Todd Susman

Todd Susman (born January 17, 1947) is an American actor.

Todd Susman
Born	January 17, 1947 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–present
Spouse(s)	Judy Susman (divorced) Bella Kardonov (m. 1982)
Children	4

Early life

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Susman graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in 1965.[1]

Career

Susman has appeared in over one hundred different television series and commercials and was also featured in the Broadway production of Hairspray, the 1970s films Star Spangled Girl (1971), The Loners (1972), Little Cigars (1973) and California Dreaming (1979). He later appeared in the major studio films Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Coneheads (1993), The Juror (1996), and the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009). Susman was in the 2007 independent film, The Big Bad Swim, and the 2009 comedy, The Flying Scissors.[2] He also voiced the lead character in the 2002 video game Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix.

Susman had supporting roles in the films Only The Strong (1993), Night of the Running Man (1995), Bodily Harm (1995), Just Write (1997), Blast from the Past (1999), High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (2003), The A Plate (2011) and The Discoverers (2012).

In addition, he appeared in the TV Movies Death Scream (1975), Portrait of an Escort (1980), Thornwell (1981), The Other Victim (1981), City Killer (1984), I Married a Centerfold (1984), The Guardian (1997), The Superagent (2009) and You Don't Know Jack (2010). He portrayed Sergeant Dobbs in the 1986 TV mini-series Fresno.

Susman's better known television roles include, between 1984 and 1989, as Officer Shifflett on 20 episodes of Newhart, and as the unseen P.A. system announcer on 46 episodes of the television series M*A*S*H (a task he shared with actor Sal Viscuso, who provided the voice on 37 episodes). Susman played Harold Bloom in 5 episodes of Orange is the New Black.[3] He portrayed Ben Braxton in 6 episodes of Empty Nest, Victor Bevine in 4 episodes of St. Elsewhere, Glen in 4 episodes of Grace Under Fire, Bill in 4 episodes of Coach, and 4 different characters in 4 episodes of Barney Miller.

In 1976, he was a regular on the six-episode CBS adventure series Spencer's Pilots.[4] He portrayed Ted Lapinsky in The Waltons (the episodes 'The Home Front' (1979) and 'The Unthinkable" (1980)) and appeared as detective Spade Marlow in the 1991 episode of The Golden Girls titled "The Case of the Libertine Belle". Before that, Susman submitted a pilot series for Grant Tinker for MTM Enterprises about an innocent young man arriving in New York City to start his career.[5] Other television shows Susman has appeared on since 1971 include Love, American Style (3 episodes), Room 222 (3 episodes), Kojak, Eight Is Enough, The White Shadow, M*A*S*H (in addition to the 46 episodes in which he provided the voice of the announcer on the camp's P.A. system), The Waltons (3 episodes), Little House on the Prairie, Lou Grant, Remington Steele, Alice, Hill Street Blues, The Facts of Life, Cagney & Lacey, Night Court (3 episodes), Who's the Boss?, Punky Brewster (3 episodes), Webster (4 episodes), ALF, Highway to Heaven, Murder, She Wrote, The Golden Girls, Blossom (2 episodes), Married... with Children, The Commish, ER, Suddenly Susan, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Bull.

In 2012, Susman appeared in the original cast of the off-Broadway Westside Theatre show, "Old Jews Telling Jokes", in which Jessica Shaw of Entertainment Weekly called his portrayal "the funniest moment...delivered with a Yiddish accent as thick as schmaltz".[6] Jason Zinoman of The New York Times also complimented his performance, saying "the incongruity between content and form is perfectly tuned, and Mr. Susman benefits from resisting the urge to oversell the joke".[7] David Finkle of TheaterMania.com also said Susman "often scores simply through his feigned stoicism".[8]

In 2013, Susman, along with the Old Jews Telling Jokes cast and The Chew personality Carla Hall appeared at Carnegie Deli to unveil the "OJTJ sandwich", named for the comedy group.[9]

Personal life

In a 1971 news article, Susman mentioned he moved to Los Angeles because a friend told him he could make $500 a week as a writer. Unfortunately, the plan did not go well and he ended up making $60 a week as a writer for American International Pictures.[10]

