This morning’s name was Vic Hitler: a doubly unfortunate character in the tv show Hill Street Blues. Hitler was a comedian (an occupation that fit disastrously with his name) who suffered from narcolepsy and so was inclined to suddenly fall asleep in the middle of a performance. (Just writing this makes me giggle, after all these years.)
Hitler was played by Terry Kiser, an actor with a long career who, especially in his early years, was easily recognizable; it was those remarkable eyes:
From Wikipedia:
Terry Kiser (born August 1, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the dead title-character in the comedy Weekend at Bernie’s, and its sequel, Weekend at Bernie’s II. [He has] over 140 acting credits to his name with a career spanning more than 50 years.
… A life member of The Actors Studio, [Kiser] was a regular on the soap operas, The Secret Storm and The Doctors. In 1978, he starred on the short-lived sitcoms The Roller Girls, and Sugar Time!. It was during the 1970s and early 1980s that Kiser became a familiar face on episodic television, most notably Three’s Company, The Love Boat, Night Court, 227, Maude and The Golden Girls. One of his more memorable roles was on the TV drama Hill Street Blues, where he played comedian Vic Hitler (aka, Vic the Narcoleptic Comic).
And on the show, again from Wikipedia:
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police station — “blues” being a slang term for police officers — in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim, and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in North America.
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