Bernie Kopell
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Genial character comedian Bernie Kopell is undoubtedly best known as Dr. Adam Bricker, doling out sage advice on TV's La croisière s'amuse (1977) for its entire run of ten seasons and 250 episodes. He once described the experience as "a paid vacation. We got to be in 98 countries". While this may have been his longest engagement on a series, his most memorable comic creation remains the iconic Siegfried in Max la menace (1965).
Bernie was born in Brooklyn, of Ukrainian and Jewish ancestry, as Bernard Morton Kopell to Abraham Bernard Kopell (1905-1965) and his wife Pauline (née Taran, 1911-2011). After finishing high school, he studied at New York University, graduating in 1955 with a bachelor of fine arts.
A year later, Bernie was drafted into the U.S. Navy, happily accepting the opportunity to serve as librarian at the Naval Operations Base, the Naval Air Station at Norfolk, Virginia, and (between 1956-57), aboard the World War II battleship U.S.S. Iowa. He later quipped "I got to read more books than I'd gotten to read at NYU, so it was just a glorious thing for me."
Back in New York after demobilization, Bernie was invited to Los Angeles by fellow NYU alumnus James Drury (of Le Virginien (1962) fame). His first agent turned him down for being 'not handsome enough to be a leading man, not ugly enough to be a heavy.' For a while, he earned a crust as a taxi driver and vacuum cleaner salesman. A chance audition for casting director Marilyn Howard (then Marilyn Bodgen) then led to a small part in an early CBS daytime soap, The Brighter Day (1954), as a Cuban bad guy named Pablo. Bernie's aptitude for dialects impressed TV execs to the extent that he found himself typecast as Mexicans or Puerto Ricans in episodes of Make Room for Daddy (1953), The Jack Benny Program (1950), Mon Martien favori (1963) and The Flying Nun (1967). Ultimately, his innate ability to bring levity to any scene earned him numerous guest starring turns on sitcoms like Sur le pont la marine (1962), L'extravagante Lucie (1962), Petticoat Junction (1963), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Run Buddy Run (1966) and Les arpents verts (1965).
At the age of 33, Bernie got his first big break, cast as KAOS chief Siegfried in Get Smart by executive producer Leonard Stern. This character, replete with leather jacket, neat moustache and Heidelberg duelling scar, was essentially the primary nemesis of Control agents 86 and 99. Bernie, by his own admission, adopted Siegfried's German accent from an Austrian psychiatrist he was visiting at the time. The character became so popular with fans that the actor would often be asked to sign autographs with the catchphrase "we don't shush at KAOS, Shtarker". A classic line from the episode 'Rub-a-Dub-Dub... Three Spies in a Sub' has Siegfried explaining to Don Adams "As you go through the world of espionage Shmart, you will find that there are the good guys and the bad guys. I happen to be one of the bad guys."
In between Get Smart and Love Boat, Bernie alternated dramatic roles with comic ones, appearing in a wide variety of shows, ranging from Night Gallery (1969) (as a TV executive), Dossiers brûlants (1974) (Dr. Gravanites) and the live-action CBS children's sitcom The Ghost Busters (1975) (as Dr. Frankenstein) to the Mel Brooks spoof of Robin Hood, Quand tout était pourri... re (1975) (a recurring role as Alan-a-Dale). He appeared in nine episodes of Ma sorcière bien aimée (1964), variously as the ancient Postlethwaite, aka Mr. Apothecary, the hippie warlock Alonzo, psychiatrists Chomsky and Rhinehouse and the Siegfried clone Baron von Fuchs). Bernie also had a co-starring role in a short-lived 1973 sitcom, Needles and Pins (1973), as a salesman for a ladies' clothing manufacturer in New York. His more recent appearances have included an ill-fated men's room attendant in Monk (2002), a coroner in Charmed (1998), a hayseed in Earl (2005), a Holocaust survivor in Hawaii 5-0 (2010) and a senior citizen in the medical sitcom B Positive (2020).
For the stage, Bernie has appeared in Los Angeles productions of Death of a Salesman, and, as a Russian peddler, in The 49th Cousin. He had a leading role as Lenny Ganz in the Neil Simon farce Rumors at the Whitefire Theatre, Sherman Oaks (1996-97). As late as 2022, he headlined off-Broadway, alongside Hal Linden, as biblical characters Lou and Bud in Ed. Weinberger's comedy play, Two Jews Talking. Seemingly impervious to age, Bernie continues make regular appearances in films and on TV, albeit in smaller supporting roles. He is an avid tennis player and has hosted pro-celebrity tennis and golf tournaments with proceeds benefiting the Alzheimer's Association.
