Brodie Greer

Brodie Haldeman Greer (born October 26, 1949 in Santa Monica , California ) is a former American actor who gained international fame primarily through his role as Officer Barry "Bear" Baricza in the US television series CHiPs . After his acting career came to an end at the end of the 1980s, he appeared, among other things, as a real estate agent and volleyball coach and is still working as such, on a voluntary basis, even today (as of March 2016).

life and career

Childhood, youth and college careers

Brodie Haldeman Greer was born on October 26, 1949 to Bill and Daryl Greer (née Haldemann) at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Californian coastal city of Santa Monica and grew up alongside his three brothers and a sister in nearby Brentwood , a borough of Los Angeles , as well as in Pacific Palisades . Already in his youth he spent a large part of his free time on Sorrento Beach in Santa Monica, the later “ beach volleyball mecca” on the west coast of the USA, where he gained his first experience in beach volleyball. As a high school sophomore with a weight of only 55 kilograms, according to the coaches at the time, still one of the worst football players at Pacific Palisades High School , which he attended from 1963, he made it as safety in defense to a regular player and starter in College. It was not until his junior year in high school that Greer was first included in the B-squad, which consisted mainly of younger sophomores, and only in his final senior year did he make the jump as reserve defensive back in the first combat team. After enrolling at Santa Monica Junior College , the then 17-year-old freshman , he changed his mind and began his freshman year at World Campus Afloat , now known as Semester at Sea , a study abroad program on a circumnavigating ship.

After he returned to his homeland a year later and discovered the weight room for himself, he put on over ten kilograms within one summer. He then went back to the sports department of Santa Monica Junior College, where he was initially not recognized due to his now well-trained body. After joining the football team there, he completed two years as starting safety and was courted by various colleges and universities during this time. In addition to offers from CU Boulder , Long Beach State, and Arizona State , Greer came to San José State University in the late 1960s on a full football scholarship , where he appeared on the San José State Spartans football team in what was then the NCAA University Division . As a roommate of Dave Chaney , a middle linebacker and later All-American , Brodie Greer quickly advanced to the starting safety of the Spartans . One of the highlights of his college career was beating an undefeated Stanford University team that was well on its way to the Rose Bowl in an away game in their final senior year. After tryouts at Chicago Bears in 1972 and Los Angeles Rams in 1973, Brodie Greer, who belonged to the Theta Chi fraternity and was also active as a track and field athlete over 400 meters during his college days , decided against a sports career and came to an acting school with him via the yellow pages henceforth took lessons. Soon after, he was invited to audition for a commercial for the Ford Mustang , which he subsequently got because he had to ride a horse in it and had learned this in his youth at a summer camp. For this spot he earned $ 20,000 , which today (as of 2016) would be over $ 100,000 adjusted for inflation.

First appearances in TV series and breakthrough in CHiPs

After he received another $ 20,000 for an appearance in a Nestea commercial in which he performed the Nestea Plunge , which was created from that time , he was soon afterwards for an engagement in the long- running soap opera Time of Longing at NBC Studios in Burbank , California , booked. Initially only intended for a small role with three days of shooting, it soon became three months. While stopping by the set of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson while on filming, he was discovered by an NBC executive who left the studios shortly after to film the pilot of CHiPs at MGM Studios . Through his agent, Brodie Greer auditioned for a series called Manimal at MGM Studios, but there were no roles for Manimal there. Manimal's casting director passed it on to those in charge of CHiPs , where the same day Rick Rosner , screenwriter and creator of the series, brought it into the official cast of CHiPs , even though he hadn't even read the script before. Just a week later he began filming the series as Officer Barry "Bear" Baricza , in which he was featured alongside Erik Estrada , Larry Wilcox and Robert Pine and from 1977 to 1982 in 111 of the total of 139 episodes . In the series, he played the cop Barry Baricza, who was the only cop in the series who had to use his gun and, unlike Jon (Erik Estrada) and Ponch (Larry Wilcox), was traveling with a police car. In the course of the fifth season, the character portrayed by Greer left the series; In the German-language dubbed version of CHiPs , which was only broadcast from 1989, Martin Halm lent the German voice in the first season , before Fabian von Klitzing replaced him for the rest of the series. He also contributed to the sixth and seventh editions of the televised charity Circus of the Stars in 1981 and 1982 .

