You wanted to know about . . . Barry Greenberg and Scott Bernstein of Happy Days

A reader asked me to find out what happened to Barry Greenberg and Scott Bernstein, who played minor roles on Happy Days.  The reader is celebrating a milestone birthday today.  So, I have granted him his birthday wish.  Happy Birthday, M.C.!

NOTE: The Happy Days characters played by Greenberg and Bernstein disappeared from the show without explanation just like Richie Cunningham's older brother, Chuck.

Barry Greenberg 

Barry Greenberg is not only a former actor.  He is a retired Certified Public Accountant and attorney, based in Los Angeles (He has been fond of saying that he is "Stuck in the "A's").  Barry prepared taxes and dealt with various taxing authorities such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRA), The Franchise Tax Board and The California Board of Equalization.  As a bankruptcy attorney, he helped consumer and small business debtors file for bankruptcy protection.

Barry M. Greenberg was born in Los Angeles, California on May 2, 1956.  He is known for his portrayal of Moose in three 1974 episodes of Happy Days during the show's first season.  The episodes are "Guess Who's Coming to Visit" (Season 1, Episode 4, Air Date: Feb. 5, 1974), "Hardware Jungle" (Season 1, Episode 5, Air Date February 12, 1974) and  "Because She's There" (Season 1, Episode 11, Air Date: April 2, 1974).

Prior to his stint on Happy Days, Barry appeared as Alfred in the 1974 TV movie version of Miracle on 34th Street, starring Family Affair's Sebastian Cabot as Kris Kringle.  The cast also included Jane Alexander, David Hartman, Roddy McDowall, Jim Backus, David Doyle and Tom Bosley, who played patriarch Howard Cunningham on Happy Days.

In addition to his role as Moose on Happy Days, Barry appeared in the 1976 horror film Dogs, along with David McCallum, Linda Gray and George Wyner.  The film is about a pack of dogs that go on a killing spree.

 Barry also appeared in the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which ran from 1976 to 1977 and starred Loise Lasser.  I found a photo online of Barry with Louise, Marian Mercer, Robert Snivel, Nedra Volz and Robert Snively from Mary Hartman. The photo was taken circa 1976.  Due to copyright reasons, I can't display the photo on this website.  However, you can easily find it if you google the information that I have provided.  It is part of the Granger Historical Picture Archive.  I have also tried to find the name of the character Barry played on Mary Hartman, but for some strange reason, Barry's name does not appear on IMDb in the list of actors who appeared on the series.

Below is a photograph of Barry M. Greenberg in more recent years.

Scott Bernstein

On Happy Days, Scott Bernstein played Melvin Belvin, a nerdy classmate of Joanie Cunningham and Chachi Arcola.  Melvin was the socially inept brother of Eugene Belvin, played by Denis Mandel.  He and Eugene often tagged along with Joanie and Chachi's group of friends.  

Scott Mitchell Bernstein was born on September 19, 1956.  He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.  He was trained in comedic acting in New Jersey, New York and Los Angeles, studying under some of the best comedic tutors, including Harvey Lembeck (1923-1982), an American actor best known for his role as Corporal Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show (also know as Sgt. Bilko) in the late 1950s),  He has performed in more than 100 shows on stage and he has been involved in directing and co-writing comedic theatre productions in Las Vegas.

Scott joined the cast of Happy Days.in 1981.  He appeared as Melvin Belvin in seven episodes of the series from 1981 until  1983.  The episodes are "Fonzie the Substitute" (Season 9, Episode 7, Air Date: November 17, 1981), A Touch of Classical" (Season 9, Episode 16, Air Date: February 2, 1982), "Letting Go" (Season 10, Episode 2, Air Date: October 12, 1982), "Empty Nest" (Season 10, Episode 3, Air Date: October 19, 1982), "Such a Nice Girl (Season 10, Episode 8, Air Date: November 30, 1982), "I Drink, Therefore I Am" (Season 10, Episode 13, Air Date: January 11, 1983).  

Happy Days aired for 11 seasons, from 1974 to 1984.  All but one of Scott's appearances on Happy Days occurred during the show's tenth season, in 1981 and 1982).  In the episode "Such a Nice Girl," Howard Cunningham's shy niece, K,C, Cunningham, played by Crystal Bernard, agrees to go on a date with Melvin Belvin.  Melvin takes her to a costume party and catastrophe ensues.

After leaving Happy Days, Scott became a professional acting coach for The PLUS Workshops, which he founded.  The PLUS Workshops consist of several types of acting workshops, including group workshops, comedy workshops, drama workshops, private coaching and others.  There is also additional work as a director or comedy writer and voice-overs for comedy voices and animation.

END NOTES:

* When Scott Bernstein auditioned for Happy Days, he thought he was auditioning for Laverne and Shirley, which happened to be one of his favourite shows.  He wasn't aware that he had auditioned for Happy Days until the audition was over.

* Scott was born with a visual impairment.  He has hereditary retinitis pigentosa or RP.  This results in "tunnel vision" and gradual loss of eyesight.  His condition was a major challenge for him during the time he was on Happy Days.  He had limited visual fields, no significant peripheral (side) vision and he had great difficulty adjusting his eyes to the stage lights.  He was also nearsighted, which suited his nerdy character well.  Scott managed to continue his work on Happy Days without anyone knowing that he was close to being legally blind.  If that had been known, he may not have been given the role back then.

SOURCES: Law Offices of Barry M. Greenberg, February 16, 2010; sitcoms online.com "Scott Bernstein: biography;"    Wikipedia; Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

- Joanne