David Birney, a classically trained theater actor who found success on the stage, including on Broadway, but who was best known for his role in “Bridget Loves Bernie” — a short-lived sitcom about an interfaith marriage in which he starred opposite his future wife, Meredith Baxter.
Birney was born in Washington, D.C., the first child of Jeanne (née McGee) and Edwin B. Birney, a special agent for the FBI. He attended schools in Brooklyn, Ohio, and graduated from West High School in Cleveland.
In the December 2017 edition of the Wide Wide World newsletter for Dartmouth College class of 1961 alumni, it was disclosed that Birney had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He died on April 29, 2022, at his home in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 83.
According to Michele Roberge, who was said to be his life partner, David Birney died from Alzheimer’s disease. Mr. Bernie appeared in a handful of TV series and movies when he was cast in 1972 as a Jewish taxi driver and struggling author Bernie Steinberg.
