Allan Franklin Arbus (February 15, 1918 – April 19, 2013) was an American actor and photographer. He was the former husband of photographer Diane Arbus. He is known for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on the CBS television series M*A*S*H.
Also a music lover, before becoming an actor, he was reportedly so taken by Benny Goodman's recordings that he took up playing the clarinet.
Edward Steichen's noted photo exhibition The Family of Man includes a photograph credited to the couple. MoMA PDF document The Arbuses' professional partnership ended in 1956, when Diane quit the business; the couple formally separated three years later. Allan Arbus continued on as a solo photographer, but had given up the business to pursue an acting career by the time the couple divorced in 1969.
These roles led to his casting as Maj. Sidney Freedman on M*A*S*H. His work on M*A*S*H helped his career as a character actor, and he eventually appeared in more than seventy TV shows and movies. He appeared briefly in the 1973 film Cinderella Liberty as a drunken sailor; another 1973 film, Coffy (starring Pam Grier), featured Arbus as a drug dealer with strange sexual needs; in Damien - Omen II (1978), he played Pasarian, one of Damien's many victims in The Omen trilogy. In 1979, he portrayed a dance choreographer in The Electric Horseman.
Arbus is far better known for his television work, which includes over forty-five titles, with works as recent as Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2000. Among Arbus's non- M*A*S*H work for television are guest and recurring roles in such television series as Law & Order, In the Heat of the Night, L.A. Law, Matlock, Starsky and Hutch, and Judging Amy.
Arbus married actress Mariclare Costello in 1977. The couple had one daughter, Arin Arbus, who is the associate artistic director at Theatre for a New Audience.
1961 | Hey, Let's Twist! | The doctor | Film | (Uncredited) |
1969 | Putney Swope | Mr. Bad News | Film | |
1971 | The Christian Licorice Store | Monroe (Smith) | Film | |
1972 | Cisco Pike | Sim Valensi | Film | |
1972 | Greaser's Palace | Jessy | Film | |
1973 | The Young Nurses | Krebs | Film | |
1973 | Coffy | Arturo Vitroni | Film | |
1973 | Scream, Pretty Peggy | Dr. Saks | TV movie | (ABC) |
1973 | Cinderella Liberty | Drunken sailor | Film | |
1974 | The Odd Couple | Ernie Ferguson (Hypnotist) / Mr. Lennox (Director) | TV | Episodes: "Cleanliness Is Next To Impossible", "The Hollywood Story" |
1974 | Law and Disorder | Dr. Richter | ||
1976 | Hawaii Five-O | Vince Maynard | TV | Season 8 |
1976 | W.C. Fields and Me | Gregory LaCava | Film | |
1977 | Raid on Entebbe | Eli Melnick | TV movie | (NBC) |
1978 | Damien - Omen II | Pasarian | ||
1978 | Taxi | Jerry Martin | TV | Episode: "One-Punch Banta" |
1978 | The Rockford Files | Myron Katzin | TV | Episode: "Black Mirror" |
1978 | Wonder Woman | Bleaker | TV | Episode: "The Girl from Ilandia" |
1979 | Americathon | Moishe Weitzman, the 2nd Hebrab | Film | |
1979 | The Electric Horseman | Danny | Film | |
1980 | The Last Married Couple in America | Al Squib | Film | |
1981 | Gangster Wars | Goodman | TV movie | Also, as a TV miniseries, known as The Gangster Chronicles |
1982 | Quincy, M.E. | Dr. Ellerick | TV | Episode: "For Love of Joshua" |
1973–1983 | M*A*S*H | Major Sidney Freedman | TV | 12 Episodes |
1984 | The World of Don Camillo | Christ (voice) | Film | In Italian and English |
1985 | Cagney & Lacey | Arthur Stacey | TV | Episode: "Violation" |
1985 | Volunteers | Albert Bardenaro | Film | |
1985 | Hardcastle and McCormick | Dr. Friedman | TV | Episode: "Do Not Go Gentle" |
1986 | Crossroads | Dr. Santis | Film | |
1986 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (anthology) | Dr. Andreas Hellman | TV movie | A Fighting Choice |
1987 | From the Hip | Phil Ames | Film | |
1987 | Spies | Jano | TV | Episode: "Baby" |
1987 | Daniel and the Towers | Simon 'Sam' Rodia | (Wonder Works, PBS) | |
1987 | Ohara | Sol Rostoff | TV | Episode: "The Intruders" |
1987 | Duet | Mr. Coleman | TV | Episode: "Born, Bred and Buttered in Brooklyn" |
1987 | Matlock | Peter Leoni | TV | Episode: "The Chef" |
1989 | L.A. Law | Lawrence Stone | TV | Episode: I'm in the Nude for Love |
1989 | Matlock | Aaron Mitchell | TV | Episode: "The Star" |
1989 | When He's Not a Stranger | Judge Thomas J. Gray | TV movie | |
1990 | Hunter | Norman Tate | TV | Episode: "Unfinished Business" |
1991 | Stat | Hesh Cooper | TV | Episodes: "Safe Smuggling" & "Fantasy" |
1991–1992 | Brooklyn Bridge | Dr. Schulman | TV | 3 episodes |
1993 | Law & Order | Dominique Keith | TV | Episode: "Animal Instinct" |
1993 | Josh and S.A.M. | Businessman on plane | Film | |
1992–1993 | In The Heat of the Night | Dr. Atwill | TV | Episodes: "Discovery" & "Little Girl Lost" |
1994 | Mad About You | Albert | TV | Episode: "The Last Scampi" |
1997 | In Dark Places | Dory | ||
1998 | L.A. Doctors | Mr. Mitski | TV | Episode: "A Prayer for the living" |
1999 | NYPD Blue | Seymore Epstein | TV | Episode: "Don't Meth with Me" |
1999 | Judging Amy | Judge Fowler | TV | 3 episodes |
2000 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Uncle Nathan | TV | Episode: "The Group" |
2016 | Chief Zabu | George Dankworth | Film | (In production from 1986, completed and released 2016) |
|
|