Veteran character actor of stage, film, and TV Warren Berlinger has passed away at the age of 83. The news was confirmed by daughter Elizabeth to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mr. Berlinger's seven-decades long career began during his childhood, playing "Little Boy" during the original Broadway production of Annie Get Your Gun starring Ethel Merman. He steadily worked for the rest of his life, appearing on Broadway in such shows as The Happy Time, Bernadine, Take a Giant Step, Anniversary Waltz, A Roomful of Roses, Blue Denim, Come Blow Your Horn, and A Broadway Musical. He also played London's West End in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Twice Mr. Berlinger brought roles he played on stage to the big screen, with 1956's Teenage Rebel (adapted from Broadway's A Roomful of Roses) and 1959's Blue Denim. Other film appearances include Thunder Alley, The Long Goodbye, The Cannonball Run, The World According to Garp, Ten Little Indians, and That Thing You Do!.
He was most active on television, with guest spots on Charlie's Angels, That Girl, Operation Petticoat, Friends, Columbo, and Murder, She Wrote. Mr. Berlinger appeared in five episodes of Happy Days, most memorably as Army Sergeant Betchler to draftees Richie, Ralph, Potsie, and The Fonz in the Season 4 episode "The Physical."
Berlinger was pre-deceased by his wife Betty Lou Keim, who co-starred with him in both A Roomful of Roses and Teenage Rebel. The couple had four children together.
