JOHN PLESHETTE (RICHARD AVERY)

John Pleshette was born July 27 in New York City, where he grew up. He attended Brown University, majoring in English and drama, and later the Carnegie Institute of Technology (no Carnegie-Mellon University) in Pittsburgh. Returning to New York as he embarked on his acting career, Pleshette studied with Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Warren Robertson. In one of his first stage appearances, Pleshette starred as Yossarian in the only production of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" ever staged, at the John Drew Theater in Easthampton, Long Island. Soon thereafter, he performed in several productions of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, including "Love's Labor's Lost," "Measure for Measure" and "Richard III." Pleshette made his Broadway debut in 1965 in "The Zulu and the Zayda." He later appeared on Broadway in "Jimmy Shine," standing by for Dustin Hoffman. His extensive Off Broadway credits include "MacBird!," "Green Julia" and a one-act, two-character play, "It's Called the Sugar Plum," opposite Marsha Mason. Pleshette began performing in films in the late '60's. His film credits include "The End of the road," "Won Ton Ton: The Dog That Saved Hollywood" and "Slapshot." Most recently, Pleshette was featured as the acerbic television commercial director in "Rocky II." He starred as Lee Harvey Oswald in the 1977 dramatic special "The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald." He guest-starred in the mini-series "The Users" and "Seventh Avenue" and on episodes of such series as "Kojak," "Doctor's Hospital," "Feather and Father," "The Hardy Boys Mysteries" and "The Rockford Files." Pleshette's pastimes include karate and gourmet French cookery. He and his wife, literary agent Lynn Pleshette [David Jacob's ex-wife!], have a  daughter, Sophie, and reside in Hollywood. He is 5'9" tall, weighs 140 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.