Barry Bostwick

Barry Knapp Bostwick (born February 24, 1945) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and Mayor Randall Winston in the sitcom Spin City (1996–2002). Bostwick has also had considerable success in musical theatre, winning a Tony Award for his role in The Robber Bridegroom and performing the role of Danny Zuko in the original Broadway production of Grease.

Barry Bostwick
Bostwick in 2025
Born	Barry Knapp Bostwick (1945-02-24) February 24, 1945 (age 80) San Mateo, California, U.S.
Education	United States International University (BA) New York University (MFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1967–present
Spouses	Stacey Nelkin ​ ​ (m. 1987; div. 1991)​ Sherri Jensen ​ (m. 1993)​
Children	2

Early life, family and education

Bostwick was born February 24, 1945, in San Mateo, California.^[1] He is the son of Elizabeth "Betty" (née Defendorf), a housewife, and Henry "Bud" Bostwick, a city planner and actor.^[2] Barry's only sibling, older brother Henry "Pete" Bostwick, died at age 32 in a car accident on July 20, 1973.^[3]

Bostwick attended San Diego's United States International University in 1967, majoring in acting, got his start on the Hillbarn Theatre stage now located in Foster City, and worked for a time as a circus performer. He also attended NYU's Graduate Acting Program, graduating in 1968.^[4]

Career

Bostwick was a member of First National Nothing, who released one album, 1970's If You Sit Real Still and Hold My Hand, You Will Hear Absolutely Nothing. The album describes them as "A rock-theater commune made up of musicians, actors, dancers, singers, designers, writers, composers, and friends that started a long, long time ago as a lost tribe in California and has ended up as a theatrical performing company in New York City."

In 1970, Bostwick was a member of a pop band called The Klowns, assembled and promoted by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, whose members performed wearing stylized clown makeup and costumes.^[5][6] Their sole album, released in 1970, was produced by Jeff Barry, and generated a minor Billboard hit single, "Lady Love."^[7][8]

Bostwick replaced C.C. Courtney in the musical Salvation. His next stage appearance was in the 1971 rock opera Soon, which closed after three performances. In 1972, Bostwick originated the role of bad boy Danny Zuko in the stage production of Grease, earning a Tony Award nomination for his performance. This was followed by a voice role as Terr in the English-dubbed version of Fantastic Planet in 1973. He starred with Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), portraying Brad Majors. He won a Tony Award for his performance in the 1977 musical The Robber Bridegroom. In 1981, Bostwick starred in the TV series adaptation of the 1978 film Foul Play, with his role modeled after Chevy Chase's. The following year, he starred in Megaforce.

Bostwick starred, along with Carl Weintraub, as Rick Armstrong in the short-lived ABC sitcom Dads during the 1986–87 season. From 1996 to 2002, Bostwick portrayed Randall Winston, the mayor of New York City in the sitcom Spin City opposite Michael J. Fox and his successor, Charlie Sheen. In 2006, Bostwick replaced Peter Scolari as Mr. Tyler, the father of Amanda Bynes's and Jennie Garth's lead characters, on What I Like About You.^[9]

Bostwick had a recurring role between 2004 and 2007 on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He has also had leading roles in various mini-series, including George Washington, its sequel George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation, Scruples, A Woman of Substance, War and Remembrance, and Till We Meet Again.

Bostwick served as host of the nationally televised annual Capitol Fourth celebration on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for eight years. Bostwick was also seen in a Pepsi Twist commercial. In the Cold Case episode "Creatures of the Night," in which he is the main suspect, the theme of the episode revolves around The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is among his best-known performances to date.

In 2003, Bostwick appeared on Scrubs as a patient diagnosed with prostate cancer, a disease Bostwick had in real life. In 2008, he appeared in an episode of TV series Ugly Betty as an attorney to the Meade family. In 2007, Bostwick gained a recurring role, as Grandpa Clyde Flynn on the animated television series, Phineas and Ferb. Bostwick is also the spokesperson for Optimum Voice.^[10] In June 2009, he played Father Jimmy, the ineffective exorcist, in the independent horror comedy The Selling, written by Gabriel Diani and directed by Emily Lou.

Other television credits include guest appearances in Charlie's Angels, Hawaii Five-O, The Golden Palace, Grace Under Fire, and Las Vegas.

