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Comments (0)He was best known for his portrayal of the brilliant but smug Sgt. Arthur P. Dietrich on the classic ‘70s TV show “Barney Miller,” co-starring Hal Linden and Abe Vigoda (yes, he’s still alive). Steve Landesberg died Dec. 20 of colon cancer. He was 74.
Landesberg began his career in New York comedy clubs. He appeared on “The Tonight Show” for the first time in 1971.
“Before that, I worked in a lot of hotels as an assistant credit manager,” he once told the Detroit Free Press. “That’s part clerk, cop and manager. To check out scam artists and bad credit cards, that was my early police training to train for playing a fictional cop.”
Landesberg also appeared in “The Golden Girls” and in the film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”
In the long run, Landesberg may be remembered best for his quote, “Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.”