14:38Classic TV · 1977Barney Miller Cast Then and Now
Episode: Barney Miller (1975) Cast Then & Now 2026 — Who’s Still Alive After 51 Years?
From Hollywood Legends Era · 17 min ·
About the Barney Miller Cast Then and Now
The Barney Miller cast then and now is a story about working actors who made a small, shabby police squad room feel like home. The ABC comedy premiered on January 23, 1975, and ran for eight seasons and 170 episodes, ending on May 20, 1982.
Created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker, the show was set in a Greenwich Village precinct in New York City. The laughs came from talk, tired detectives, and the odd parade of people who came through the door.
More than fifty years later, most of the people remembered here have passed away. A few are still with us, including the captain himself.
Where Is the Barney Miller Cast Now?
Abe Vigoda as Phil Fish
Abe Vigoda was already known as Tessio in The Godfather (1972). According to the Associated Press, he arrived to meet Danny Arnold straight from a five-mile jog. When Arnold remarked on his tired look, Vigoda asked whether he was a doctor or a producer, and got the part.
His weary Detective Fish earned his own spin-off, Fish (1977–1978). In 1982, People magazine wrongly reported that he had died. He answered by posing for a Variety photo, sitting up in a coffin and holding the magazine.
Abe Vigoda died on January 26, 2016, at age 94. At his funeral in Manhattan, comedian Gilbert Gottfried drew laughs by calling it "the 20th time we buried Abe Vigoda."
Ron Glass as Ron Harris
Ron Glass played Detective Ron Harris, the sharp dresser who dreamed of becoming an author. The Evansville, Indiana, native appeared in 164 episodes and earned an Emmy nomination for the role.
Off camera, he served 24 years on the board of the Wooten Center, a Los Angeles learning center for young people, chairing it from 1993 to 2005. Younger viewers know him as Shepherd Book in Firefly.
Ron Glass died on November 25, 2016, in Los Angeles, at age 71.
Steve Landesberg as Arthur Dietrich
Steve Landesberg first appeared in the season two opener, "Doomsday" (1975), as Father Paul, a phony priest arrested by Wojo. Later that season he returned as Detective Arthur Dietrich, the squad's calm know-it-all, and stayed through the final episode, earning three Emmy nominations.
He kept working for decades, including The Golden Girls and the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Steve Landesberg died of colon cancer on December 20, 2010, in Los Angeles, at age 74.
Ron Carey as Carl Levitt
On March 18, 1976, Newark native Ron Carey guest-starred in "The Mole," playing a criminal known by that nickname. He soon returned as Officer Carl Levitt, the eager uniformed cop who longed to be a detective, for the last six seasons. Mel Brooks also cast him in Silent Movie, High Anxiety, and History of the World: Part I.
Ron Carey died of a stroke on January 16, 2007, in Los Angeles. He was 71.
Linda Lavin as Janice Wentworth
Linda Lavin played Detective Janice Wentworth in five early episodes, then got a show of her own. As the star of CBS's Alice (1976–1985), she won two Golden Globe Awards. On Broadway, she won the 1987 Tony Award for Broadway Bound.
Linda Lavin died on December 29, 2024, in Los Angeles, from complications of lung cancer. She was 87.
Florence Stanley as Bernice Fish
Florence Stanley played Bernice, the long-suffering wife of Detective Fish. She carried the role into the spin-off Fish.
On Broadway, she played Yente in Fiddler on the Roof for more than 2,000 performances. Later she voiced Mrs. Packard in Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).
Florence Stanley died on October 3, 2003, in Los Angeles, of complications from a stroke. She was 79.
Gregory Sierra as Chano Amengual
Gregory Sierra played Detective Chano Amengual in 35 episodes during the first two seasons. Hal Linden told Emmy magazine in 2025 that Sierra was the bigger name at the start and was waiting for a series of his own.
Viewers also knew him as Julio Fuentes, the Sanfords' neighbor on Sanford and Son.
Gregory Sierra died on January 4, 2021, in Laguna Woods, California, at age 83.
Who Else Walked Into the Squad Room?
James Gregory as Frank Luger
James Gregory played Deputy Inspector Frank Luger, the squad's blustery, old-school boss. Film fans knew him as Senator Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He died on September 16, 2002, in Sedona, Arizona, at age 90.
George Murdock as Ben Scanlon
George Murdock played Lt. Ben Scanlon, the suspicious Internal Affairs officer forever hoping to catch the squad misbehaving. In 1989, he played the being who claims to be God in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. He died of cancer on April 30, 2012, in Burbank, California, at age 81.
Doris Roberts as Harriet Brauer
Long before she became Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond, Doris Roberts made three appearances as Harriet Brauer. She won four Emmys as Marie. She died on April 17, 2016, at her home in Los Angeles, at age 90.
Jack DeLeon as Marty Morrison
Jack DeLeon played Marty Morrison in eight episodes between 1975 and 1982. Marty was openly gay, and the detectives came to treat his committed relationship with respect, rare on 1970s television. He died on October 16, 2006, in Los Angeles, at age 81.
Christopher Lloyd as Arnold Scully and Vincent Carew
Christopher Lloyd was a guest, not a regular, but he walked into the squad room twice: as Arnold Scully in "The Vandal" (1978) and as Vincent Carew in "Open House" (1979), while also playing Reverend Jim on Taxi. Later famous as Doc Brown in Back to the Future, he is 87 and turns 88 later this month.
Jack Soo as Nick Yemana
Jack Soo was born Goro Suzuki in 1917 to a Japanese American family from Oakland, California. During World War II, he was held at the Topaz camp in Utah, where he became a favorite entertainer, and later took the stage name Jack Soo.
On Broadway, he played Sammy Fong in Flower Drum Song and repeated the role in the 1961 film. As Detective Nick Yemana, he became famous for making the squad's terrible coffee.
Jack Soo died of esophageal cancer on January 11, 1979, at age 61. On May 17, 1979, ABC aired "Jack Soo: A Retrospective," and the cast raised their coffee cups to him. His Nick Yemana mug is now in the Smithsonian's collection.
Who From the Barney Miller Cast Is Still With Us?
Max Gail as Stan Wojciehowicz
Max Gail was born in Detroit on April 5, 1943, and taught school before making his stage debut in 1970 in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As Wojo, he was the squad's earnest, big-hearted young detective. Hal Linden told Emmy magazine that Gail "was a hippie" who settled down to play a police officer.
Decades later, he found new success as Mike Corbin on General Hospital, winning Daytime Emmy Awards in 2019 and 2021. Max Gail is 83.
Hal Linden as Barney Miller
Hal Linden was born Harold Lipshitz in the Bronx on March 20, 1931. A former big band musician, he won the 1971 Tony Award for The Rothschilds, where Danny Arnold saw him before casting him as the captain.
Linden has said Arnold wanted Barney to carry "a sense of Talmudic justice," fair to everyone who came through the door. When the network objected to a line in the early episode "The Courtesans," Arnold refused to cut it, and Linden recalls the ratings climbing "from about 51st place to 21st."
He was nominated seven times for an Emmy as Barney and never won, but the show won Outstanding Comedy Series in 1982. Hal Linden turned 95 in March 2026.
Why Barney Miller Still Feels Like Home
Barney Miller rarely left one room, and it rarely needed to. The comedy came from patience, kindness, and ordinary people listening to the strange, sad, and funny stories of the city.
The people behind those characters were working actors who kept working for decades. When Jack Soo died, the show paused to say goodbye in its own quiet way, with a raised coffee cup.
Which detective from the squad room do you remember best, and did you ever see any of these actors on stage or in person?
Sources and Further Reading
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