Arny Freeman

Arny Freeman, born Arthur Raymond Freedman on August 28, 1908, in Chicago, Illinois, was an American character actor whose career spanned commercials, television, film, and Broadway. He was the son of Emilie Antoinette Frenette and Louis Milton Freedman, and the younger brother of jazz saxophonist Lawrence "Bud" Freeman. He is sometimes credited under the names Arnold or Arnie Freeman.

Freeman's Broadway career extended from 1950 to 1980 and included several notable productions. He starred in The Sunshine Boys and also appeared in The Roast, The 1940's Radio Hour, and Working. His connection to Working was particularly distinctive: Freeman had been a featured interviewee in Studs Terkel's book of the same name before appearing in its Broadway musical adaptation.

On television, Freeman accumulated credits across more than two decades. His appearances included multiple episodes of Naked City in 1958, 1959, and 1961, as well as the 1959 NBC Friday Night Special Presentation of Miracle on 34th Street. He went on to appear in Have Gun, Will Travel and The Untouchables in 1961 and 1962, and later in Kojak, Maude, The Jeffersons, Barnaby Jones, All in the Family, and The Incredible Hulk throughout the mid-to-late 1970s. He was a recurring presence on Barney Miller, appearing in six episodes between 1976 and 1981.

Freeman's film work included Phffft! in 1954, The Brain That Wouldn't Die in 1962, Popi in 1969, The Valachi Papers in 1972, and The Super Cops in 1974. In 1938, he married Esther Stepansky. Freeman died on February 13, 1986, in Los Angeles at the age of 77.