time, although of course that by no means guaranties success. People often ask if we knew how good it was at the time, well although others have said not I know some of us did. Id killed every Gdamned thing in America, including nuns and babies. Marinaro: When I went on to do shows like Dynasty and Falcon Crest, it was kind of lightweight stuff. room, heart of gold.". have to say things like "Goldblume would never do that" I think all of us contributed to expanding our characters to some degree and of This is my cast. At least he got a happy ending, running away to New Zealand with a female officer, Natalie (Ellen Blake), and enjoying retirement with the love of his life. The tune became a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1981, earned a pair of Grammys, and is part of a body of work that inspired Pete Townsend to write the song "Mike Post Theme" for The Who's 2006 album "Endless Wire.". Buntz was fired from the PD and moved to Beverly Hills to become a private eye in the short-lived "Blues" spinoff "Beverly Hills Buntz," a comedy created by David Milch and Jeffrey Lewis. This article about an American television actor born in the 1930s is a stub. He was at MTM to audition for a movie about male strippers. While critics liked the series, its ratings were abysmal, and renewal was in doubt. WebA ground-breaking police drama that was an immediate critical success because of its realistic and gritty portrayal of life in an urban judicial system. WebIt was eventually a bitter battle with lung cancer which finally took his life. Brett Martins assessment in his 2013 book Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution was that Hill Street pioneered the second of televisions three dramatic eras. 17. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. His initial appearance is an inside joke, meant to trick the audience into believing the cast of the series had been replaced with all-new actors only to reveal that these "new" characters are just the never-before-seen cops of the night shift. Robert Hirschfeld playedLeo Schnitz in the pilot episode of "Hill Street Blues"and recurred across the first five seasons, making his final appearance in the fifth season finale, "Grin and Bear It." LaRue on the former NBC And everybody started crying. be partners with "Washington". Haid: We would come up with every euphemism for masturbation we could come up with. "Sons of Anarchy" creator Kurt Sutter, "Game of Thrones" co-creator David Benioff, and former "Walking Dead" showrunner Glen Mazzara are among the TV creatives who cite "Hill Street Blues" as hugely influential on their careers, with Benioff telling The Atlantic that "'Hill Street Blues' changed everything. Like his character, Martin was a recovering alcoholic and a lifelong chain-smoker, the latter of which surely contributed to his ill health. I said, thats perfect. WebActor Kiel Martin, who played shady detective Johnny J.D. LaRue on the former television series Hill Street Blues, has died at his desert home. They had done 13 episodes, and they got an order for four more, and the character of Joe Coffey was in those In comparison to Esterhaus, Jablonski is more bitter and cantankerous than his counterpart. That's one dangerously sexy redhead, indeed. Travanti's Furillo and Veronica Hamel's public defender Joyce Davenport formed the series' signature couple she called him "Pizza Man," because he "delivered" but Bochco and company had planned another romance for "HSB": Lucy Bates and Ed Marinaro's Joe Coffey. That made it a lot more fun to play as actors, to portray that rather than try to be perfect, heroic, always getting your man, and always making the right decisions and having the perfect life.". The lanky actor was a veteran of dozens of shows and movies but largely unknown until he landed the role of Esterhaus, the stations duty sergeant, who ended each episodes introductory roll call with the phrase, Lets be careful out there.. His final film, 1989's "UHF," is dedicated to his memory. The show lasted just 13 episodes (only nine aired) on NBC during the 1987-88 season, but Franz and Milch would be reunited on "NYPD Blue," for which Franz earned four Lead Actor Emmys. RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. -- Kiel Martin, 46, the actor who played shady detective Johnny "J.D." LaRue on the former NBC television series "Hill Street Blues," died Dec. 28 at his desert home here. He had lung cancer. Travanti: They said I was the first guy they called in. ", "Cops responded so well to the show because we didn't portray them as superheroes. When an underage sex worker is found murdered, suspicion turns to a city councilman and the cop, Lieutenant Emil Schneider, who seems to be protecting the politician. It showed a generation of writers how ambitious television drama could be.". Here is Hill Streets story. Silva's character,Jesus Martinez, starts out as a gang member before "officially" reforming and embarking on a new career in the legal field. Mike Kozoll and I had real conflicts with each other that were not pleasant. WebLate in Season 4, LaRue (Kiel Martin) simply disappears for about four episodes, with one reference to him being sick and then it being "mono, so expect him to be out for a few I had a very what I would consider normal life under the circumstances after the first year. WebHe dabbled in film, beginning with a lawyer role in Rocky IIbut after his Hill Street Bluessuccess, he landed a lead role alongside BJ himself, Greg Evigan, in the 1989 sci-fi My first sort of big break was on Laverne and Shirley where I did 13 episodes of that show, and then when they didnt pick up my contract, HSB.net:Was there an indication for those of you on the inside that the series was going to be such a success If you thought one person in the world ever was not going to die, it was Michael Conrad. LaRue. 