Cliff Osmond

Cliff Osmond (Clifford O. Ebrahim)
Born	February 26, 1937 (age 74) Jersey City, NJ

Cliff Osmond (born Clifford O. Ebrahim on February 26, 1937) is an American character actor and television screenwriter most famous for his role of "Barney" in Billy Wilder's "Kiss Me, Stupid" (the comedic song lyrics were actually written by Ira Gershwin). Osmond also appeared in three other Billy Wilder comedies, including a co-starring role as "Purkey" opposite Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in "The Fortune Cookie," as well as appearing in Wilder's "Irma La Douce" and "Front Page."

Osmond made more than 100 appearances in TV shows or movies between 1962 and 1996. During that he he guest-starred in multiple "Gunsmoke" episodes, as well as guest starring in such shows as "All in the Family," the "Bob Newhart Show," "Kojak," "Here's Lucy," and the original and "Twilight Zone."

Also a screenwriter, Osmond was nominated for a Writer's Guild Award for writing an episode of "Streets of San Francisco." He also wrote and directed the features film "The Penitent," starring Raul Julia and Armand Assante.

As an actor received a Best Actor award for his UCLA performance of Berthold Brecht's "Baal", and the Joseph Jefferson acting award for a Chicago stage appearance in Shaw's "You Never Can Tell."

In addition to his acting and writing careers, Osmond has, for the past thirty years, also been successful acting teacher and coach in Los Angeles. He has taught and lectured to over twenty thousand students there and around the country, in forty states, in a dozen universities, and in his own private acting schools in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Antonio. In the fall of 2004, he was visiting professor in acting and Guest Resident Artist at Georgetown University, teaching two acting courses and directing Ibsen's "A Doll's House."

In 2010 he wrote a book about his career and acting: "Acting is Living: Exploring the Ten Essential Elements in any Successful Performance."

Cliff Osmond was born in Jersey City's Margaret Hague Medical Center, raised in Union City, N.J., is a graduate of Thomas A. Edison grammar school, Emerson High School, and Dartmouth College (BA in English). He received his Masters Degree in Business Administration from UCLA, and advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. in Theater History at UCLA.

He is married to Gretchen Ebrahim, and the father of two children: Margaret (Mishi) and Eric.

Partial filmography

• Irma La Douce (1963)
• Wild and Wonderful (1964)
• Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
• The Fortune Cookie (1966)
• Three Guns for Texas (1968)
• Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)
• The Front Page (1974)
• Sharks' Treasure (1975)
• The Great Brain (1978)
• The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979)
• The North Avenue Irregulars (1979)
• For Which He Stands (1996)

External links

• Cliff Osmond at Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Osmond, Cliff
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Date of birth	February 26, 1937
Place of birth	Jersey City, NJ
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