Noam Pitlik

Noam Pitlik (4 November 1932 – 18 February 1999) was an American Emmy-award winning television director and actor. He appeared in over 90 films and television productions and directed around 35 TV series. For his ABC-TV sitcom Barney Miller, he won an Emmy award for "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series" in 1979 and a Directors Guild of America award for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series" in 1981.

Noam Pitlik was born on November 4, 1932, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Samuel Pitlik and Eva Sawczycki Pitlik.

Acting

Pitlik was a familiar face on television during the 1960s and 1970s. He appeared in around 80 different TV series (making recurring appearances in many) including The Untouchables, The Patty Duke Show, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, The Andy Griffith Show, Get Smart, I Dream Of Jeannie, Hogan's Heroes, Bewitched, The Odd Couple, The Partridge Family, and All In The Family.

He made his acting debut in 1961, appearing as "Edwards" in the "Markdown on a Man: Lenny Bircher" episode of the TV series Cain's Hundred, alongside Peter Mark Richman and Michael Constantine. In the same year, he was seen in the "Winter Harvest" episode of Dr. Kildare.

In 1962, he appeared in an episode each of the TV series The New Breed, The Detectives, The Untouchables, Death Valley Days, The Lloyd Bridges Show, and The Rifleman.

Pitlik then landed the recurring role of "Bentley" in the series I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, appearing in 9 episodes in 1962-1963 alongside John Astin, Marty Ingels, and Emmaline Henry, among others.

1963 saw Pitlik's film debut with a minor uncredited role in John Cassavetes' drama A Child Is Waiting.

From 1965 to 1970, he was seen in 7 episodes of Hogan's Heroes, starring Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer, and John Banner. In 1972, he had the recurring role of "Officer 'Swanny' Swanhauser" in Norman Lear's TV comedy series Sanford and Son.

He also appeared in a few feature films such as The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Graduate (1967), Fitzwilly (1967), and The Front Page (1974). 

After appearing as "Sgt. Turkel" in the TV movie Charo and the Sergeant (1976), he shifted his focus on television direction. He did appear intermittently after that in a few TV series/movies such as The Ordeal of Bill Carney (1981), Fade-In (1982), and Capitol Critters (1995). He was last seen on the screen in 1998 in the episode "Tell me lies" of the TV series Becker.

Television direction

Pitlik made his directorial debut in 1973 with The New Dick Van Dyke Show, starring Dick Van Dyke, Hope Lange, and Marty Brill.

Over his career, he directed episodes of around 30 different television series including Barney Miller (102 episodes), Wings (27 episodes), Taxi (11 episodes), The Practice (12 episodes), Mr. Belvedere (44 episodes), One Day at a Time (18 episodes), and Off the Rack (6 episodes).

His final directorial work was on 14 episodes of The Home Court, in the years 1995-1996.

Pitlik was married three times. His first marriage was with Jesse Blostein from February 11, 1967, until the divorce on September 29, 1970. He was then married to actress Linda Hirsch from June 23, 1974, to the divorce on April 25, 1977. Pitlik then married Susan Whittaker on January 18, 1986. The couple remained married until his death on February 18, 1999.

Pitlik died of lung cancer on February 18, 1999, in Los Angeles, California. He was 66 years old.