Henry Albert Polic II (February 20, 1945 – August 11, 2013) was an American stage, screen, and voice actor, who appeared as Dr. Benton Phillips the local pediatrician called in, in desperation by Mindy and Fred McConnell with Mork slowly dying, due to it being his first 'Birthday', in Season 1's Mork Runs Down.
Biography[]
Henry Polic was born February 20, 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and was raised in Hialeah, Florida. He attended North Hialeah Elementary school, taking part in the drama productions there, at an early age, including playing a notable Scrooge, He graduated as Class President from Hialeah High School, in Hialeah, FL. in 1963
He went on to college at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree. While at Florida State University he starred in many stage productions including Our Town. He also was an active member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity After college he went on to serve in the military police at Fort Riley in Kansas, and became associated with the Missouri Tent Theatre, the Player’s Theatre of Miami and Phoenix’s Southwest Ensemble Theatre, among others.
As a celebrity auctioneer and event host, he helped raise more than $2 million over the years for charities including the Adam Walsh Foundation, Concern Foundation for Cancer Research, American Diabetes Association and the Leukemia Foundation.
He taught a class in acting for the camera at the Emerson College Los Angeles Center and a course in acting and performance at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in L.A.
Polic was a member of The Actors Fund since 1973 and a member of the organization’s western council, which honored him last year with emeritus status.[1]
Polic died on August 11, 2013, of cancer at an assisted living facility in Sherman Oaks, California. A US Army Vietnam veteran, he is interred at National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix.[2] A memorial scholarship fund was established in Polic’s name at Florida State to provide funding to assist the School of Theatre’s annual production of new works.
Career[]
His first on screen credit was, unusually, in a regular role in the cast of Mel Brooks' short-lived television comedy, When Things Were Rotten (1975), followed shortly after by a regular part as Dracula in Monster Squad (1976), kickstarting a long career on TV, most notably perhaps as Jerry Silver on Webster (1983-89)
Filmography (Television)[]
| Year | TV Series | Episode(s) | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | When Things Were Rotten | 13 episodes | The Sheriff of Nottingham |
| 1976 | The Bionic Woman | Bionic Beauty | The Man |
| 1976 | Monster Squad | 13 episodes | Dracula |
| 1977 | Alice | The Failure | Walter |
| 1978–80 | Eight Is Enough | War Between the Bradfords
The Maltese Airline Bag |
Jay Redding |
| 1978–81 | Fantasy Island | I Want to Get Married/The Jewel Thief
The Perfect Husband/Volcano |
Marty
Baron Boris |
| 1979 | Mork & Mindy | Mork Runs Down | Dr. Benton Phillips |
| 1979 | Detective School | Hooray for Bulgaria | Zarkov |
| 1980 | The Incredible Hulk | Equinox | Donald |
| 1980 | The Love Boat | No Girls for Doc/Marriage of Convenience/The Caller/The Witness | Pierre |
| 1982 | Darkroom | The Rarest of Wines | Frederick |
| 1982 | Shirt Tales | 13 episodes | Additional Voices |
| 1982 | Cagney & Lacey | Beauty Burglars | Francois |
| 1982 | The New Odd Couple | The Cordon Blues | Davies |
| 1983 | Gun Shy | We Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em | Randy Turner |
| 1983–89 | Webster | 66 episodes | Jerry Silver / The Devil |
| 1984–85 | E/R | My Way
Brotherly Love |
Ivo
Dr. Ravi Raja |
| 1985 | Hotel | Illusions | Roy Stern |
| 1986–89 | Murder, She Wrote | Keep the Home Fries Burning
The Grand Old Lady |
Alan Dupree
Arthur Bishop |
| 1991 | They Came from Outer Space | Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow | Val Vincent |
| 1991 | Morton & Hayes | Daffy Dicks | Maitre'd |
| 1992 | The Golden Palace | Seems Like Old Times: Part 1 | Dining Room Guest |
| 1992 | Saved by the Bell | Snow White and the Seven Dorks | Mr. Bainbridge |
| 1999 | Profiler | Three Carat Crisis | Richard Fallen |
| 2000 | Sheena | Wild Thing | Professor Barrington |
| 2003 | She Spies | Gone Bad | Michael Osborne |
In addition to his on screen TV appearances Henry also had a prolific career as a voice artist kicking off by doing additional voices on the Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo cartoon series (1979) and following this with voice work on shoes like Richie Rich & Scooby Doo Show (1981); The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980-81); Shirt Tales (1982); The Smurfs Christmas Special (1982); The Dukes (1982); The Smurfs (1982-1989); The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show (1983); The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1984); The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible (1985); Daniel and the Lion's Den (1986); Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats (1988); The New Yogi Bear Show (1988); Superman (1988); Fantastic Max (1988-1989); Paddington Bear (1989-1990); The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda (1990); Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone (1990); TaleSpin (1990); Yo Yogi! (1991); Tom & Jerry Kids Show (1992); Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1994); Mighty Max (1994).