Bernie was born in Brooklyn, of Ukrainian and Jewish ancestry, as Bernard Morton Kopell to Abraham Bernard Kopell (1905-1965) and his wife Pauline (née Taran, 1911-2011). After finishing high school, he studied at New York University, graduating in 1955 with a bachelor of fine arts.
A year later, Bernie was drafted into the U.S. Navy, happily accepting the opportunity to serve as librarian at the Naval Operations Base, the Naval Air Station at Norfolk, Virginia, and (between 1956-57), aboard the World War II battleship U.S.S. Iowa. He later quipped "I got to read more books than I'd gotten to read at NYU, so it was just a glorious thing for me."
Back in New York after demobilization, Bernie was invited to Los Angeles by fellow NYU alumnus James Drury (of Le Virginien (1962) fame). His first agent turned him down for being 'not handsome enough to be a leading man, not ugly enough to be a heavy.' For a while, he earned a crust as a taxi driver and vacuum cleaner salesman. A chance audition for casting director Marilyn Howard (then Marilyn Bodgen) then led to a small part in an early CBS daytime soap, The Brighter Day (1954), as a Cuban bad guy named Pablo. Bernie's aptitude for dialects impressed TV execs to the extent that he found himself typecast as Mexicans or Puerto Ricans in episodes of Make Room for Daddy (1953), The Jack Benny Program (1950), Mon Martien favori (1963) and The Flying Nun (1967). Ultimately, his innate ability to bring levity to any scene earned him numerous guest starring turns on sitcoms like Sur le pont la marine (1962), L'extravagante Lucie (1962), Petticoat Junction (1963), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Run Buddy Run (1966) and Les arpents verts (1965).
At the age of 33, Bernie got his first big break, cast as KAOS chief Siegfried in Get Smart by executive producer Leonard Stern. This character, replete with leather jacket, neat moustache and Heidelberg duelling scar, was essentially the primary nemesis of Control agents 86 and 99. Bernie, by his own admission, adopted Siegfried's German accent from an Austrian psychiatrist he was visiting at the time. The character became so popular with fans that the actor would often be asked to sign autographs with the catchphrase "we don't shush at KAOS, Shtarker". A classic line from the episode 'Rub-a-Dub-Dub... Three Spies in a Sub' has Siegfried explaining to Don Adams "As you go through the world of espionage Shmart, you will find that there are the good guys and the bad guys. I happen to be one of the bad guys."
In between Get Smart and Love Boat, Bernie alternated dramatic roles with comic ones, appearing in a wide variety of shows, ranging from Night Gallery (1969) (as a TV executive), Dossiers brûlants (1974) (Dr. Gravanites) and the live-action CBS children's sitcom The Ghost Busters (1975) (as Dr. Frankenstein) to the Mel Brooks spoof of Robin Hood, Quand tout était pourri... re (1975) (a recurring role as Alan-a-Dale). He appeared in nine episodes of Ma sorcière bien aimée (1964), variously as the ancient Postlethwaite, aka Mr. Apothecary, the hippie warlock Alonzo, psychiatrists Chomsky and Rhinehouse and the Siegfried clone Baron von Fuchs). Bernie also had a co-starring role in a short-lived 1973 sitcom, Needles and Pins (1973), as a salesman for a ladies' clothing manufacturer in New York. His more recent appearances have included an ill-fated men's room attendant in Monk (2002), a coroner in Charmed (1998), a hayseed in Earl (2005), a Holocaust survivor in Hawaii 5-0 (2010) and a senior citizen in the medical sitcom B Positive (2020).
For the stage, Bernie has appeared in Los Angeles productions of Death of a Salesman, and, as a Russian peddler, in The 49th Cousin. He had a leading role as Lenny Ganz in the Neil Simon farce Rumors at the Whitefire Theatre, Sherman Oaks (1996-97). As late as 2022, he headlined off-Broadway, alongside Hal Linden, as biblical characters Lou and Bud in Ed. Weinberger's comedy play, Two Jews Talking. Seemingly impervious to age, Bernie continues make regular appearances in films and on TV, albeit in smaller supporting roles. He is an avid tennis player and has hosted pro-celebrity tennis and golf tournaments with proceeds benefiting the Alzheimer's Association.