Bostwick was supposed to appear on the third season of Private Practice as "the Captain," a father of the Addison Montgomery character, but had to resign due to a scheduling conflict.^[11] In 2011, Bostwick portrayed a small-town sheriff in the John Landis–produced thriller Some Guy Who Kills People^[12]

Bostwick at the premiere for Earth in 2009

In October 2010, Bostwick briefly appeared in the Rocky Horror-themed Glee episode.^[13]

From 2010 to 2014, Bostwick had a recurring role as Roger Frank on the sitcom Cougar Town which starred Courteney Cox. In season three of the show, we learn that Bostwick's character has become mayor of the town the comedy is set in, Gulf Haven. In 2015, he portrayed Collin Winthrop, father of the Gig Harbor Killer, in the season-ending CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "The End Game."^[14] He has also had a return to cult musical horror films in the form of Terrance Zdunich's Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival, which is a sequel to the 2012 short film The Devil's Carnival, of which he was not previously a cast member, being a newcomer to the franchise. He starred in Darren Lynn Bousman's segment of the anthology film Tales of Halloween, which was his second time acting under Bousman after Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival,^[15] and appeared in the comedy horror film Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves.^[16]

In 2020, Bostwick executive produced and starred in the short film Molly Robber as Ron Baker,^[17] which won an Audience Award at the 2020 Austin Film Festival^[18] and was an official selection at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.^[19]

Personal life

Bostwick married Stacey Nelkin in 1987, and they were divorced in 1991. He married his second wife Sherri Ellen Jensen in 1993; they have two children.^[20]

In 1997, Bostwick was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and had his prostate removed in July of that year.^[21] In 2004, he won the Gilda Radner Courage Award from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.^[22]

Select filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Reference(s)
1971	Jennifer on My Mind	Minstrel #1		[23]
1973	Fantastic Planet	Narrator	Voice	[23]
1974	Road Movie	Hank
1975	The Wrong Damn Film	Alex Rounder		[24][25]
	The Rocky Horror Picture Show	Brad Majors		[23][25]
1978	Movie Movie	Johnny Danko / Dick Cummings		[25]
1982	Megaforce	Commander Ace Hunter		[23][25]
1990	The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible	Joseph	Voice, episode: "Joseph and His Brothers"	[26]
1993	Eight Hundred Leagues Down the Amazon	Garral
	Weekend at Bernie's II	Arthur Hummel		[23][25]
1994	In the Heat of Passion II: Unfaithful	Phillip		[23][25]
1995	Project: Metalbeast	Miller	Direct-to-video	[23][25]
1996	The Secret Agent Club	Vincent Scarletti		[23][25]
	Spy Hard	Norm Coleman		[23][25]
2003	101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure	Thunderbolt	Voice, direct-to-video	[23][26]
	Swing	Freddie		[23][25]
2004	The Skulls III	Nathan Lloyd		[23][25]
	Chestnut: Hero of Central Park	Thomas Trundle		[23][25]
2007	Nancy Drew	Dashiel Zachary Biedermeyer		[23][25]
	Evening	Mr. Wittenborn		[23][25]
2009	Hannah Montana: The Movie	Mr. Bradley		[23][25][27]
2010	Miss Nobody	Father Grisham		[25]
	Bedrooms	Roger		[23][25]
	Moby Dick	Captain Ahab		[23]
	It's a Dog Gone Tale: Destiny's Stand	Arlen Hanley
2011	The Selling	Father Jimmy
2012	Some Guy Who Kills People	Sheriff Walt Fuller		[23][25]
	FDR: American Badass!	Franklin D. Roosevelt		[23][25]
2013	Finding Joy	Alan		[23]
2015	Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival	The Watchword		[23]
	The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power	Sorrell Raskov		[23][25]
	Home Run Showdown	Big Al		[23]
2016	The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave	Grandpa Longneck	Voice, direct-to-video	[23][25][26][28]
	Range 15	President
	Three Days in August	John		[23][25]
2017	A Mermaid's Tale	Art	Direct-to-video	[23]
2018	Incredibles 2	Mayor of New Urbem	Voice	[23][25][26][29]
	Santa Girl	Santa Claus		[23]
2019	Grand-Daddy Day Care	Dynamite Dan North		[23]
	3 from Hell	Narrator
	Undercover Brother 2	The Man		[23]
2020	American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules	PeePaw		[23]
	Molly Robber	Ron Baker	Short film
2021	Single All the Way	Harold		[23][30]
2022	In Search of Tomorrow	Himself	Documentary film
2023	Outlaw Johnny Black	Tom Sheally		[23]
2025	Love, Danielle	Bryce

