Sam Freed

Sam Freed is an American actor born on August 29, 1948, in York, Pennsylvania, whose career has spanned Broadway, television, and film. The youngest of six children born to a traveling salesman and a homemaker, Freed grew up in York and developed his early interest in acting at the York Little Theatre. He graduated from York Suburban Senior High School before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Penn State University in 1970, where his first university production was Under Milk Wood. During his time apprenticing with Festival Theatre, he met actress Barrie Youngfellow, who later became his wife and was known for her role in the 1980s sitcom It's a Living.

Following his graduation, Freed was hired directly by director Jon Jory at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. He relocated to New York City in January 1971, where he worked in dinner and summer theatres while also helping construct theatrical scenery. Later that year he joined The Proposition, an improvisational comedy revue that at the time also included Jane Curtin among its performers. His Broadway career ran from 1974 to 1982 and included the musical Candide and the play Torch Song. His screen debut came with Lady of the House in 1978.

Freed became a recognizable television presence through a sustained association with the CBS sitcom Kate and Allie. He first appeared on the series in guest roles, playing a political candidate in a Season 2 episode and an ex-boyfriend in the Season 3 finale, the latter of which had originally been conceived as a backdoor pilot. Beginning with the twelfth episode of Season 4, which aired on December 15, 1986, he took on the recurring role of Bob Barsky, a retired professional football player working as a local television sportscaster. Barsky's relationship with Allie Lowell developed across the remaining seasons and concluded in their marriage early in the sixth and final season, by which point Freed had become a series regular.

Among his other notable television roles, Freed played Bill Bueller, the father of the title character, in the short-lived series Ferris Bueller. He later appeared in the fifth and final season of The Wire as James C. Whiting III, the executive editor of The Baltimore Sun.