Arli$$

Background:

Robert Wuhl is an Emmy Award winning actor, comedian, writer, director and TV producer. Starting out in the standup circuit in New York City, the New Jersey native became a comedy writer for Rodney Dangerfield before moving to Los Angeles. He branched out to films with a starring role in “The Hollywood Knights” (1980) but did not enjoy a big breakthrough until seven years later when he was cast as Robin Williams' co-worker on the commercially successful comedy “Good Morning, Vietnam” (1987). He continued to gain critical praise for his performances in such movies as “Bull Durham” (1988), “Batman” (1989), “Mistress” (1992), “The Bodyguard” (1992) and “Cobb” (1994). Wuhl took home Emmy Awards in the early 1990s when he co-wrote the Academy Awards telecast for Billy Crystal, “The 63rd Annual Academy Awards” (1991) and “The 64th Annual Academy Awards” (1992). He was handed a Writer's Guild of America nomination for “Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl” (2006), a one man show on HBO that he starred in, produced and wrote. Wuhl is also known to television audiences for his character on the long running situation comedy “Arli$$” (HBO, 1996-2002), where he also served as the creator, executive producer, and sometimes wrote and directed.

Union Township

Childhood and Family:

Robert Wuhl was born on October 9, 1951, in Union Township, New Jersey. His father worked as a produce distributor.

Robert graduated from Union High School. He needed seven years to complete his BFA in drama at the University of Houston, in Houston, Texas. While at college, he was active in the drama department and the Epsilon-Omicron Chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. His roommate in college in Houston was director/artist Julian Schnabel.

Robert has been married to Barbara Koldys Capelli since 1983.

Good Morning, Vietnam

Career:

After graduating college, Robert Wuhl made his way to New York City to try his hand at standup comedy. He became a member of the comedy group “Bob, Larry and the Frog” before emerging as a solo act. It was while performing at the Improve that he caught the attention of Rodney Dangerfield and was recruited as the comic's joke writer in 1978. The following year, Wuhl headed to Los Angeles to try more opportunities.

In 1980, Wuhl made his feature film acting debut in the comedy “The Hollywood Knights,” which was written and directed by Floyd Mutrux. In the movie, he starred as the gang leader Newbomb Turk. Costars of the film included Tony Danza, Fran Drescher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Stuart Pankin. He then appeared in the surprise hit “Flashdance” (1983), which was helmed by Adrian Lyne and starred Jennifer Beals and Michael Nouri. Unfortunately for Wuhl, his improvised scenes as a standup comedian ended up on the cutting room floor. In between the films, he served as writer and story editor for the short lived ABC sitcom “Police Squad” (1982).

After “Flashdance,” Wuhl had trouble finding acting jobs and decided to return to the standup circuit. In 1985, he appeared on television in “Rockhopper,” a series pilot starring Parker Stevenson. He then directed, wrote and starred in “The Big Bang” (1986), a half hour comedy special that aired on Cinemax, but did not initiate a long term partnership with Billy Crystal until the next year when he co-wrote the Grammy Awards special “The 29th Annual Grammy Awards” (1987), a gig he would repeat for the next two consecutive Grammy telecasts. Also in 1987, Wuhl landed his breakthrough role of Marty Lee Dreiwitz, Adrian Cronauer's colleague, on “Good Morning, Vietnam,” a dramatic comedy that starred Robin Williams and was directed by Barry Levinson and written by Mitch Markowitz. The film grossed $123,922,370 in the U.S., against its budget of $13 million. That same year, he also appeared in the short film “Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall,” guest starred in episodes of “Moonlighting,” “Falcon Crest” and “L.A. Law,” and co-wrote “The Spa Who Loved Me,” an episode of the ABC police comedy spoof series “Sledge Hammer.”

Wuhl's film career gained another boost with his notable portrayal of assistant coach Larry Hockett in Ron Shelton's commercially successful “Bull Durham” (1988), opposite Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Trey Wilson, and as a reporter named Alexander Knox in Tim Burton's “Batman” (1989), starring Michael Keaton. He was then reunited with Ron Shelton for the biographical movie “Blaze” (1989), starring Paul Newman and Lolita Davidovich, appeared with David Bowe, Pauly Shore, Fran Drescher and David Rasche in Daniel Raskov's “Wedding Band” (1990), and co-starred with Eric Idle in the comedy “Missing Pieces” (1991, directed and written by Leonard Stern). He next starred in Barry Primus' “Mistress” (1992), opposite Martin Landau, Eli Wallach, Danny Aiello and Robert De Niro, parodied Chrystal as an Academy Award host in the Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston thriller “The Bodyguard” (1992) and had the supporting role of Victor Giles on the horror movie “Sandman” (1993), which was directed, written by and starred Eric Woster.

Meanwhile, on the small screen, Wuhl played Sid Barrows in a “CBS Summer Playhouse” episode called “Sniff” (1989) and Barker in the episode “Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone” (1989), which aired as part of “Tales from the Crypt.” In 1990, he had his first TV credit as an executive producer with “Robert Wuhl's World Tour,” a HBO comedy special he wrote and starred in. From 1990 to 1993, he co-wrote with Crystal the first of four consecutive Academy Awards telecasts, which were all hosted by Crystal. Wuhl shared Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for “The 63rd Annual Academy Awards” (1991) and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program for “The 64th Annual Academy Awards” (1992). In 1993, he hosted “USO Comedy Tour,” a television special that aired on Comedy Central.

After appearing in the TV films “Percy & Thunder” (1993), “A Kiss Goodnight” (1994) and “The Real Deal” (1995) as well as the films “Blue Chips” (1994), “Cobb” (1994) and “Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde” (1995, starred Sean Young and Tim Daly), Wuhl directed and wrote his first feature film, “Open Season” (1995), a comedy he also starred in. The following year, he created and produced the HBO comedy series “Arli$$,” which ran from August 10, 1996, to September 8, 2002. He also starred in the show as Arliss Michaels, opposite Sandra Oh, Rita Wu, Jim Turner and Michael Boatman. While working on “Arli$$,” Wuhl was cast as Bobby Bantz in the CBS miniseries “The Last Don,” based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo. He went on to reprise the role in “The Last Don II” (1998). On the big screen, he appeared as an angry customer in “Good Burger” (1997), a movie directed by Brian Robbins that starred Kenan Thompson.

In 2006, Wuhl wrote and starred in the one man show “Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl,” which was broadcasted on HBO on April 1, 2006. He was nominated for a 2007 Writers Guild of America in the category of Comedy/Variety - Music, Awards, Tributes - Specials for the show. The follow up, “Assume the Position 201 with Mr. Wuhl,” which he also directed, aired on HBO on July 7, 2007. Wuhl then appeared as Abe in an episode of “Everybody Hates Chris” called “Everybody Hates DJs” (2007) and Bob Binder in “Oral Contracts” (2007), an episode of the David E. Kelley legal drama show “Boston Legal.”

Recently, in 2010, Wuhl completed filming the short film “The Awakening,” where he stars as Mr. McCarthy.

Awards:

• Emmy: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program, “The 64th Annual Academy Awards,” 1992

• Emmy: Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, “The 63rd Annual Academy Awards,” 1991