He also appeared in small roles in multiple movies starting with the Marty Feldman led parody The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977) [3]
Filmography (Movies)[]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | The Last Remake of Beau Geste | Captain Merdmanger |
| 1978 | Rabbit Test | Tito |
| 1979 | Scavenger Hunt | Naked Policeman |
| 1980 | Oh, God! Book II | Psychiatrist 5 |
| 1989 | Hollywood Chaos | |
| 1992 | Double Trouble | Stephen Tarlow |
| 1993 | King B: A Life in the Movies | Stuart Peters |
| 2000 | Bring Him Home | Ames |
| 2001 | All You Need | Mr. Etheridge |
| 2002 | Would I Lie to You? | Button King |
His TV Movie appearances included The Great NBC Smilin' Saturday Mornin' Parade (1976) where he also played Dracula, MacNamara's Band (1978); Scruples (1981); The Trial of Old Drum (2000) and his final role Combustion (2004).
Henry Polic was also often seen, especially in the 1980s as a celebrity guest player on various game shows. Most particularly on the various incarnations of Pyramid: The $25,000 Pyramid and The $100,000 Pyramid hosted by Dick Clark and John Davidson for producer Bob Stewart. Polic did various other work for Stewart, hosting the game show Double Talk in 1986, a pilot for a revival of Stewart's Eye Guess called Eye Q in 1988, and sharing announcing duties with Johnny Gilbert and Dean Goss on the latter edition of The $100,000 Pyramid.[2]
Polic appeared in more than 70 regional and local stage productions, including the world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse of the eventual Broadway hit Sister Act: The Musical, in which he originated the role of Monsignor Howard. He also appeared in productions of You Can't Take it With You in Illinois, and returned to his old alma mater Florida State University as a guest star in the School of Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol, playing Scrooge in 1996. Other theater credits include Long Beach Civic Light Opera’s production of 1776, Long Beach International City Theatre’s Putting It Together, Music Theatre West’s Never Gonna Dance and the world premiere productions of A Couple of Guys at the Movies and Is This Your Life? (written expressly for him), in which he starred.[1]
Polic’s directing credits for the stage include Neil Simon’s Fools for the Actors Co-op in Hollywood and for the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura; the world premiere of Jim Geoghan’s Two Gentlemen of Corona; the world premiere production of Nebraska; both the Los Angeles and New York productions of Brine County Wedding; and a box-office record-breaking production of Dracula for American Stage in St. Petersburg, Fla.[1]
Mork & Mindy[]
Henry appeared as Dr. Benton Phillips, the pediatrician in the local clinic on the Pearl Street Mall who is dragged to the Music Store by Fred, when Mork is in the midst of his Birthday crisis, with the Orkan running down towards death. With only him and a podiatrist available, and Mindy distraught, Fred has little choice but to bring the completely child focused Phillips. Her uncertainty about his capability, when he walks in with Dr. Ducky, a sock puppet on his hand, is put to rest by Phillips who reassures her he is a complete professional, before it's Phillips who finds himself unsure. Taking Mork's temperature giving him a reading of 63 degrees, and being unable to find a heartbeat with his Mr. Bunny stethoscope. With Fred prompting her that they have no choice, Mindy confesses that Mork is an alien. Phillips backing off, irked at their wasting his time, and unsure how they messed with his equipment, before storming out.