Charles Bloom is an American actor, composer, lyricist and librettist who appeared as Daniel Pierson, Mindy's young new boss at KTNS, in Season 4's Metamorphosis, the TV Show.
Biography[]
Charles Bloom is originally from Los Angeles. He was born to Academy Award nominated screenwriter, Harold Jack Bloom and actress, Carolyn Kearney.[1]
With an entertainment background like that it always seemed likely to feature in his future, and his talent blossomed first in the music arena. His first composing effort, TOMMY'S WORLD (about his younger, mentally r******* brother, Tom) was written at age 14 and was chosen by The California Arts Council to represent the state during the 1990 Special Olympics.[2]
Eventually he moved to New York where he studied Music Theory / Composition and Psychology at NYU. He also studied privately with Joel Ewing, Ira Antelis, Don Bondi, and Dr. William Teaford. After NYU he then moved back to Los Angeles to enjoy a brief, but successful acting career, before combining his love of acting and music in becoming a theatre librettist, composer and lyricist. Remarkign that his "semi-brief career as an actor on TV had a direct, invaluable effect on my ability to write for performers...to think as they do while on stage. I think all theatre writers should take an acting class, particularly when they're starting out."[3]
For the theatre, he has written the book, music and lyrics to Pablo (about the young life of Picasso), Insomnia and Heaven Knows and the score to This Will All Be Yours (Book by Laura Pedersen). Active archives of some of his catalogue for student/faculty use are held by the musical theatre departments of over 30 universities in the US and abroad. For television, he has composed the music and lyrics to MICKEY'S FUN SONGS (Walt Disney Productions) and a cable project for PBS entitled IT'S OUR TIME. Simultaneously with his theatre work, he has collaborated with two-time Academy Award winning composer Al Kasha on an animated musicalization of SAMSON AND DELILAH.[2]
His CD, Music and Lyrics by Charles Bloom: IN HERE (Produced and Orchestrated by David Snyder) was recorded by a live 20-piece orchestra with 16 of the finest talents on Broadway.
Now, with over 400 songs, parodies, and pieces of special material, his cabaret/revue works have been heard in venues all over the world and he has contributed material to countless special events and charitable causes. Among the long list of artists to perform/record songs from his extensive, stylistically diverse catalogue are: Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, B. D. Wong, Michael Feinstein, Andrea Marcovicci, Christine Ebersole, Cheyenne Jackson, Julie Reyburn, Richard Todd Adams, Ron Seykell, David Engel, Amy Ryder, Vicki Lewis, Bruce Vilanch, Lindy Robbins, and Michael Greer.[1]
Charles has taught a lyric workshop entitled, "Lyrics: A Way With Words" with Broadway On Sunset, an LA organization devoted to the development of new musicals. In addition to his professional involvements, Charles is particularly proud of having consistently contributed musical material to a variety of AIDS-related benefits, hospice projects, spititual organizations and many charitable causes.[1]
Mr. Bloom is a member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild.
Career[]
His acting career began in 1976 with an appearance in an ABC Afterschool Special, over the next year or two it picked up pace with appearances in Eight is Enough, Battlestar Galactica and as John Tate in The Waverly Wonders in 1978. He also appeared as Laura Ingalls brother in law Perley Day Wilder in LIttle House on the Prairie (1980). [4]
Filmography[]
| Year | TV Series | Episode(s) | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | ABC Afterschool Specials | Dear Lovey Hart: I Am Desperate | 2nd Student |
| 1977 | Mulligan's Stew | Melinda Special | McGinnis |
| 1978 | Eight Is Enough | Dear Ms. Dinah | Ronnie |
| 1978 | Battlestar Galactica | The Young Lords | Kyle |
| 1978 | The Waverly Wonders | 9 episodes | John Tate |
| 1979 | Quincy M.E | No Way to Treat a Flower | Joey Campbell |
| 1979 | The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo | Buttercup, Birdie, and Buried Bucks | Junior Beauregard |
| 1980 | Little House on the Prairie | Wilder and Wilder | Perley Day Wilder |
| 1980 | Lou Grant | Nightside | Scotty |
| 1980 | Number 96 | Roger Moves In | Lyle Bixler |
| 1982 | Mork & Mindy | Metamorphosis - The TV Show | Daniel Pierson |
| 1983 | Foot in the Door | Jonah Takes a Job | Regis Carey |
| Year | TV Movie | Role | |
| 1982 | Pigs vs. Freaks | Creekmore | |
| 1982 | Drop-Out Father | David McCall | |
| 1983 | The Kid with the 200 I.Q. | Travis Ault | |
Mork & Mindy[]
Charles Bloom appeared in Season 4's Metamorphosis, the TV Show, as the young, brash and supremely confident fresh out of college Daniel Pierson who, to Mindy's consternation, replaces the now fired Miles Sternhagen at KTNS. With a rash of new 'forward thinking' and academically based ideas, Pierson makes no bones about making sweeping changes to the KTNS line up. However for all his talk, he falls easy victim to bribery and flattery from Mindy's colleagues, while Mindy unable and unwilling to match them finds herself and her show canned at the KTNS unveiling 'party'. Until Mearth, trapped in his father's body, makes a mockery of Pierson's 'intellectual' approach to TV programming, by talking in what Pierson assumes is an abstract way about the common man's view of Television and what they want from it, when in fact the boy in the man's body is just talking about the standard of food at the party.
Behind the Scenes[]
Charles Bloom reflects on his appearance on the show, out of all of his acting credits as his most treasured and most memorable. "As an actor on TV, it was guest-starring on an episode of "Mork and Mindy. Robin Williams was almost seen as "the new Chaplin" at that time, so I knew being able to work alongside such a rare, comedic mentality would be important so I haven't forgotten a thing from that experience."[3]