Todd Susman

Career

Susman's better-known roles include Officer Shifflett on Newhart and the unseen P.A. system announcer on the television series M*A*S*M*A*S*H. In 1976, he was known as a regular on the six-episode CBS adventure series Spencer's Pilots. He portrayed Jewish character Ted Lapinsky on The Waltons episode 'The Unthinkable'; which aired January 3, 1980. He also appeared in a 1991 episode of "The Golden Girls" TV sitcom called "The Case of the Libertine Belle". He played detective Spade Marlow. Before that, Susman submitted a pilot series for Grant Tinker for MTM Enterprises about an innocent young man arriving in New York City to start his career.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri and 1965 graduate of Ladue High School, Susman has appeared in over one hundred different television series and commercials and was also featured in the Broadway production of Hairspray, the 1970s films Star Spangled Girl (1971), The Loners (1972), Little Cigars (1973) and California Dreaming (1979), the 2007 independent film, The Big Bad Swim, and the 2009 comedy, The Flying Scissors. He also voiced the lead character in the 2002 video game Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix.

In 2012, he appeared in the original cast of the off-Broadway Westside Theatre show, "Old Jews Telling Jokes", in which Jessica Shaw of Entertainment Weekly called his portrayal "the funniest moment...delivered with a Yiddish accent as thick as schmaltz". Jason Zinoman of The New York Times also complimented his performance, saying "the incongruity between content and form is perfectly tuned, and Mr. Susman benefits from resisting the urge to oversell the joke". David Finkle of TheaterMania.com also said Susman "often scores simply through his feigned stoicism".

In 2013, Susman, along with the Old Jews Telling Jokes cast and The Chew personality Carla Hall appeared at Carnegie Deli to unveil the "OJTJ sandwich", named for the comedy group.

He played Harold Bloom in Orange is the New Black.

Personal life

In a 1971 news article, Susman mentioned he moved to Los Angeles because a friend told him he could make $500 a week as a writer. Unfortunately, the plan did not go well and he ended up making $60 a week as a writer for American International Pictures.

His former wife Judy is a working actress they shared 1 child. Susman has since remarried to Bella Kordonov on November 6, 1982; with whom he's still married and has three children.