Broadway, TV actor Zorich dies

Broadway, TV actor Zorich dies

NEW YORK

Tony Award-nominated actor Louis Zorich, who played a grumpy Greek diner owner in “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and the father of Paul Reiser’s character on the NBC sitcom “Mad About You,” died Tuesday at his home in New York, according to Jonathan Mason of the Buchwald talent agent. He was 93.

Zorich’s Broadway credits include “Becket,” “The Odd Couple,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” He earned a Tony nomination for “Hadrian VII” in 1969.

But he was perhaps best known as sporting goods salesman Burt Buchman on “Mad About You” from 1992-1999. “It’s me, Burt! Burt Buchman – your father!” he was known to trumpet when he entered the home of his son, played by Reiser.