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Reference(s)
1978	Charlie's Angels	Ted Machlin	Episode: "The Jade Trap"	[23]
1979	Murder by Natural Causes	Gil Weston	Television film	[23][25]
	You Can't Take It With You	Anthony Kirby Jr.		[23][25]
	Hawaii Five-O	Lucas Sandover	Episode: "Year of the Horse"	[23]
1980	Scruples	Spider Elliot	Television miniseries	[23][25]
1981	Red Flag: The Ultimate Game	Maj. Jay Rivers	Television film	[23][25]
1982	Working	Steelworker	American Playhouse production	[23][25]
1983	Summer Girl	Gavin Shelburne	Television film	[23][25]
	An Uncommon Love	Mr. Kinser		[23][25]
1984	Saturday Night Live	Host	May 5, 1984	[23][25]
	George Washington	George Washington	Television miniseries	[23][25]
1985	A Woman of Substance	Major Paul McGill		[23][25]
	Deceptions	Grant Roberts	Television film	[23][25]
1986	George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation	George Washington		[23][25]
	Betrayed By Innocence	Nick DeLeon		[23][25]
1987	I'll Take Manhattan	Zachary Amberville	Television miniseries	[23][25]
1988	War and Remembrance	Lieutenant Carter "Lady" Aster		[23][25]
	Body of Evidence	Mark Dwyer	Television film	[23][25]
	Addicted to His Love	Larry Hogan		[23][25]
1989	Till We Meet Again	Terrence 'Mac' McGuire	Television miniseries	[23][25]
	Parent Trap III	Jeffrey Wyatt	Television film	[23][25]
	Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon	Jeffrey Wyatt		[23][25]
1990	Aladdin	Genie of the Lamp / Genie of the Ring		[23]
	Challenger	Comm. Francis R. Scobee		[23][25]
	The Great Air Race	Roscoe Turner	Television miniseries
1992	The Golden Palace	Nick DiCarlo	Episode: "Just a Gigolo"
1993	The Last U-Boat	Captain Hawkins	Television film
	Between Love and Hate	Justin Conrad		[23][25]
	Praying Mantis	Don McAndrews		[23][25]
1994	Once in a Lifetime	Dr. Matthew Dane		[23][25]
1995	The Secretary	Eric Bradford		[23][25]
	The Return of Hunter	Matt Sherry		[23][25]
	Grace Under Fire	Professor Jack Drayson	Episode: "Mother & Son & Father Reunion"	[23]
	High Society	Mark Finnegan	Episode: "Finnigan's Rainbow"
	919 Fifth Avenue	Mr. Lawrence Van Degen	Television film	[23]
1996–2002	Spin City	Mayor Randall Winston	Main role, 144 episodes	[23]
1996	A Different Kind of Christmas	Frank Mallory	Television film	[23][25]
1997	Lexx	Thodin	Episode: "I Worship His Shadow"	[23]
1998	One Hot Summer Night	Art Brooks	Television film	[23][25]
	The New Batman Adventures	Irv Kleinman	Voice, episode: "Mean Seasons"	[26]
1999	Behind the Music	Himself	Episode: "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"
2003	Scrubs	Mr. Randolph	Episode: "My Dirty Secret"	[23]
2004–2007	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Oliver Gates	Recurring role, 5 episodes	[23]
2005	Las Vegas	Martin	Episode: "Down and Dirty"
	Cold Case	Roy Brigham Anthony	Episode: "Creatures of the Night"	[23]
2005–2006	What I Like About You	Jack Tyler	2 episodes	[23]
2007–2012	Phineas and Ferb	Grandpa Clyde Flynn	Voice, 8 episodes	[23][26]
2007	Ugly Betty	Roger Adams	2 episodes	[23]
	Love is a Four Letter Word	Mr. Harper	Television film	[23][25][31]
2008	Depth Charge	President Taylor		[23][25]
	Holiday Baggage	Pete Murphy		[23][25]
2009	Nip/Tuck	Roger Payne	Episode: "Don Hoberman"	[23]
	Supernatural	The Amazing Jay	Episode: "Criss Angel is a Douchebag"	[23]
	Ghost Whisperer	Don Sullivan	Episode: "Till Death Do Us Start"	[23]
2009–2010	'Til Death	George Von Stuessen	2 episodes	[23]
2010–2014	Cougar Town	Roger Frank	Recurring role (seasons 1–3), 8 episodes	[23]
2010	Glee	Tim Stanwick	Episode: "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" (cameo)	[23]
	Secrets of the Mountain	Henry Beecham	Television film	[23][25]
2012	Hot in Cleveland	Hugh	Episode: "What's Behind the Door"	[23]
	The New Normal	Marty Sawyer	Episode: "Pardon Me"	[23]
2013	Blast Vegas	Sal	Television film	[23][25]
	Teen Beach Movie	Big Poppa		[23]
	Masters of Sex	Morris	Episode: "Brave New World"	[23]
	Scandal	Fitzgerald "Jerry" Grant II	2 episodes
	The Haunting Of	Himself	Episode: "The Haunting of Barry Bostwick"	[23]
	Psych	Roland Armitage	Episode: "Psych: The Musical"	[23]
2014	Enlisted	Russell	Episode: "Vets"	[23]
	Franklin & Bash	Jacob "Falcon" Riley	Episode: "Falcon's Nest"	[23]
	New Girl	Robert	Episode: "LAXmas"	[23]
2015	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Collin Winthrop	Episode: "The End Game"	[23]
	The Haunted Hathaways	Council Member #1	Episode: "Haunted Family"
	Gigi Does It		Episode: "Love Thyself"
2016	American Dad!	VanDouzen	Voice, episode: "The Life Aquatic with Steve Smith"
	Childrens Hospital	Grandpa Richie	Episode: "Grandparents Day"
2016–2017	Still the King	Coy Phisher	Recurring role, 9 episodes
2016–2018	Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce	George McCarthy	Recurring role, 6 episodes	[23]
2017	The Great Indoors	Mather	Episode: "The Explorers' Club"	[23]
2017–2018	Milo Murphy's Law	Clyde Rickenbacker	Voice, 2 episodes
2017	American Housewife	Thomas Otto	Episode: "Family Secrets"	[23][32]
	Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again	Bill Haywith	Television film
	Tangled: The Series	Doctor St. Croix	Voice, episode: "Great Expotations"	[26]
	Christmas in Mississippi	Mr. Kriss	Television film (Lifetime)	[23][25]
2018	Will & Grace	Professor Jerry Wise	Episode: "Three Wise Men"
	Signed, Sealed, Delivered: To the Altar	Bill Haywith	Television film	[23]
2019	Christmas in Louisiana	Timothy Winter	Television film (Lifetime)	[23]
	The Goldbergs	Professor Majors	Episode: "A 100% True Ghost Story"	[23]
2021	Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.	Will	Episode: "Aloha - The Hello One"	[23]

