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David Groh

 
Actor: David Groh
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: May 21, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York
  • Died: Feb 12, 2008
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '70s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: King Lear, Broken Vows, The Cowboy and the Movie Star
  • First Major Screen Credit: Rhoda: Season 01 (1974)

Biography

The son of an architect, David Groh entered Brown University as an engineering major, but gradually gravitated to the Fine Arts department. Following a few summers with the American Shakespeare Festival, Groh received a Fulbright scholarship to study acting in England. Returning to New York, he was at first limited to "classical" roles, beginning with his off-Broadway bow in The Importance of Being Earnest. He enrolled at the Actors Studio to get some "modern" grounding: evidently he succeeded, inasmuch as his subsequent Broadway credits included such contemporary efforts as The Hot L Baltimore and Chapter Two. During the 1960s and 1970s, he worked steadily in the soap-opera mills, appearing in a dual role on Dark Shadows and as D L Brock in General Hospital. Told by his friends that he might have a future in Hollywood-based cop shows, Groh moved to LA in 1974--where, within a matter of months, he was cast as Rhoda Morgenstern's fiancé Joe Gerard on the popular sitcom Rhoda. The Joe-Rhoda wedding, telecast October 28, 1974, earned the series its highest-ever ratings; but the chemistry was never really there, and in 1977 the Gerards were divorced (many viewers, assuming that Groh and Harper were really married, sent letters of condolence to the two actors). In April of 1978, Groh was back on the small screen in his own sitcom, Another Day (1978), which lasted but a month. David Groh thereafter concentrated on stage work, with occasional forays into films and such TV miniseries as The Dream Merchants and Tourist.. Groh died at age 68 in February 2008. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: David Groh
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Not to be confused with David Grohl.
David Groh
Born David Lawrence Groh
May 21, 1939(1939-05-21)
Brooklyn, New York,
United States
Died February 12, 2008 (aged 68)
Los Angeles, California,
United States
Occupation Film, television actor
Spouse(s) Kristin Andersen Groh (?-2008 by his death)
Karla Pergande (1988 - ?, divorced; 1 child)
Denise Arsenault (1984 - ?, annulled)

David Lawrence Groh [1] (May 21, 1939 - February 12, 2008[2]) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of Joe Gerard in the 1970s Mary Tyler Moore spinoff series Rhoda, opposite Valerie Harper.

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

Groh was born in Brooklyn, the son of Mildred and Benjamin Groh.[3] He had a sister, Marilyn.[4] He attended Brooklyn Technical High School, then enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in English literature.[4]

He performed with the American Shakespeare Theatre, then went to Great Britain to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a Fulbright scholarship, and served in the United States Army from 1963-1964.[4] On his return to New York City, he studied at the Actors Studio. He made his television debut in the Gothic daytime soap opera Dark Shadows on ABC in 1966, but did not garner fame until Rhoda.

Career

Playing Joe Gerard, a New York City construction worker who met Rhoda Morgenstern, best friend of Mary Richards on CBS' The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Groh co-starred in the spin-off series Rhoda. The show premiered September 9, 1974. Joe and Rhoda married in the seventh episode. The network gave the marriage much advance publicity, and the episode proved a ratings blockbuster, having drawn some fifty million viewers[5] to become one of television's most-watched single programs.

In season three, the couple separated, and was later divorced. According to Valerie Harper, Groh was written out of the show when the producers decided that Rhoda worked better with its star as a single woman. "We all felt very bad about David not continuing," she said. The two remained lifelong friends.[6] Rhoda was canceled in the fall of 1978. Groh starred in his own series, the short-lived Another Day, and went on to make his Broadway theatre debut in Neil Simon's Chapter Two.

Later career

From 1983-1985, Groh played D.L. Brock in the ABC soap opera General Hospital, leaving that daytime serial to appear in Off Broadway play Be Happy for Me (1986). The New York Times drama critic Frank Rich found Groh "completely convincing as the brash gold-chain-and-bikini-clad Lothario".[4] Other New York City theater credits include Road Show (1987), and The Twilight of the Golds (1993).

On television, Groh appeared in guest roles on such series as Melrose Place, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Law & Order, Baywatch, Murder, She Wrote, The X-Files, JAG and L.A. Law. His movies included Victory at Entebbe (1976), Get Shorty (1995), and many independent films.

Personal life

Groh was a serious collector of antique furniture and folk art,[5] much of which he kept in a second home in Connecticut. He mainly resided, however, in Santa Monica, California, where he lived with his third wife, Kristin, and his son Spencer,[4] by his second wife.

Death

David Groh died of kidney cancer[7] in a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 68.

References

  1. ^ Full name as per New York Times obit
  2. ^ Noland, Claire."David Groh, 68; Husband on 'Rhoda'". Los Angeles Times. 14 February 2008.
  3. ^ David Groh Biography (1941-)
  4. ^ a b c d e Martin, The New York Times
  5. ^ a b Hall, Ken. The Celebrity Collector: "David Groh, Most Memorably From 'Rhoda', Collects Early American Items"
  6. ^ http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/deaths/5543168.html
  7. ^ TV's CNN report of Groh's death

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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