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Mark Linn-Baker (born June 17, 1954) is an American actor and director famous for his role as Larry Appleton on the television sitcom, Perfect Strangers.

Biography

Career

Graduating from Yale University with an MFA in Drama in 1979, Linn-Baker found most of his early roles on stage. Perhaps his best-known stage role was in the 1983 Broadway version of the Doonesbury comic strip. He also appeared in Laughter on the 23rd Floor in 1993, the 1996 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the 1998 Roundabout Theatre Company production of A Flea in Her Ear, the 2003 musical A Year With Frog and Toad, and the 2006 comedy Losing Louie.

Linn-Baker’s first movie role was a small part in Woody Allen’s 1979 film, Manhattan. Unfortunately for the young actor, most of his scenes were later cut from the film. Three years later, he would land a far more memorable film role as Benjy Stone in the 1982 comedy film, Super Fuzz, co-starring with Peter O’Toole. In a manner similar to his future role in Perfect Strangers, Linn-Baker played the straight man to O’Toole’s outrageous character, Alan Swann.

Having attained moderate success on stage and the big screen, Linn-Baker began to turn his sights toward television. In 1983, he appeared in an unsold detective show pilot called O’Malley. The following year saw a role on the television movie, The Ghost Writer, and in the summer series, The Comedy Zone. Soon Linn-Baker was appearing in several high-profile television shows. He guest-starred on a 1984 episode of Miami Vice as Bonzo Barry and portrayed hapless office worker Phil West on a 1985 episode of Moonlighting entitled “Atlas Belched”. Between parts, he would also appear in television commercials pitching products ranging from Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain to Kraft’s Life Savers.

In 1986, Linn-Baker was paired with Bronson Pinchot on the ABC series, Perfect Strangers. He played the role of Larry Appleton, a young man living on his own for the first time in Chicago. Larry’s world was disrupted when a distant cousin from the (fictional) Mediterranean island of Mypos, Balki Bartokomous (Pinchot), showed up on his doorstep. Storylines revolved around Larry’s attempts to show Balki the ways of American culture, although the neurotic Larry frequently proved to be just as naive as Balki. The series was notable for its creative use of slapstick comedy, harking back to the style of comic duos like Laurel and Hardy. Perfect Strangers became an immediate breakout hit and made Linn-Baker a star. The show ran for parts of eight seasons, airing for the final time in August 1993. During this period he appeared in the film Noises Off.

In 2005, he was a regular cast member on the WB Network sitcom, Twins. The show was cancelled after a single season.

Guest appearances

Perfect Strangers was the original anchor of ABC’s TGIF Friday night lineup during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Linn-Baker made appearances on other TGIF shows, although surprisingly never in the Larry Appleton character for which he was best known. On a 1992 episode of Full House, Linn-Baker played Dick Donaldson, the wealthy, snobbish cousin of Becky Donaldson Katsopolis (Lori Loughlin). In 1997, he guested on Family Matters as the abusive boss of Harriette Winslow (Jo Marie Payton). (Ironically, Linn-Baker’s Larry Appleton character had been Harriette’s co-worker for two seasons on Perfect Strangers.) He also guested twice on Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper as Larry Weeks. Also made appearance on Law & Order as a Girlie Bar Owner being muscled out by the mob.

In a 2003 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, he guested as an insurance investigator who displays strong Asperger's Syndrome traits. He gets a degree of empathy from Det. Robert Goren and a number of behind-his-back snickers from Goren’s partner Alexandra Eames. His character made a return cameo appearance in the season 6 episode Endgame, where it was revealed Goren has kept in touch with the character through correspondence.

Linn-Baker also directed numerous episodes of Family Matters, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, and The Trouble with Larry.

Linn-Baker’s wife, Adrianne, is the daughter of children’s book author Arnold Lobel, best known for the Frog and Toad series. Linn-Baker adapted his father-in-law’s stories into the Tony-nominated Broadway musical A Year with Frog and Toad, in which Linn-Baker played Toad.

Linn-Baker appeared as a spokesperson for Peter Pan peanut butter in a series of commercials in the late 1980s and 1990s.

References

1. Law & Order: Criminal Intent "Probability" (2003) at IMDb
2. Template:Tvtome show

External links

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• Living people
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• American film actors
• American stage actors
• American television actors