“Barney Miller” may not be one of the most talked-about sitcoms of the ’70s these days, but perhaps it should be. The NYPD-set show was in some ways the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” of its time, a socially conscious, funny series that set its action squarely in the precinct where members of the public came to ask the authorities for help — or get arrested by them.
Like most shows about cops, it has its inherent biases, and some parts of the show have aged poorly. But “Barney Miller” is also surprisingly progressive at times. As TV historian Matt Baume writes in his queer sitcom history “Hi Honey, I’m Homo,” the show broke new ground for gay characters on TV, facing off against network censors to portray New York’s Greenwich Village neighborhood (post-Stonewall!) with authenticity and diversity.
Only two seasons of “Barney Miller” are currently available to rent digitally in the U.S., but fans can still find the complete series on DVD. Several stars of the series, including Ron Glass, James Gregory, Jack Soo, and Abe Vigoda, have passed away in the decades since the show went off the air, but three key cast members are still with us –- and still giving great performances, on screen and off.
Hal Linden (Barney Miller)
After playing titular detective Barney Miller across 171 episodes of the ABC show, Hal Linden went on to appear on stage and screen for decades, even starring in an episode of “Hacks” this year. Linden was already dabbling in other forms of entertainment while working on “Barney Miller,” spending his free time as the host of two kids’ TV shows, “FYI” (an ad-length mini-show answering curious questions) and nature spotlight “Animals, Animals, Animals.” He won two Daytime Emmy Awards for “FYI,” and would later earn a third for his work on “CBS Schoolbreak Special.”
Linden has appeared in dozens of roles since the “Barney Miller” days, including guest spots on shows like “Gilmore Girls,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Supernatural,” and “The Golden Girls.” He’s also voice acted in a few projects over the years, had a multi-episode arc on “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and starred in three shows after “Barney Miller,” all of them short-lived. In 1986, he was one-half of a magician-con man duo with “M*A*S*H” alum Harry Morgan in “Blacke’s Magic.” He headlined jazz club “Love Boat” riff “Jack’s Place” in 1992, and led the multi-generational family sitcom “The Boys Are Back” two years later. According to Yahoo, the actor was offered a major part on the future hit medical drama “St. Elsewhere” right after “Barney Miller,” but declined since he wanted a break from TV.
Some of Linden’s notable film roles post-“Miller” include the Martha Coolidge comedy “Out To Sea” and the recent Eddie Murphy-Jonah Hill comedy “You People.” He’s also acted on stage for years, appearing in parts in productions of “Guys and Dolls,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” and “On Golden Pond,” among others. His most recent theatrical credit is from just this summer, when he reportedly played Adam in “The Journal of Adam and Eve” in New York. Linden also had a musical career both before and after “Barney Miller,” and released his first CD in 2011.
Max Gail (Wojo)
Detective Stan ‘Wojo’ Wojciehowicz was a popular character in “Barney Miller,” appearing in every episode and even getting his own chance at a spinoff with a backdoor pilot episode that failed to lead to a full series. Max Gail played Wojo for eight seasons, and after the show ended, he kept working as an actor on both stage and screen. You might recognize him from “General Hospital,” where he took over the role of Mike Corbin from actor Ron Hale, or from the Jackie Robinson biopic “42.” He’s also appeared post-“Miller” in films like “All Together Now” and “The Last Full Measure,” plus plenty of notable TV movies.
Gail’s TV appearances are numerous. He most recently popped up on the new version of “Magnum P.I.” in 2022, but he’s also guested in episodes of shows like “Dexter,” “Criminal Minds,” “Psych,” and “Mad Men,” playing a member of a veteran’s group Don visits in season 7 of the latter. Like his co-stars, Gail has also acted on stage, and according to Soap Hub, he also leads the documentary production company Full Circle. If you miss Wojo and want to check out one of Gail’s more recent performances, I recommend “Blackout,” a freaky, mysterious narrative podcast from QCode starring Rami Malek, for which Gail provided voice work.
Barbara Barrie (Liz Miller)
As the titular detective’s wife Liz, Barbara Barrie is credited in 37 episodes of “Barney Miller,” having replaced the actor originally cast in her role (Abby Dalton) in the show’s unsold pilot. Barrie was already known as theater actor before her work on the show, and she continued to rack up significant roles –- and accolades –- after the sitcom wrapped up. One of her best performances, in the 1979 bicycler coming-of-age film “Breaking Away,” earned her an Oscar nomination, and she’s also nabbed three Primetime Emmy nominations to date (one for the “Breaking Away” TV show, the other two for “Law & Order” franchise appearances).
Barrie’s other notable big-screen roles include a voice role in Disney’s “Hercules” and a performance in the Goldie Hawn-led military comedy “Private Benjamin.” On the TV front, she played Helen in the NBC sitcom “Suddenly Susan” and has appeared in deliciously dark shows like “Nurse Jackie,” “Enlightened,” “Pushing Daisies,” and “Dead Like Me,” among others. She also continued acting on stage, appearing on and off Broadway in shows like “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Company.” Her most recent Broadway role was in 2017, when she played Helene in Joshua Harmon’s ensemble piece, “Significant Other.”
Barrie has also penned several books, including kids’ books addressing topics like dyslexia and Jewish identity and two memoirs. “Don’t Die of Embarrassment,” published in 1999, features Barrie’s firsthand account of a harrowing health crisis, as she was diagnosed with and treated for colorectal cancer in the ’90s. The actor also told Playbill she has pulmonary fibrosis in 2020, noting that despite the disease, she’s “living full steam ahead and [is] now trying to help other people do the same.”
