Charles Haid Biography

After a goodly number of stage appearances, Charles Haid made his TV-movie bow in 1974's The Execution of Private Slovik. A year later, he was cast in his first weekly-series role, playing the priest/attorney brother of lawyer Anne Meara in Kate McShane; he followed this with a one-year hitch on the detective series Delvecchio. In 1977, he made his big-screen entree in The Choirboys. In 1981, Haid played good-ole-boy police officer Andy Renko in the TV series Hill Street Blues, a role he essayed until the series' cancellation in 1987 (Renko was shot down and presumed killed in the opening episode, but audience reaction to Haid was so positive that he was resurrected in episode #2). Having directed several Hill Street episodes, Haid was well prepared for his feature-length directorial debut, the cable-TV production Cooperstown; Haid has since directed Iron Will (1994), a seriocomedy about dogsledding, for the big screen. Charles Haid is married to actress Deborah Richter. Charles Haid is the cousin of talk-show host Merv Griffin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi