Barnard Hughes

Born Bernard Aloysius Kiernan Hughes on July 16, 1915, in Bedford Hills, New York, Barnard Hughes was the son of Marcella "Madge" and Owen Hughes. He attended La Salle Academy and Manhattan College before spending two years with the Shakespeare Fellowship Repertory company in New York City. During World War II, he served in the army. In 1946, while rehearsing a show called "Laugh That Off" for performance at military hospitals, he met Helen Stenborg, who became his wife. The two later appeared together on Broadway in Hughes's final show, Waiting in the Wings. Their children: director Doug Hughes and actress Laura Hughes.

Film credits include "The Lost Boys," "TRON," "Midnight Cowboy," "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit," "Doc Hollywood," "The Odd Couple II," "Sisters," "Oh, God!," and "Cradle Will Rock." On television, he appeared in "The Love Boat," "All in the Family," "Blossom," "As the World Turns," "Homicide: Life on the Street," and "Dark Shadows." In 1978, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series for "Lou Grant."

Broadway theater marquees were dimmed in his honor on July 12, 2006. During the run of Hogan's Goat at the American Place Theatre, Hughes simultaneously served as standby for Henry Fonda in the Broadway production of Generation. Because he appeared only in the first act of Hogan's Goat, which ended at 8:00pm, he could reach the Morosco Theatre in time for Generation's 8:30pm curtain. He went on for Fonda several times, including on opening night of Hogan's Goat.