Joseph Bologna: Biography

Joseph Bologna attended Brown University, where he majored in art history. After a hitch with the marines, Bologna was hired to produce and direct Manhattan-based TV commercials. In 1965, he married actress/writer Renee Taylor, who would collaborate with Bologna on such stage, screen, and TV projects as Lovers and Other Strangers, Made for Each Other, Woman of the Year, and the Emmy-winning Acts of Love and Other Comedies. Bologna and Taylor also created the 1973 TV series Calucci's Department, and co-directed the 1989 feature film Made for Each Other. On his own, Bologna has been a much-in-demand film actor since 1970. His most rewarding screen assignments have included the starring role of Dan Torrance in the 1976 disaster-flick spoof The Big Bus and Sid Caesar-like TV comic King Kaiser in the nostalgic My Favorite Year (1982). On television, Joseph Bologna played a cameo as Walter Winchell in the made-for-cable biopic Citizen Cohn (1992), and starred as Nick Foley on the 1987 TV "dramedy" Rags to Riches, which gave him a rare opportunity to sing from time to time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide