Joseph Campanella (born November 21, 1927 in New York City, New York) is an American character actor who has appeared in more than two hundred television and film roles since 1955.
Personal life
Campanella's father, an immigrant from Sicily, was an early member of the American Federation of Musicians. Campanella himself served in the U.S. Navy during World War II becoming one of its youngest commanders. He later graduated from Manhattan College in The Bronx, New York and attended Columbia University. In 1964, he married Kathryn Jill Bartholomew. Together, they have seven children. Two of Campanella's sons, Rob and Dominic, play in the L.A. psychedelic-rock band The Quarter After.
Career
His television appearances include such shows as Decoy, The Eleventh Hour, The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, The Untouchables, Police Story, The Road West, The Golden Girls, and Mama's Family. He had a role in 1967 as Lew Wickersham in the television series Mannix as Joe Mannix's boss and friend, before the P.I. went solo and started his own firm. Campanella would go on to appear as attorney Brian Darrell from 1969 to 1972 in The Bold Ones: The Lawyers. He played Ann Romano's ex-husband, Ed Cooper, in seven episodes of One Day at a Time (1975–1984) and Barbara Stanwyck's love interest in the first season (1985–1986) of the Aaron Spelling's short-lived Dynasty spinoff, The Colbys. The actor had a prominent role as Harper Deveraux on the soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1987 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1992, and a recurring role on The Bold and the Beautiful from 1996 to 2005.
He also had a bit part in the cowboy episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Campanella also hosted the Canadian educational programmeScience International between 1976 and 1979 which aired on Nickelodeon as What Will They Think Of Next? He played an endearing character in the independent comedy, For Heaven's Sake.
On Broadway, Campanella was featured in three productions. His first The Captains and the Kings opened in January 1962 and ran lasted only seven performances. In February 1962, he was cast in A Gift of Time with Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland. The show was written and directed by Garson Kanin and Campanella received a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actor in a Play. His last Broadway performance was in the musical Hot Spot in 1963. The show was not well-received and delayed its opening four times resulting in a run of 58 previews and 43 regular performances.
Campanella formerly provided the voiceover for BMW commercials in the United States, intoning, "BMW... the ultimate driving machine." He also narrated the Discover Magazine science series on the Disney Channel from 1992-1994. For several years beginning in the 1970's Campanella was a spokesman for Napa Auto Parts.
His distinctive voice has often been heard over the years in the narration of numerous documentaries.
He is the younger brother of actor Frank Campanella, who died in December 2006.
Source: Wikipedia