Peter Bonerz's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) The Bob Newhart Show Dr. Jerry R… Three Sisters George Bern… Summer Fun Chips

Main Movie Roles 1999 - Man on the Moon 1980 - Serial 1972 - Fuzz 1970 - Catch-22

BIOGRAPHY:

Peter Bonerz is an actor and director who is best known as the character Dr. Jerry Robinson on The Bob Newhart Show.

Bonerz grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended Marquette University High School, gaining his first theatrical experience with the Prep Players under rigid conditions. At Marquette University he participated in the Marquette University Players under the Rev. John J. Walsh, S.J. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1960, he decided to seek a career in theater, beginning with The Premise, an improv group in New York. After compulsory service as a draftee in the US Army he joined The Committee, an improv troupe in San Francisco.

His first network television appearance was in 1965 on The Addams Family in the Season Two episode "Morticia, The Writer". He had several more TV appearances in the late 1960s and also had a number of roles in several films, including Medium Cool (1969) and Catch-22 (1970). In 1972, he landed the popular supporting role of Dr. Jerry Robinson, the eccentric orthodontist on The Bob Newhart Show, whose most frequent comic foil was Marcia Wallace as Carol, the sharp-tongued secretary. He also directed 29 episodes. The show ran for six seasons, with ratings among the top 20 in the first three seasons.

In one of his later acting roles he played a psychiatrist in Serial (1980). In 1986, Bonerz co-starred alongside Tuesday Weld and River Phoenix in the CBS television movie Circle of Violence, and would go on to direct a large number of sitcom episodes for series such as Friends, Murphy Brown, NewsRadio, Home Improvement, It's Your Move, and ALF. He also directed a few films, such as Police Academy 6: City Under Siege.


TRIVIA:

• Moved to New York in the early 1960s and joined The Premise, an improv group. After a stint as a draftee in the U.S. Army, he hooked up with The Committee, another improv troupe situated in San Francisco.
• Graduated with a BS degree in 1960 at Marquette University, where he was part of a theater group of players.
• Attended Marquette University.
• Grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended Marquette University High School.
• In _Medium Cool (1969)_ (qv), he played a fictional news cameraman during the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. On the set of _"The Bob Newhart Show" (1972)_ (qv), he actually learned to work behind the camera as a director. The show was filmed in Los Angeles but set in Chicago.
• Bonerz first acted on stage in a production of "Agamemnon" at Columbia University in 1961.
• Best known on TV for his co-starring role as curly-haired Jerry Robinson, an eccentric dentist on 'Bob Newhart' (qv) comedy series. The show, which began in 1972, ran for six seasons--with ratings among the top 20 in the first three seasons.
• Has two sons: Eli and Eric.