Susman has one child with his first wife Judy, who is a working actress.[2] He married Bella Kordonov on November 6, 1982; they have three children.[11][4]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	The Discoverers	Dr. Salter
2011	The A Plate	Lt. Stan Carlson
2010	You Don't Know Jack	Stan Levy	TV Movie
2009	The Flying Scissors	Frank Johnson
	The Superagent	Solar	TV Movie
	The Taking of Pelham 123	Supervisor
2006	The Big Bad Swim	Martin Webber
2003	High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story	Max Ungar
1999	Blast from the Past	Butcher
1997	The Guardian	Mickey Cashulin	TV Movie
	Just Write	Priest
1996	The Juror	Bozeman
1995	Bodily Harm	Jerry Roth
	Night of the Running Man	Meyer Weiss
1993	Coneheads	Ron
	Only the Strong	Mr. Cochran
1987	Beverly Hills Cop II	Foreman
1984	I Married a Centerfold	Bill Bodell	TV Movie
	The City Killer	Jerry	TV Movie
1981	The Other Victim	Tim McQuire	TV Movie
	Thornwell	Ketchum	TV Movie
1980	Portrait of an Escort	Ted Quinn	TV Movie
1979	California Dreaming	Jordy Banks
1975	Death Scream	Jimmy Crescent	TV Movie
1973	Little Cigars	Buzz
1972	The Loners	Alan
1971	Star Spangled Girl	Norman Cornell

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	Bull	Judge Mathias Cleary	2 episodes
2013–2014	Alpha House	Saul Watt	4 episodes
	Orange Is the New Black	Harold Bloom	5 episodes
2012	Person of Interest	Henry Brooks	Episode: "'Til Death"
2000	Angel	Magnus Bryce	Episode: "Guise Will Be Guise"
	Futurama	P.A. Announcer (voice)	Episode: "War Is the H-Word"
1997	The Burning Zone	Henry Newland[12]	2 episodes
1995–1997	Coach	Bill	4 episodes
1995–1996	Grace Under Fire	Glen	4 episodes
1995	Step by Step	Howard	Episode: "Midnight Caller"
	The Invaders	Capt. Johnson	2 episodes
1994–1995	Empty Nest	Ben Braxton	6 episodes
1994	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Eugene Laderman	Episode: "The Ides of Metropolis"
1992	Scorch	Jack Fletcher (voice)	6 episodes
1991	The Golden Girls	Detective Spade Marlow	Episode: "The Case of the Libertine Belle"
	Sons and Daughters	Roger	2 episodes
1990	City	Roger Barnett	13 episodes
1989	Have Faith	Arthur Glass	7 episodes
1987	Punky Brewster	Mike Deaton	Episode: "Beer & Buffalos Don't Mix"
1986	Fresno	Sergeant Dobbs	4 episodes
1985–1988	St. Elsewhere	Victor Bevine	4 episodes
1985	Fame	Jim Parker	Episode: "Leroy and the Kid"
	St. Elsewhere	Dr. Westphall's Insightful Moving Man	Episode: "Slice O'Life"
1984–1989	Newhart	Officer Shifflett	20 episodes
1983–1984	Goodnight, Beantown	Augie Kleindab	2 episodes
1982	Star of the Family	Leo Feldman	10 episodes
1981	Little House on the Prairie	Max	Episode: "The Legend of Black Jake"
1979–1980	The Waltons	Ted Lapinsky	3 episodes
1976	Spencer's Pilots	Stan Lewis	11 episodes
1975	The Bob Crane Show	Marvin Susman	14 episodes
1973–1979	M*A*S*H	P.A. System Announcer	46 episodes

Videogames

Year	Title	Role
2010	Red Dead Redemption	The Local Population
2005	Bully	Mr. Gordon
2003	Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne	Mobster, Policeman, Russian
2002	Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix	John Mullins
2001	Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel	Paladin Ziskele
2000	Soldier of Fortune	John Mullins
1997	Dilbert's Desktop Games	Pointy-Haired Boss, Fool Voices

References

1. "Distinguished Alumni". Ladue Education Foundation and Alumni Association. Accessed February 8, 2018.
2. Garmon, M. D. (1978-04-30). "Grits, Gadsen mighty fine, says TV actor Todd Susman". The Gadsden Times. p. 8. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
3. "'Orange Is The New Blacks Todd Susman to Star in 'When Blood Ran Red' at KulturfestNYC". Boradway World. 2015-06-12.
4. "Buddy syndrome". St. Petersburg Times. 1976-09-16. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
5. "Spencer's Pilots' Take Wing". Boca Raton News. 1976-10-01. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
6. Shaw, Jessica (2012-05-25). "Old Jews Telling Jokes Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
7. Zinoman, Jason (2012-05-21). "Such a Tradition of Humor, and This Is Only a Revue?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
8. Finkle, David (2012-05-20). "Old Jews Telling Jokes Review". Theater Mania. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
9. Gordon, David (2013-05-16). "The Chew's Carla Hall Unveils New Old Jews Telling Jokes Carnegie Deli Sandwich". Theater Mania. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
10. Beck, Marilyn (1971-06-10). "Sandy Duncan Not Right for Paramount Lead". Sarasota Journal. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
11. "Success, at last, for actor Susman?". Observer–Reporter. Washington, Pennsylvania. 1990-02-25. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
12. "Cast". TV Guide. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018.

External links

• Todd Susman at IMDb