Raye Birk
Birth : 1943-05-27, Flint, Michigan, USA
History
Raye Birk (born May 27, 1943, Flint, Michigan) is an American film and television actor best known for playing the role of Pahpshmir in the first and last of the Naked Gun movies. He was the main villain in Naked Gun 331⁄3: The Final Insult. He has also starred in Due South as the terrorist Francis Bolt in the Episodes "All the Queens Horses", "Red, White and Blue", "Call of the Wild Part One" and "Call of the Wild Part Two". He also had roles in the X-Files and Babylon 5. His other film credits include roles in Best Defense (1984), Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Doc Hollywood (1991) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).
In addition to these roles, he had a frequently occurring role as the assistant principal on The Wonder Years; starting with the pilot episode, when he had a conference with Kevin Arnold's parents for throwing food in the cafeteria. While generally antagonist, a more sympathetic role on the show was seen in the award winning episode "Goodbye" where he confides in Kevin that he is Kevin's new math teacher as Kevin's hardnosed algebra teacher has just died. He was also on a pair of Home Improvement episodes as one of Tim's poker buddies. Raye appeared in several episodes on the TV series Night Court. He appeared twice on The Golden Girls, both times playing a wedding caterer.
Furthermore, in 1985, 1986 and 1992, he appeared on three episodes of Cheers as Walt Twitchell, a mailman who got into minor altercations with Cliff Clavin. Birk reprised the role of Twitchell in a 2002 episode of the Cheers spinoff series, Frasier, in which the title character (played by Kelsey Grammer) returned to Boston and re-acquainted himself with old friends from the bar. He played a recurring role on Coach as university band director Riley Pringle from 1989 to 1993. He also appeared in an episode of Mr. Belvedere as an accordion player.
In 2004–2008, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
Raye has been married to his wife Candace Barrett for 41 years. They have one son, Joshua, who is a professor of medieval history.
In the face of the killings and assaults on black lives, a mother is determined to keep her two sons safe once they've moved to a new neighborhood.
Dr. Len Shapiro
It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances Sy Ableman.
Postal Clerk
Set in 1920, Inge travels from Germany to rural Minnesota in order to meet the man destined to be her husband.
Heathercliff
This drama centers on Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of "Factotum" author Charles Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles, CA trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Along the way, he fends off the distractions offered by women, drinking and gambling.
Son'a Doctor
When an alien race and factions within Starfleet attempt to take over a planet that has "regenerative" properties, it falls upon Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise to defend the planet's people as well as the very ideals upon which the Federation itself was founded.
John Davies
This is a story of Jimmy, a high school senior, who is struggling with his school life, family pressures, future choices. When it becomes too much, Jimmy kills himself.
Gary Dedmarch
A cop taking personal leave after he witnesses money stolen from the police property room becomes involved with a beautiful singer who may have killed her husband.
Michael, a young autistic boy who has trouble with verbalization but a real talent for technology, uses a computer to plead for help after being molested at his school.
Papshmir
Frank Drebin is persuaded out of retirement to go undercover in a state prison. There he has to find out what top terrorist, Rocco, has planned for when he escapes. Adding to his problems, Frank's wife, Jane, is desperate for a baby.
Principal Kratz
Duncan is a genius straight A student, Blade is juvenile delinquent. But because of a mix up with their school records, everyone thinks each is the other one. Now, Duncan kind of likes the attention from being thought of as a real bad dude, if only the school bully would stop trying to rough him up. And Blade definitely likes being thought of as important instead of as trouble.
Simon Tidwell, First Patient
After leaving Washington D.C. hospital, plastic surgeon Ben Stone heads for California, where a lucrative practice in Beverly Hills awaits. After a car accident, he's sentenced to perform as the community's general practitioner.
Dr. Frenzel
Based on a true story, an adoring wife and mother is taken hostage during a robbery and brutally murdered.
Judge Brown
The classic comic book characters created by John L. Goldwater are brought to tv in a slightly older version. Here the characters are adults returning to their high school reunion and remembering old times and romances from good old Riverdale High
Joseph Kilminster
A profile of the astronauts, crew, and civilians who were involved in the January 28, 1986 flight of the spaceship, Challenger, that resulted in its explosion upon takeoff. The center point of the film is the safety inspections and arguments surrounding the use of the o-rings that ultimately were blamed for the explosion.
Sam Morgan
Ken Malansky, a law student of Perry Mason's, is accused of murdering a fellow student. Perry is reluctant to take on his case as the victim was the son of a close friend.
Pahpshmir
When the incompetent Lieutenant Frank Drebin seeks the ruthless killer of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Pinsky
Larry Donner, an author with a cruel ex-wife, teaches a writing workshop in which one of his students, Owen, is fed up with his domineering mother. When Owen watches a Hitchcock classic that seems to mirror his own life, he decides to put the movie's plot into action and offers to kill Larry's ex-wife, if Larry promises to murder his mom. Before Larry gets a chance to react to the plan, it seems that Owen has already set things in motion.
Vanya
Acclaimed director John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers) presents this madcap send-up of late night TV, low-budget sci-fi films and canned-laughter-filled sitcoms packed with off-the-wall sketches that will have you in stitches. Centered around a television station which features a 1950s-style sci-fi movie interspersed with a series of wild commercials, wacky shorts and weird specials, this lampoon of contemporary life and pop culture skewers some of the silliest spectacles ever created in the name of entertainment. A truly outrageous look at the best of the worst that television has to offer.
The Jogger
Bernice "Bernie" Rhodenbarr is a burglar by trade, and she runs a bookstore as well. Her friend Carl Hefler is a dog groomer. After a successful burglary, it's discovered that a dead body was in the house she burgled. As she's the only one who can be placed at the scene of the crime, she has to use her criminal skills to clear her name of the murder AND avoid getting charged with the burglary.
George Larson
Steven and Laura Harding, along with their kids David and Mary, have moved to the quiet community of Stepford. Steven joins the men's club, which is still assimilating their wives into robots. This time, they have begun to turn their out of control teens into robots as well. Once they are assimilated, they are obedient, homework loving, big band dancing droids. Laura, David, and Mary stumble onto this mystery, and they must avoid Steven's plans to turn them into robots.
Harding
Laura Daniels, single and bored, finds new interest in life when she discovers an old ouija board. It appears, however, that the object's previous owner was murdered - and messages from beyond warn Laura that she may be next. 1985 made-for-TV thriller starring Kathleen Beller & Michael Brandon.
Dowdy
Set aboard a navy cargo ship during World War II, this comedic drama follows Lt. Doug Roberts (Robert Hays, Airplane!), who battles boredom and a tyrannical captain to the admiration of Ensign Pulver, Doc, and the crew.
Marley's Ghost
Televised stage performance based on Charles Dickens' novella.
Mort Catafalque
A gas is let loose upon the world that kills anyone over 25 years old.