After retiring from the series, he appeared in one episode each of Fantasy Island and Just Our Luck in 1983 and was seen in three different roles in as many episodes of the ABC series Love Boat from 1983 to 1984 . While Thomas Danneberg lent him the German voice in the episode Ein Lümmel makes a huge mistake , his German voice in the episode Ein Hoch dem Meister Peter Fricke ; the voice actor of the other episode he was involved in is not known. Subsequently, he continued to appear as a performer in commercials and also tried his hand as a theater actor, mainly in the Los Angeles area. In 1986 he made a guest appearance in the pilot of the short-lived CBS series Melba with Melba Moore in the role of Melba Patterson . From that year he also had a notable film appearance for the first time when he starred alongside stuntman AJ Nay and Doreen Alderman as Carl Sloan in the action film Death Flash by the Iranian -US director Tony Zarindast . In 1987 he was seen in the supporting role of Captain Steiner at the side of Chuck Connors in Terror Kommando directed by Peter Mais , with Chuck Rose working on the script together with Mark Verheiden . After another appearance in a not insignificant role as Detective Tony Williams in Frank Kerr's True Blood 1989, he was seen in another Peter Mais production in the same year. In the action thriller Heroes USA IV - Back in Lebanon , he played the liaison or contact person for Mr. Whiteside (played by Yaphet Kotto ). After Brodie Greer, who continued to appear in advertising and theater, had become largely quiet in film and television, he appeared again in 1998 in his prime role as Officer Barry "Bear" Baricza . In the TV movie CHiPs '99 he met all of his colleagues from his five years at CHiPs . In the German Synchro occurs Michael Schernthaner as Greer's voice actor in appearance. A year later, the former college athlete also made a guest appearance on the LA Heat television series , his last notable appearance.

After around 20 years in the acting business, Brodie Greer had already largely resigned from it and had been working as a real estate agent in the greater Los Angeles area for years. On the side, however, he never lost his passion for volleyball or beach volleyball and has appeared as a coach of this sport over the years. Above all at local middle schools and high schools, but also at various training camps. In 2009 he came to Carmel-by-the-Sea , meanwhile half-retired, where he supported his then twelve-year-old goddaughter and her team on a voluntary basis as a volleyball coach at the Carmel Middle School . After his goddaughter came to Carmel High School , Brodie Greer was hired by the local trainer Israel Ricardez as head coach of the junior school selection, as well as his assistant in the school selection at Carmel High. At the same time he came to the local Carmel Beach Volleyball Club , which he also looks after as a youth coach. In 2009 he had a short guest appearance in the Weekend segment of the parody film Imps * when he parodied the pianist and composer Burt Bacharach .

Filmography

Film appearances (also short appearances)

• 1986: Death Flash
• 1987: Terror Kommando ( Terror Squad )
• 1989: True Blood
• 1989: Heroes USA IV - Back in Lebanon ( Ministry of Vengeance )
• 1998: CHiPs '99
• 2009: Imps *

Series appearances (also guest and short appearances)

• 197 ?: Days of Our Lives ( Days of Our Lives )
• 1977–1982: CHiPs (111 episodes)
• 1981–1982: Circus of the Stars (2 shows)
• 1983: Fantasy Island (1 episode)
• 1983: Just Our Luck (1 episode)
• 1983–1984: Love Boat ( The Love Boat ) (3 episodes)
• 1986: Melba (1 episode)
• 1999: LA Heat (1 episode)

Web links

• Brodie Greer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Brodie Greer in the German dubbing file
• From 'CHiPs ”to Carmel volleyball coach (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brodie Haldeman Greer in the California Birth Index , accessed April 5, 2016
2. ↑ ^{a b} The synchronization of CHiPs , accessed on April 5, 2016
3. ↑ Brodie Greer's profile on the Carmel Beach Volleyball Club homepage ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed April 5, 2016