Barnard Hughes

Hughes, Barnard (b. 1915), character actor. The durable and beloved performer, on the New York stage for over sixty years, often was cast in colorful supporting roles, but by the 1970s he was considered a Broadway star. He was born in Bedford Hills, New York, and educated at Manhattan College, making his professional debut Off Broadway in 1934. Hughes was usually cast in roles older than himself, so he was playing fathers, doctors, military officers, and other mature characters from the start. Among his dozens of delightful performances were the Keystone Kop–like Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing (1972), various Russian characters in The Good Doctor (1973), a twinkling Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor (1974), the crusty father who will not depart even after death in Da (1978), the Irish rural schoolteacher Hugh in Translations (1981), the desolate bartender Harry Hope in The Iceman Cometh (1985), the mysterious Old Man in Prelude to a Kiss (1990), and the octogenarian suitor Osgood Meeker in Waiting in the Wings (1999).