Secretary, starring Téa Leoni.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Benedict</span> American actor (1938–2008)

    Paul Bernard Benedict was an American actor who made numerous appearances in television and films, beginning in 1965. He was known for his roles as The Number Painter on the PBS children's show Sesame Street and as the English neighbor Harry Bentley on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Messina</span> American actor and director (born 1974)

    Chris Messina is an American actor, director, writer, and producer. He is best known for starring as Danny Castellano in the series The Mindy Project (2012–2017), which earned him two nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Armstrong</span> American actor (1937–1992)

    Todd Armstrong was an American actor who appeared in ten films and several television series. He is best known for playing the title role in the cult classic Jason and the Argonauts (1963), after which his career rapidly waned. He also starred in syndicated crime drama Manhunt.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Parsons</span> American actor (born 1973)

    James Joseph Parsons is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, Parsons played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. From 2015 to 2018, Forbes named him the world's highest-paid television actor.

    Lenny Wolpe is an American musical theatre actor who has appeared in Broadway musicals including Wicked and The Drowsy Chaperone.

    Marilyn Roberta Sokol is an American actress, musician, comedian, and producer, perhaps best known for her roles as Lulu Brecht in Can't Stop the Music (1980) and as Ma Otter in Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1977). She has received an Emmy Award, Obie Award, and a Bistro Award.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Alda</span> American actor (born 1936)

    Alan Alda is an American actor. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a three-time Tony Award nominee, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the CBS wartime sitcom M*A*S*H (1972–1983). He also wrote and directed numerous episodes of the series.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Zuckert</span> American actor (1915–1997)

    William Zuckert was an American actor.

    <i>Louie</i> (American TV series) American TV series

    Louie is an American comedy drama television series that premiered on FX on June 29, 2010. It is written, directed, created, edited, and produced by comedian Louis C.K., who also stars in the show as a fictionalized version of himself, a comedian and newly divorced father raising his two daughters in New York City. The show has a loose format atypical for television comedy series, consisting of largely unconnected storylines and segments that revolve around Louie's life, punctuated by live stand-up performances. The show's comedy consisted of such styles as surrealism, satire, absurdism, and gallows humor.

    <i>Old Jews Telling Jokes</i> Book by Sam Hoffman

    Old Jews Telling Jokes is a web series launched in 2009 created and directed by Sam Hoffman and produced by Eric Spiegelman and Tim Williams for Jetpack Media, Inc. It has since gone on to garner millions of unique views over several original series shot in places like New York, Los Angeles and Boca Raton.

    References

    1. ↑ "Distinguished Alumni". Ladue Education Foundation and Alumni Association. Accessed February 8, 2018.
    2. 1 2 Garmon, M. D. (1978-04-30). "Grits, Gadsen mighty fine, says TV actor Todd Susman". The Gadsden Times . p. 8. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
    3. ↑ "'Orange Is The New Blacks Todd Susman to Star in 'When Blood Ran Red' at KulturfestNYC". Broadway World. 2015-06-12.
    4. 1 2 "Buddy syndrome". St. Petersburg Times . 1976-09-16. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
    5. ↑ "Spencer's Pilots' Take Wing". Boca Raton News . 1976-10-01. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
    6. ↑ Shaw, Jessica (2012-05-25). "Old Jews Telling Jokes Review". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
    7. ↑ Zinoman, Jason (2012-05-21). "Such a Tradition of Humor, and This Is Only a Revue?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
    8. ↑ Finkle, David (2012-05-20). "Old Jews Telling Jokes Review". Theater Mania. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
    9. ↑ Gordon, David (2013-05-16). "The Chew's Carla Hall Unveils New Old Jews Telling Jokes Carnegie Deli Sandwich". Theater Mania. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
    10. ↑ Beck, Marilyn (1971-06-10). "Sandy Duncan Not Right for Paramount Lead". Sarasota Journal . Retrieved 2013-12-28.
    11. ↑ "Success, at last, for actor Susman?". Observer–Reporter . Washington, Pennsylvania. 1990-02-25. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
    12. ↑ "Cast". TV Guide . Archived from the original on April 5, 2018.
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.