Ed Asner, Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross.
Three stars from popular TV shows of the past will take the stage in two different shows at Bucks County Playhouse as part of their winter Visiting Artist Series.
Seven-time Emmy award-winning television star Ed Asner (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Lou Grant”) is coming to the Playhouse with his one-man comedy “A Man and His Prostate.” Asner will give four performances from March 30 to April 1.
Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross, parents from the five-time Emmy-winning NBC comedy “Family Ties,” will arrive a few days later with a new production of A. R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” April 4 – 8.
All three actors are making their Playhouse debuts.
Asner appears in “A Man and His Prostate” written by Philadelphia native and nine-time Emmy winner Ed Weinberger. Based on Weinberger’s life, this one-man comedy is an examination of his experience with pain, relief, and the retrieval of his manhood. Ed’s Italian vacation takes an unexpected turn when he is rushed to a hospital for prostate cancer surgery. As he faces surgery, Ed decides he won’t take any of life’s injustices sitting down.
Last seen on stage in the Broadway play “Grace,” Asner is one of the most beloved actors in television history, with 16 Emmy nominations, five Golden Globe Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild. Asner gained wide attention for playing Lou Grant on the breakthrough comedy “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” as well as the dramatic spinoff, “Lou Grant.” Other widely praised television appearances include “Roots,” “Rich Man, Poor Man,” “The Good Wife,” “Criminal Minds,” “Mom,” “The Crazy Ones,” “Chasing Life,” and “Men at Work.”
Asner starred in the telefilms “Buddy the Elf” and “All of My Heart.” He is known by younger audiences for voicing Carl Frederickson in the Pixie box-office smash “UP,” which won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. For the stage, he also toured across the country in his one-man play “FDR,” based on the life and career of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Baxter and Gross will perform A.R. Gurney’s critically acclaimed two-hander, “Love Letters.”
When Andrew (Gross) accepts an invitation to Melissa’s (Baxter’s) birthday party, and Melissa writes a thank-you note, a romantic friendship and correspondence is born that will last more than 50 years, according to Playhouse publicity material. A touching romance through old-fashioned pen and paper, “Love Letters” is an emotional portrait about the powerful connection of love.
Baxter and Gross are best known as the parents on NBC’s “Family Ties,” the comedy series that introduced Michael J. Fox to the American public. Both actors have had accomplished careers before and after their work on the sitcom. They have continued as friends and colleagues — working together on various film and stage projects.
Baxter has starred in four series, including the long-running “Family Ties.” She’s been nominated for four Emmys, and made about 60 movies for television, among them “Betty Broderick: A Woman Scorned.” She’s been in a smattering of plays: “Butterflies Are Free”, “Vanities,” “Country Wife,” toured with “Talley’s Folly,” “Diaries of Adam and Eve” and about 30 different productions of “Love Letters” around the country.
Aside from “Family Ties,” Michael Gross has been a staple on TV with recurring roles on “The Drew Cary Show,” “ER,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Suits,” “Grace and Frankie.” He was a series regular on “The Young and the Restless.” On the big screen, Michael was survivalist Burt Gummer in the feature film “Tremors,” its five sequels, and its Sci-Fi Channel series. He has appeared with Ali McGraw in director Sidney Lumet’s “Just Tell Me What You Want,” played opposite Lily Tomlin in “Big Business,” with actor Lucas Haas in the award-winning “Alan and Naomi,” and with Wynona Ryder in “Stay Cool.” He recently appeared in the award winning short film, “Our Father.” His current projects include a recurring role on Showtime’s “The Affair,” and a guest star role on television’s “AP Bio.”
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