4. Actor Pat Corley only appeared in five episodes of "Hill Street Blues" in its third season, but he proved popular enough to make a final guest appearance in Season 6. LaRue, a skilled undercover detective who cuts a little too loose when he's off duty. For Season 5, he was promoted to a series regular, though the character was written out of the series in that Season finale. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. God bless him. One can only imagine what he could have achieved had he not been killed in such a senseless accident. Haid: Thats why it said (in the credits), Charles Haid as Renko.. When it premiered on NBC in January 1981, Hill Street was unlike anything else on American television. Hunter was often the shows comic relief. And when the writers made his exit permanent Coffey was shot and killed on duty in "Larry of Arabia" Marinaro hosted a "Watch Joe Coffey Die Party," attended by co-stars Sikking, Thomas, and Weitz, as well as his old NFL pal Joe Namath. Joe: Much of the same I guess. Thomas, who won an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series statue in 1985, went on to direct the HBO comedy "Dream On" and the network's classic adaptation of "The Late Shift," the book about the David Letterman/Jay Leno "Tonight Show" battle, as well as "The Brady Bunch Movie" and Howard Stern's autobiographical "Private Parts. "We were the lowest-rated drama in the history of television ever to get a second season," the Emmy-nominated Sikking says. He's a figure of authority respected by all for his fairness, though he doesn't receive much characterization beyond his day-to-day role overseeing arraignments. "If NBC had been flush, I don't think we would have seen the light of day. Ed Marinaro, a former football player whod had a short run on Laverne & Shirley, wasnt planning on Hill Street at all. But Haid was a busy man with a recent role in the film Altered States and a medical pilot in the works. About The Theme Music:When I was asked to come up with the music for the series I went to the Studio and watched The producers would frequently butt heads with the network over the course of Hill Streets run. Joe Spano told Playboy he originally read for Renko but ended up as Goldblume, the community relations officer. Factory. 7. art. But if you see the episodes, you see how much fun we were having. stage at Berekely Rep and Magic Theater in the Bay Area. That's where the coroner comes in. "Let's be careful out there." You still have to do the work. By the mid-80s, the show was an established hit. On Hill Street, Sikking played Howard Hunter, the martinet head of the stations SWAT-like squad, the Emergency Action Team. What happened was (Bochco) couldnt come up with a title, and theyd just done something at Cape Canaveral, and he said, Well call this Moon Over Uranus. And he sent it in and Standards and Practices called up, No, no, no., Steven said, Why do I have to change the title? Late in Season 4, LaRue (Kiel Martin) simply disappears for about four episodes, with one reference to him being sick and then it being "mono, so expect him to be out for a few weeks." Consequently, we have always had Lucy show a very strong feeling that she had to be better, tougher, stronger in those arenas than anybody else to maintain her credibility as a police officer. The portrayal of law enforcement people was so different," says Marinaro, who's in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a movie sequel to his Spike TV comedy "Blue Mountain State. He just couldnt stand it. 22. really would like to talk to a few more of the cast, if you can help there? Kiel Martin was born on July 26, 1944 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA as Kiel Urban Mueller. He was an actor, known for The Panic in Needle Park (1971), Hill Street Blues (1981) and Moonrunners (1975). He was married to Joanne Marie Lapomarda, Christina Montoya and Claudia Martin. He died on December 28, 1990 in Rancho Mirage, California, USA. which led him to almost being kicked off the force. Not that the actors didnt contribute in certain ways. While he had appeared in many TV movies in the 1970s and 1980s, "Hill Street Blues"marked Prosky's first and only regular television role. Haid: We collectively made a decision that it was seven (seasons) and out. ", 20. Bochco: My attitude was, call me what you will, but I know that Ive got a great project here. I remember one day, he just stopped. Then he knew and he said to everybody. What happened to Martin in these weeks? "Hill Street Blues" went on to win 26 Emmys, a record for a drama series until "The West Wing" broke it. He is best remembered for his role as Lt. Ray Calletano in the long-running television series Hill Street Blues (19811987).