Abner Biberman Biography

Born in Milwaukee, Abner Biberman migrated to Philadelphia, where after a he launched his acting career at the Hedgerow Theatre. Biberman wrote magazine articles and taught acting classes while establishing himself as both an actor and director on Broadway. His shifty eyes and disreputable appearance enabled Biberman to play villains of all nations: an Italian gangster in His Girl Friday (1940) an East Indian fanatic in Gunga Din (1939), a hostile Native American in any number of films. From the mid-1940s onward, Biberman was drama coach at Universal Pictures, which led to his first film directorial assignment, The Looters (1955). While Abner Biberman's theatrical films were mostly routine melodramas, his TV work embraced such prestige programs as The Twilight Zone, Ben Casey and Ironside. Abner Biberman was the husband of actress Joanna Barnes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi