Noam Pitlik

Noam Pitlik (November 4, 1932 – February 18, 1999) was an American actor and television director born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Pitlik. He attended Central High School before going on to earn degrees from Gratz College and Temple University.

Pitlik's early professional work unfolded in Philadelphia, where he acted in a Western series on WCAU and, in 1951, contributed to set design and construction for the Philadelphia Experimental Theater. The following year he joined the cast of the Summer Theater Guild's production of Philadelphia Story in Indiana, Pennsylvania. His Broadway career began in 1955 with an appearance in Threepenny Opera, and in 1957 he returned to the material in an Off-Broadway staging of Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, this time in a starring role.

Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, Pitlik established himself as a prolific character actor on American television, accumulating guest appearances across roughly 80 different series. His credits included The Untouchables, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., Get Smart, The Fugitive, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, All in the Family, The Odd Couple, and The Six Million Dollar Man, among many others. He appeared in Hogan's Heroes in seven distinct roles, including in the pilot episode. Recurring roles came on Ben Casey, I'm Dickens He's Fenster, The Bob Newhart Show, and Sanford and Son. His film work included The Fortune Cookie, The Graduate, Fitzwilly, and The Front Page.

By the mid-1970s Pitlik shifted his focus to directing, though he continued to take occasional acting roles through the following two decades, with his final on-screen appearance coming in a 1998 episode of Becker. As a director he helmed episodes of 29 television series, most notably Barney Miller, for which he directed 102 episodes — more than any other director on the show. He also directed 44 episodes of Mr. Belvedere, 27 episodes of Wings, 18 episodes of One Day at a Time, and 11 episodes of Taxi, among others. His direction of Barney Miller earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 1979, as well as a Peabody Award and a Directors Guild of America Award.

Pitlik was married three times. His first marriage, to Jesse Lou Blostein on February 11, 1967, ended in divorce on September 29, 1970. He married Linda Hirsch on June 23, 1974, and that marriage concluded on April 25, 1977. His third and final marriage, to Susan Whittaker on January 18, 1986, lasted until his death. Pitlik died of lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on February 18, 1999, at the age of 66.