[2][3]. He even gets the last line in the entire series, answering the phone and saying, "Hill Street." So they said, Why dont you try this character here, this guy Renko. He gets killed in the first episode. The way he was described in the pilot, he couldnt defuse a roll of kosher toilet paper. dramatic sort of down and dirty, but then Hoblit said he wanted something to go with an idea he had in his head, for a opening garage "Oh, people hated us, because we had 24 people or so with mates or dates it was a group of probably 50 of us: cast, crew, and everything in that place," James B. Sikking, who played SWAT team commander Howard Hunter, tells Yahoo TV of the 1981 Emmy ceremony. Marinaro: My agent said he wanted to set up a meeting for me to say hello to the casting director on Hill Street Blues, Geri Windsor. His character has a notable arc during the series, beginning as a glorified extra in the pilot and a minor character for the first two seasons before getting his own storylines in Season 3 and beyond. Bochco: On our scripts, we had double columns of dialogue, cause we scripted everything in the background. Milch, meanwhile, would later use one actor Garret Dillahunt to play two different characters on "Deadwood. When I started, I was supposed to be doing a guest spot a four-episode arc The hardest part to cast was the police captain, Francis X. Aaron Spelling launched a similar series, "Hotel," in 1983. Repeat after me: Good. And the building's exterior once again stands in as a TV series police station on Dick Wolf's "Chicago PD.". He could twist arms and pat backs. Sergeant Belker (Bruce Weitz) takes the opportunity to go undercover and dismantle their extortion and gambling racket that turns out to be much more ruthless and violent than expected. instrumental in saving Kiel's job and getting him into Betty Ford for rehab. Though the show was filmed in California, the Maxwell Street Police Station in Chicago was used as the exterior of the precinct in the closing credits. Mick Belker, was a college friend of Bochco's. The show followed with a special episode in which the group said goodbye to the character and Conrad. was just incredible! and displaying his wares, just as he'd done on "Hill Street Blues.". started a whole new career as a writer, writing about 30 books for kids and young adults mystery and science fiction, mainly! commission for Hill Street he said he could get me a part in it. 24. Robert Hill. A fine example of their dynamic can be seen in Season 7's "A Pound of Flesh" and the heartbreaking final scene between the two characters, where an emotionally spent LaRue cries in his partner's arms. Daniel J. Travanti, who ended up with the part, had played mostly bad guys. He was capable of being tough but also calmly diplomatic. And Hunter says, 'You mean like that colored entertainer?' this super tough guy on the outside I visualized him as lonely and hurt on the inside and fortunately for us, the writer had the same Spano: I wasnt the Goldblume type. Without question the high point of my professional life. Haid: Steven took me in his office and he said you can do what you want BEFORE, you can do what you want AFTER, but get all these lines. It was clearly something very different to other programs of the Then he had to deal with it. Martin, 46, a regular performer on But sobriety is the keystone of who I am now.". It just changed the rules of TV. If you think its boring watching them, you ought to try directing them. LaRue, a self-styled ladies' man, on "Hill Street Blues." Tragically, his life and career were cut short when his car was struck by a drunk driver. completed working on a television pilot (Home Free) that I helped create and produce in 1988 for NBC. In one episode, Belker was undercover at a butcher shop. He remained in the lead credits, appears in the season finale and of course continued to the end of the show. Crime Drama Mystery Furillo breaks the news of Esterhaus's death. 4:56 PM EDT, Thu May 1, 2014, vault vargas sopranos legacy gandolfini_00000128.jpg, who wrote a book tracing Hill Streets influence, 1983 Playboy interview with Bochco and the cast. Rather than be one of 13 other actors who were out on the street after the show was canceled, I wanted to be the first one. 2. The only way to service multiple storylines was to let them spill over into subsequent episodes. Weitz: Its not real. Yet somehow out of this intense focus and energy and conflict and whatever, this show emerged, because I think all of us were at a moment in our lives where were all sort of an age where none of us had any significant success but all of us had had a lot of experience. something special. Haid: The goodbye to Esterhaus was one of the most brilliant moments in television. He was 91 years old (via The Hollywood Reporter). And when he picked us, he sent me a copy of the NBC press release and he hand-scrawled across it: Youre going to sweep the Emmys and go on to become a great hit Fred. Thats exactly what happened. Haid: Steven said, Im doing a show over at MTM. His best known work was as a regular in "Murphy Brown,"starring Candice Bergen. But I was always disappointed that I didnt end up playing Renko. Michael Warren was regular and I think Keil Martin, Taurean Blacque, Michael Conrad and James Sikking along with It took us a year or so to clean all that stuff up. She does the exact same thing. More than two dozen Emmys, an iconic theme song, a writing staff that would go on to create many other TV hits, and innovative storytelling techniques a large cast, overlapping dialogue, a focus on the characters' personal and work lives, an un-saccharine portrayal of those flawed characters are among "Hill Street Blues'" TV-land legacies. Its the most well-intentioned exploitation imaginable. After the war, he became an actor and appeared in dozens of films and television shows, frequently playing lawmen. HSB.net: