Ron Carey (actor)

Ronald Joseph Cicenia (December 11, 1935 – January 16, 2007), known as Ron Carey, was an American film and television actor. The 5-foot-4-inch (1.63 m) actor was best known for playing ambitious NYPD Police Officer Carl Levitt on TV's Barney Miller, in which he was almost always surrounded by male actors (and sometimes female guest stars) who stood at least 4 inches (10 cm) taller. The series' stars (Hal Linden, Max Gail, Abe Vigoda, Ron Glass, Steve Landesberg) all stood 6 feet (1.83 m) or more. Carey appeared in the recurring role for the last six of the eight seasons of Barney Miller's run. He first appeared on the show as a criminal, Angelo Molinari (aka The Mole), in Season 2, Episode 22.

Ron Carey
Ron Carey in The Montefuscos (1975)
Born	Ronald Joseph Cicenia (1935-12-11)December 11, 1935 Newark, New Jersey
Died	January 16, 2007(2007-01-16) (aged 71) Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Actor
Spouse(s)	Sharon Boyeronus ( m. 1968)

Carey was among the slate of actors who were members of Mel Brooks unofficial repertory company, appearing in several of the director's films; Carey was featured in Silent Movie, High Anxiety, and History of the World: Part I. He also appeared in Fatso, directed by Brooks' wife Anne Bancroft and featuring several Brooks regulars.

Life and career

Carey was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Fanny and John Cicenia, and was raised in an Italian American Catholic family. Carey did stand-up comedy in the 1960s, after earning a bachelor's degree in communications from Seton Hall University in 1956. His comedy centered mostly on Catholicism and his childhood of being the undersized but quick-witted kid on the block. His break came in 1966 when he appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and in 1967 he released a comedy album entitled The Slightly Irreverent Comedy of Ron Carey.[1]

From the mid-1970s on, Carey was a member of Mel Brooks' comedy troupe, appearing in featured roles in films such as High Anxiety, Silent Movie, and History of the World, Part I. He also appeared in supporting roles in other films and on television, and was seen in scores of commercials, including some T-shirt ads for Hanes, an ad for Nabisco's snack cracker Better Cheddars, where he sang, and a Post Honeycomb ad, in which he played a character named Mr. Big who came to the Honeycomb Hideout looking for a cereal with "a big, big bite."[2] He is most remembered for his role as the diligent but somewhat obsequious and passive-aggressive Officer Carl Levitt, which he played from 1976 to 1982 on the TV series Barney Miller.

Carey died of a stroke at a Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, in January 2007. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Sharon, and his brother, James Cicenia.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	The Out-of-Towners	Cab Driver - Boston
1971	Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?	Larry the Bartender
1971	Made for Each Other	Group Member #1
1971	Dynamite Chicken	Himself
1975	The Montefuscos	Frank Montefusco	TV Series, 9 episodes
1976	Silent Movie	Devour
1976-1982	Barney Miller	Officer Carl Levitt / Angelo Molinari aka The Mole	TV Series, 121 episodes
1977	High Anxiety	Brophy
1980	Fatso	Frankie
1981	History of the World: Part I	Swiftus
1984	Johnny Dangerously	Pat
1989	Have Faith	Father Vincent Paglia	TV Series, 7 episodes
1991	Lucky Luke	Joe Dalton
1994	Troublemakers	Sheriff Fox
1997	The Good Bad Guy	Robert Lambert
1999	Food for Thought	Business Man	Short, (final film role)

References

1. Hevesi, Dennis (January 19, 2007). "Ron Carey, Comic Actor, Dies at 71". The New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
2. Vintage Old 1970's Post Honeycomb Cereal Commercial, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP2iT0ub8lc

External links

• Ron Carey on IMDb
• New York Times obituary
• Playbill.com obituary
• The Final Taxi podcast on Ron Carey's life