Robert Walden

Robert Walden (born Robert Wolkowitz; September 25, 1943) is an American television and motion picture actor. He is best known for his role as Joe Rossi on Lou Grant,[1]^:625 which earned him three Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nominations; for his role as Joe Waters on Brothers;[1] and as Glenn Newman on Happily Divorced. Walden is also well known for starring in the films Blue Sunshine, The Hospital, All the President's Men, Audrey Rose, and Capricorn One.

For other people named Robert Walden, see Robert Walden (disambiguation).

Robert Walden
Born	Robert Wolkowitz (1943-09-25) September 25, 1943 New York City, New York, U.S.

Life and career

Walden was born in New York City, New York, the son of Hilda (née Winokur) and Max Wolkowitz.[2] His nephew is director Howard Deutch, the son of his sister; and his grand-nieces are actresses Zoey Deutch and Madelyn Deutch. Walden first became interested in acting while attending City College of New York, and shortly thereafter became a member of the Actors Studio.[3][4]

Walden's film career began in 1970, in Bloody Mama for Roger Corman. After that, and for the first several years of his career, he often played young doctors, such as in the television series The New Doctors (one of the rotating elements of NBC's The Bold Ones) as Dr. Cohen, after the departure of John Saxon prior to the final season; and notably in films Blue Sunshine and Paddy Chayefsky's The Hospital. His breakthrough role was in the television series Lou Grant, on which he played journalist Joe Rossi.[5] He was a cast member on Lou Grant during its entire run (1977–1982), and received three Emmy Award nominations (in 1979, 1980 and 1981) for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the role. Walden has played several historical characters, including Donald Segretti in the 1976 film All the President's Men, and J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 1980 TV movie Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb. From 1984 until 1989, he starred in the groundbreaking Showtime sitcom Brothers as the middle of three brothers, the owner of a bar/restaurant who was a retired NFL placekicker.[5] His youngest brother, played by Paul Regina, was gay and the series dealt with issues regarding homosexuality. Walden also made a cameo appearance as a sound engineer in the 1994 film Radioland Murders.[5]

In 2011, Walden made a return to series television in the TV Land sitcom Happily Divorced,[5] playing Glenn Newman, the father of the lead character played by series creator and writer Fran Drescher, with Rita Moreno co-starring as his wife. As on his previous series Brothers, Happily Divorced is also predominantly gay-themed, as the plot is based on Drescher's divorce from series co-creator Peter Marc Jacobson, who later revealed he was gay and remained friends with Drescher. The series was cancelled in 2013 after two seasons.

Other work

He was a member of the Doo Wop group Bobby & The Chord-A-Roys in 1960.[6]

Walden is a distinguished teacher of acting at The New School for Drama, division of the New York City university The New School. In August, 2006 he appeared in the Herbert Berghof Playwrights Foundation (HB Studio) production of Arthur Miller's The American Clock under the direction of Austin Pendleton. Walden also appeared in the movie Capricorn One (1978) as Elliot Whitter.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Bloody Mama	Fred Barker
1970	The Out-of-Towners	Looter
1970	The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker	Winslow Smith
1971	The Hospital	Dr. Brubaker
1972	A Run for the Money	Murdock
1972	Bobby Jo and the Big Apple Good Time Band	Augie	Unsold TV pilot[7]
1972	Rage	Dr. Tom Janeway
1973	Maxie	Finn
1974	Larry	Tom Corman
1974	Our Time	Frank
1976	All the President's Men	Donald Segretti
1977	Audrey Rose	Brice Mack
1977	Blue Sunshine	David Blume
1977	Capricorn One	Elliot Whitter
1994	Radioland Murders	Tommy
1997	In Dark Places	Diller
1998	Heist	Police Detective
1998	Kiss of a Stranger	Stephen Block
1999	Desert Thunder	Gen. Tom Brockton
2001	The Fluffer	Herman Lasky
2002	Time of Fear	Sheriff Joe Calabro
2005	Whiskey School	Alex Cavanaugh
2007	Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe	Dr. Kubelkoff
2010	Trooper	VA Doctor
2020	Surviving in L.A.	Walter

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972–73	The Bold Ones: The New Doctors	Dr. Martin Cohen	15 episodes
1977–82	Lou Grant	Joe Rossi	114 episodes
1984–89	Brothers	Joe Waters	115 episodes
2011–13	Happily Divorced	Glen Newman	34 episodes

References

1. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 140+141. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
2. Robert Walden Biography (1943-)
3. Scott, Vernon (UPI). "Bachelorhood Right Role for 'Lou Grant's' Joe Rossi". The Pittsburgh Press. December 6, 1977. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
4. "TView Mail". The Wilmington Morning News. January 7, 1979. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
5. "Robert Walden". TVGuide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
6. Leszczak, Bob (2015). From Small Screen to Vinyl: A Guide to Television Stars Who Made Records, 1950-2000. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 393. ISBN 9781442242746. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
7. "Bobby Jo and the Big Apple Good Time Band (CBS unsold pilot)". TV Archives : Unsold Pilots. March 31, 1972.

External links

• Robert Walden on IMDb
• Robert Walden at the Internet Off-Broadway Database