She is an incredible lady who has a great enthusiasm for helping the website, but of course you must have The writers, too, were experts at getting material past the censors. on to a desolate inner city street, with a police car speeding out of it! You know yourself if it seemed right, but your fellow actors are also working on their part and unless it is a very special In particular, his interactions with his partner, Detective Neal Washington (Taurean Blacque) see the two characters bring out the best in one another in a believable and realistic way. After he loses control of his precinct, he resigns from the police, though he does start a new career educating the cops in Spanish, hopefully bolstering race relations between the cops and the city's Latino community. I worked in downtown Miami for 25 years and Kiel's dad Karl was a court recorder and would stop It not so ready to remember their time doing it. And (the network) said OK. Now were stuck with it. Many of us who were in the series, heard of the initial additions Robert Prosky died in 2008 following complications from heart surgery. As the show grew over the course of its seven-season run, the characters grew and changed, and their flaws would frequently catch up to them, leading to their untimely, tragic, and avoidable deaths. But ask about career high points, and Hill Street Blues is tops on the list. Unlike his character, Enrquez was born in Nicaragua, not Colombia. The Emmy wins gave the show new attention though it already had the support of NBCs most important decision maker. Michael and I agreed that we would do it on one condition: Well do this pilot for you on the condition that youll leave us completely alone to do whatever we want. I thought I'd give it to Furillo; then I thought, 'No, he's too stoic. Co-star Daniel J. Travanti reminisced that, during his time on Hill Street Blues, Enrquez was "sad, unhappy Hunter was often the shows Cast members Charles Haid, Ed Marinaro, James B. Sikking and Bruce Weitz spoke with CNN on the phone. He'd just live with it What power! He appeared in leading roles in war movies, noir films, and gangster flicks alike. It was happy, it was sad, it was crazy, it was mean it was nuts. Robert Prosky replaced Conrad. Actor Lee Weaver played a homeless flasher referred to as "Buck Naked" on "HSB," and that character, played by Weaver, showed up on "Blue," where he was prone to screaming "I'm Buck Naked!" Haid: I dont want to comment on anybodys stuff, because back in those days, there was that stuff going on. Belker puts the chicken away, picks up another chicken. The character retires during Season 7 but still appears throughout the final season, supporting his old colleagues as a friend and confidant. The cremation canister was given to the stationhouse and everybody went by and shook it and did things like that. ", 15. In Season 5, actor Robert Prosky was brought in to play Sgt. Haid: Michael Conrad talk about old school. Among the future stars who made "Hill Street Blues" guest appearances: Don Cheadle, James Cromwell, Forest Whitaker, CCH Pounder, Chris Noth, Laurence Fishburne, Tim Robbins, Andy Garcia, Edward James Olmos, Cuba Gooding Jr., Danny Glover, "Terminator" parents Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn, Frances McDormand, Alfre Woodard, and a pre-Kramer Michael Richards. Every once in a while, a TV series comes along that shakes things up, completely shattering the status quo and replacing it with something new. When Steven ran into Sammy, he told him about it, and there was a moment when we both thought he wasn't going to think it was funny. For the record, the actual titles were Moon Over Uranus, Moon Over Uranus: The Sequel, and Moon Over Uranus: The Final Legacy. They all aired consecutively in Season 3. His final onscreen appearance was in a 1990 episode of "Murder, She Wrote.". Season 7 but still appears throughout the final season, '' starring Candice Bergen 22. would... Street was unlike anything else on American television Emergency Action Team done why did kiel martin leave hill street blues `` Deadwood,!, supporting his old colleagues as a writer, writing about 30 books for and! From heart surgery have seen the light of day while critics liked the series, answering the phone saying! Character here, this guy Renko to Furillo ; Then I thought 'No! Hill Street he said he could get me a part in it his. Led him to almost being kicked off the force and Hill Street Blues. Street Blues has... Webactor Kiel Martin, 46, the martinet head of the most brilliant moments in television and... In to play Sgt Johnny J.D. cuts a little too loose when he 's off.... Is the keystone of who I am now. ``, but I was always disappointed that I helped and! Off duty the group said goodbye why did kiel martin leave hill street blues the character retires during season but! Decision maker puts the chicken away, picks up another chicken weba ground-breaking police that. Lung cancer which finally took his life and career were cut short when his car struck. Could be. `` which the group said goodbye to the stationhouse and everybody started crying ``,! Noir films, and renewal was in doubt a friend and confidant spill over into subsequent episodes as...., 1944 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA as Kiel urban Mueller a self-styled ladies ' man on. `` Chicago PD. `` played mostly bad guys storylines was to let them spill over into subsequent episodes,! 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