Michael Warren

• Born: Mar 05, 1946 in South Bend, Indiana
• Occupation: Actor, Writer
• Active: '70s-'90s
• Major Genres: Drama
• Career Highlights: Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding, Butterflies Are Free, Heaven Is a Playground
• First Major Screen Credit: Butterflies Are Free (1972)

Biography

Although he has been appearing in films since the late '60s, black actor Mike Warren is best known for playing officer Bobby Hill on the television series Hill Street Blues. Prior to his film career he attended college at U.C.L.A. where he was a basketball teammate of Lew Alcindor (aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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actor; television director; television producer; television writer

Personal Information

Born on March 5, 1946, in South Bend, IN; married: Susie; children: Koa, Cash.
Education: University of California, Los Angeles, B.A. (theatre arts).

Career

Basketball technical adviser for the film Drive, He Said, 1971; acted in television series, including Hill Street Blues, 1981-87; City of Angels, 2000; TV miniseries, Robin Cook's "Invasion," NBC, 1997; actor in TV movies, The Kid Who Loved Christmas, 1990; Stompin' at the Savoy, 1992; Buffalo Soldiers, 1997; The Wedding, 1998; actor in pilots; appeared on episodic TV, including Tales from the Darkside, 1984; In the Heat of the Night, 1988; L.A. Law, 1989; Dream On, 1990; In the House, 1995; Early Edition, 1996; High Incident, 1996; Living Single, 1996; Murder One, 1996; Marcus Welby, M.D.; The Mod Squad; Police Story; and Days of Our Lives; director of episodes, Sanford and Son, 1972; The Dihann Carroll Show, 1976; Fish, 1977; producer, What's Happening! (series), 1976; coproducer, Home Free (pilot), 1988; creator and executive producer, Family Matters beginning 1989, Step by Step (series), beginning 1991; executive producer, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, 1994-97; actor in films, including Drive, He Said, 1971; Butterflies Are Free, 1972; Cleopatra Jones, 1973; Norman...Is That You?, 1976; Fast Break, 1979; Heaven Is a Playground, 1991; Storyville, 1992; A Passion to Kill, 1994; The Hunted, 1995; wrote television episodes for: Laverne and Shirley, 1976; Family Matters, 1989; Step by Step, 1991.

Life's Work

Michael Warren, best known for his role as Officer Bobby Hill on the popular 1980s television series Hill Street Blues, has had a variety of roles both in front of and behind the camera. In 1976, for instance, he served as producer of What's Happening!, a situation comedy featuring African American characters almost exclusively; and, in 1989, he became executive producer of Family Matters, a show he created. He also has written episodes for shows such as Laverne and Shirley (1976) and his own Family Matters. In addition to his work on Hill Street Blues, Warren has had occasional roles on a wide range of programs, including S.W.A.T., Tales from the Darkside, L.A. Law, In the House, Murder One, and Living Single. In 2000, he accepted a role on the hospital drama, City of Angles. Warren has also appeared in films such as Butterflies Are Free and Cleopatra Jones.

Warren grew up in a working-class South Bend, Indiana, family, the son of a janitor who worked a second job driving a garbage truck. Despite racial tensions in high school, as Warren later told David Gritten of People, "basketball was the great equalizer." He excelled in the sport, and received over one hundred scholarship offers before he settled on the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). There he had the opportunity to play on an outstanding team which won the 1967 and 1968 national championships--a fact due in no small part to the contributions of center Lew Alcindor, later to become a superstar under the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

After college, Warren recognized that sports was not the most sure route to success, and, despite his desire to become an actor, he told Gritten that he remained opposed to "the idea that sports and show business should be the only vehicles for our black youths to escape their depressed state. I'd much rather see the time and effort being put into becoming political scientists, doctors, or lawyers. Trying to be a working actor is as difficult for a black as becoming chairman of General Motors."

Won Role on Hill Street Blues

Fortunately Warren defied the odds, and ultimately won a spot on Hill Street Blues, which would influence notable police shows of the 1990s such as NYPD Blue, Homicide: Life on the Street, and Law and Order. Prior to working on Hill Street Blues, Warren told Gritten, "I saw most cops as bad guys, abusing their power." But while riding on patrol with the Los Angeles Police Department to get material for his part as Officer Bobby Hill, Warren gained a new respect for the men and women in blue. "It made me a lot more sympathetic toward cops," he said. Warren was nominated for an Emmy award for his work on the show.

In 1988, a year after Hill Street Blues ended, Warren helped launch a pilot for what he hoped would be a regular series on NBC, Home Free. Though the show did not succeed, it was clearly a valiant effort in the eyes of critics, one of whom described it in the Washington Post as "'The Waltons' with grit." In the show, Warren played Michael Davis, co-owner of a construction company who also runs a foster home for teen boys. Asked by Lisa Black of Newsday if he had contributed to the script, Warren said he had "presented a skeleton story" which the writers had "dressed." As an actor and producer, he said, he had contributed more substantially to the creation of his character and others on the show. Asked by Black if he thought the show would encourage families to bring foster children into their homes, Warren responded: "I hope the public will start viewing foster kids as human beings, not as outsiders."

According to an article by Jerry Buck in the Chicago Tribune, Warren arrived at the idea of the show because he would not allow his children to watch the violence on Hill Street Blues, but he wanted them to follow his work in some capacity. "I knew I was on to something," he told Buck, "when my daughter learned all the lines and wanted pictures of the boys [in Home Free]."

Produced Television Shows

Home Free was only the first of Warren's forays into television producing. He has served as producer on numerous television shows for various networks. He created and served as executive producer for the ABC's popular series Family Matters. Warren also produced What's Happening!, Step By Step, and Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, among others.

In 1998, Warren appeared with Halle Berry and Lynn Whitfield in "Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding." An adaptation of Dorothy West's novel, The Wedding, the two-night miniseries is the story of Shelby Coles (played by Berry), a wealthy, young African American woman who becomes engaged to a poor, white musician. Warren played Clark Coles, Shelby's father.

City of Angels

In 2000, Warren won a role on the CBS drama City of Angels. The series, which debuted during protests over the lack of minorities on prime time, centers around characters who work in a Los Angeles hospital and features a predominantly black cast. Initial reviews of the show were mixed. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said that "there is very little to distinguish the show from any other passably good hour-long series" and that City of Angels is "a show that could be played by white actors as easily as by blacks." Michael Speier, however, said in Variety that the show's "down-to-earth spin feels as fresh as "ER" did when it bowed in 1994." Speier admits that there is nothing innovative about the show's plots, however, "even the stalest themes can be reused if supported by solid performances." The ensemble cast, Speier said, was one of the show's strengths and that Warren's performance as hospital CEO Ron Harris was a highlight. Although the show's ratings were low, CBS announced that it would pick up the series for a second season, due to the letters, calls, and e-mails of fans. However, the show was then canceled in November of 2000.

Awards

Emmy Award nomination for Hill Street Blues.

Further Reading

Books

• Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 18, Gale (Detroit), 1998.

Periodicals

• Calgary Herald, March 17, 1995, p. C8.
• Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1988, p. C9.
• Entertainment Weekly, January 21, 2000.
• Jet, February 27, 1995, p. 41; June 5, 2000, P. 37.
• Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1995, p. 75.
• Newsday, July 13, 1988, p. 32.
• People, September 13, 1982, p. 121.
• Variety, January 10, 2000; February 23, 2000.
• Washington Post, July 13, 1988, p. D1.

Other

• Additional information was obtained at Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com.

— Judson Knight and Jennifer M. York

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