Steve Landesberg

Life and career

Landesberg was born November 23, 1936, in the Bronx, New York, to a milliner mother and a grocery store-owner father. He was part of improv group New York Stickball Team, which performed several shows that were aired on cable television shortly after Barney Miller went off the air.

Landesberg was a member of the cast of the 1974 CBS situation comedy Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers. He made guest appearances on the TV shows The Rockford Files, Law & Order, Saturday Night Live, The Golden Girls, Ghost Whisperer, That '70s Show and Everybody Hates Chris. He starred in Starz's original show Head Case as Dr. Myron Finkelstein. He appeared in the motion pictures Wild Hogs, Leader of the Band, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Landesberg also co-starred in the TV movie Black Bart, a spin-off of Blazing Saddles.

Landesberg died from colon cancer on December 20, 2010, aged 74. He was survived by his wife Nancy Ross Landesberg and a daughter Elizabeth.

Age

Throughout his life, Landesberg was known for being ambiguous about his age and birth year. Following his passing, numerous media sources erroneously reported his age as 65, with many failing to issue corrections. His daughter, Elizabeth, later revealed that he was actually nine years older than previously stated, noting that he had given different birth dates throughout his career. "He got kind of a late start in show business," she explained, "so he tried to straddle the generations. He fooled the whole world. People were surprised to think he was even 65." Landesberg commented on the issue in a 1979 Washington Post profile for which he refused to give his age:

"Let's just say I started late. It hurts you with casting directors.… If you tell them your age – let's say you're middle-aged – and they've never heard of you, they figure you're no good, or else they would've heard of you already. I tell my friends not to tell their ages."