David Schramm

David Michael Schramm (August 14, 1946 – March 28, 2020) was an American actor born in Louisville, Kentucky, whose career spanned Broadway, television, and film across more than four decades. He is perhaps best remembered by general audiences for his portrayal of Roy Biggins, the cantankerous rival airline owner in the NBC sitcom Wings, which ran from 1990 to 1997. Schramm appeared in all 172 episodes of the series.

Schramm's father was a bookie, and from an early age Schramm participated in school speaking competitions, winning trophies, and performed in large outdoor dramas in Kentucky. He later worked as an apprentice actor at the playhouse that would eventually become the Actors Theater of Louisville, earning twenty-five dollars a week — money that covered both his acting work and cleaning duties. He took acting classes at Western Kentucky University before receiving a full scholarship to the Juilliard School from Mildred Howard. Schramm attended Juilliard from 1968 to 1972, studying under Michael Kahn, and graduated from the program. He is also a founding member of The Acting Company. John Houseman was an early and significant influence, taking Schramm under his wing and offering him the role of King Lear in an Off-Broadway production of the Shakespeare play.

Schramm's Broadway career extended from 1973 to 2009 and included productions such as London Assurance, The Misanthrope, and Tartuffe. In 1979, he appeared on Broadway opposite Judith Ivey in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, playing the role of Malcolm. The following year, he performed in Howard Sackler's Goodbye Fidel at the Ambassadors Theatre. In 1985, Schramm took on the role of the sinister General D. in Raggedy Ann: The Musical Adventure — then titled Rag Dolly — at the New York State Theatre Institute, and remained with the production when it traveled to Russia the following year. Outside of Broadway, his stage work included a 1988 appearance at the Pasadena Playhouse opposite Rebecca De Mornay in Born Yesterday and a September 1989 performance in Ayckbourn's A Chorus of Disapproval at the South Coast Repertory.

On television, Schramm portrayed Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in the 1983 miniseries Kennedy and appeared in the 1990 television movie The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story. He made appearances on Another World and Wiseguy, and in 1990 appeared opposite Sandra Bullock in the short-lived series Working Girl. He also had a significant role in season five of Miami Vice, playing serial killer Professor Eric G. Halliwell. His film credits include Let It Ride (1989), Johnny Handsome (1989), and A Shock to the System (1990).

Following the conclusion of Wings, Schramm returned regularly to the stage. From October to December 2003, he appeared in the New York Theatre Workshop's production of The Beard of Avon, playing John Heminge. In the summer of 2008, he participated in two productions at the Berkshire Theatre Festival: George Bernard Shaw's Candida, in which he played Mr. Burgess, and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, in which he played Pozzo. Both productions were directed by Anders Cato. Later that year, from November to December 2008, Schramm portrayed Richard Harkin in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, again directed by Cato. From October 2009 to January 2010, he appeared in the Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow at the St. James Theatre, portraying Senator Rawkins. In March 2012, he appeared in a production of Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men at the George Street Playhouse, and that summer he played Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor at The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. — his first time performing at that venue and in that play. In October 2014, he played Tony in John Patrick Shanley's Outside Mullingar at the George Street Playhouse. In June 2015, vocal problems forced him to withdraw from the Barrington Stage Company's production of Richard Strand's Butler, with understudy Wally Dunn replacing him under the direction of Joseph Discher. Schramm's final stage performance came in 2019, in the York Theatre Company's revival of Enter Laughing: The Musical.

Schramm resided in New York and had homes in Chatham and Riverdale. He has been credited with helping David Adkins pursue an acting career by taking him to see Juilliard. Schramm died in New York on March 28, 2020, at the age of 73, from a heart attack.