Stage productions

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Cock-A-Doodle-Dandy	Porter, The Cock	Broadway debut
1969	Hamlet	Ghost, Osric, Player
1970	House of Leather	Donny Brook	Closed after one night
1971	Soon	Kelly
1972	Grease	Danny Zuko	Nominated – Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
1976	They Knew What They Wanted	Joe	Nominated – Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
1977	The Robber Bridegroom	Jamie Lockhart	Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
1981	The Pirates of Penzance	The Pirate King
1991	Nick & Nora	Nick Charles	opposite Joanna Gleason
2014	Camelot	Merlin

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Reference(s)
2018	Lego The Incredibles	Mayor	Voice role	[26]
2022	Need for Speed Unbound	Holden Parker III	Voice role

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Research.	Dr. Rust	[33]
2015	Murder?	Barry Bostwick	[34]
2015–2016	Inside the Extras Studio	Milt Hamilton	20 episodes
2018	The World According to Billy Potwin	Grandpa Davis	1 episode
2020	The Rocky Horror Show: Musical Livestream	Brad Majors	[35]

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1972	Tony Awards	Best Actor in a Musical	Grease	Nominated
1976	Tony Awards	Best Featured Actor in a Play	They Knew What They Wanted	Nominated
1977	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Musical	The Robber Bridegroom	Nominated
	Tony Awards	Best Actor in a Musical	The Robber Bridegroom	Won
1978	New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Movie Movie	Nominated
1979	National Society of Film Critics Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Movie Movie	Nominated
1989	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film	War and Remembrance	Won
2013	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Some Guy Who Kills People	Nominated