“They had their Irish sweaters on,” Ms. Roberge said in a phone interview, “and their arms crossed as if to say, Come on, show us what yo...
“They had their Irish sweaters on,” Ms. Roberge said in a phone interview, “and their arms crossed as if to say, Come on, show us what you got.”
Over the rest of his theatrical career, Mr. Birney played a wide variety of roles, including replacement Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus” on Broadway; Benedick in “Much Ado About Nothing” at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ; Hamlet at the PCPA Theaterfest in Santa Maria, CA; and James Tyrone Jr. in Eugene O’Neill’s “A Moon for the Misbegotten” at the Miniature Theater in Chester, Mass.
He also adapted some Mark Twain short stories in a play, “The Diaries of Adam and Eve”, which he often interpreted and directed. In 1989 he starred in one of the productions, with Mrs. Baxter, for American Playhouse on PBS.
The couple divorced that year. In 2011, she wrote in her book, “Untied: A Memoir of Family, Fame and Floundering”, which Mr Birney had abused during their marriage. He denied his accusationcalling it an “appalling abuse of the truth”.
One of Mr. Birney’s biggest television successes was his starring role as a doctor in the first season of the medical comedy “St. Elsewhere.” But as the second season approached, he quit. the series due to his engagement on Broadway for “Amadeus”.
He continued to work in television until 2007, when he was a guest on the police procedural “Without a Trace”.
In addition to Mrs. Roberge, Mr. Birney is survived by his children with Mrs. Baxter, his daughters Kate and Mollie Birney and a son, Peter Baxter; a daughter-in-law, Eva Bush, and a son-in-law, Ted Bush, Mrs. Baxter’s children from a previous marriage; two grandchildren; and his brothers, Glenn and Gregory. Another marriage, to Mary Concannon, also ended in divorce.
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