Bernie Landis

1930 - 2012

(News article) A popular Toledo actor and salesman who gave up the shoe business for show biz and moved to Chicago, where his career in theater, film, and television took off, died April 21 in his Chicago home.

Bernie Landis, 82, suffered leukemia for 16 years; the cause of death was thyroid cancer, said his daughter, Ruthie Landis.

Among his film credits are Polish Bar (2010), The Poker House (2008), Under the City (2004), Joshua (2002), Madison (2001), While You Were Sleeping (1995), Only the Lonely (1991), and Vice Versa (1998). His TV credits include the movie Connie Banks the Actor (2011), and TV series Early Edition (1999, 2000), and The Untouchables (1993).

On the national stage, he frequently appeared before the footlights at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, of which he was a founding member; Ford's Theatre in Washington; Piven Theater in Evanston, Ill.; Steppenwolf Upstairs Theater in Chicago, and many regional and community theaters.

Ms. Landis said her father appeared in innumerable television commercials and also did TV voice-overs.

Born in Chicago on Feb. 8, 1930, Mr. Landis eloped to Toledo with his fiancee when he was 19.

He and his wife, Phyllis, just celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary, Ms. Landis said. The couple chose Toledo because his wife's family lived here.

He attended the University of Illinois and the University of Toledo before going to work for the former Lion Store in 1951. He also worked in clothing and shoe stores and as an advertising executive.

In 1961, he opened Be'Ray shoe store in the Colony district with a partner, all the while performing on a professional and nonprofessional basis.

In 1972, he and his wife opened Bernie Landis' Shoe Biz in the Starlite Plaza, using theater props for the store's decor, his daughter said. Customers sat in theater seats to be fitted, and they paid for their purchases at a specially built theater box office.

In a 1973 interview with The Blade, Mr. Landis said he wanted to hire young people who were interested in making theater their career.

"They will need to know how to make a living while they are in New York either studying or trying to make it in the theater," he said. "Learning about shoes and how to sell them will be a big advantage."

His daughter said Mr. Landis chose sales work because he needed to support his family.

"My dad looked at selling shoes as an actor would. You were playing a role," although he developed close relationships with his customers, she said.

Mr. Landis was a mainstay at the Toledo Repertoire Theatre and with Lynro Productions, which staged plays at the former State Theater on Collingwood Boulevard.

He also performed with the Summer Star Theater and Westgate Dinner Theater, among others.

He passed his love of the theater on to his daughter. Ms. Landis went on to study at Northwestern University and now is an actress, writer, director, and teacher in Chicago.

Mr. Landis and his daughter acted together in Toledo, and in 1981 they performed as father, Tevye, and eldest daughter, Tzeitel, in Fiddler on the Roof for a summer theater in upstate New York.

One of his most enduring roles, Ms. Landis said, was performing as Santa Claus for many years at an annual brunch sponsored by a Chicago-area department store. People would book tables a year in advance to give their children a chance to see him ad lib for two hours.

"I used to say, 'You're the best Jewish Santa I have ever seen,'?" said Astrig Tutelian, a longtime friend from Sylvania. "He was very funny, very genuine," Mrs. Tutelian said, adding that Mr. Landis had a deep, religious side to him.

The shoe business ended in the 1980s when he lost his lease at the Starlite Plaza.

But the closing opened the door to his professional acting career.

Ms. Landis, well-established in her career in Chicago theater, said she persuaded her father to move there and take advantage of the city's numerous stages.

"Within six months he was making twice as much money as he did in Toledo," she said.

She said closing the shoe store was providential.

"I said to my dad, 'The reason you lost your lease was because it was your time to come here.'?"

His breakthrough role was in The Price as Solomon, the antiques dealer. The show started in Chicago, moved to Broadway, and closed in Los Angeles, providing him with steady employment for more than two years, she said.

Despite the long run for The Price and other productions, Mr. Landis had "this great ability … to keep it fresh every performance. Every day he would come to it fresh and learn something new," said Ms. Landis, who served as her father's acting coach.

In 1985, he was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in the play The God of Isaac at Victory Gardens in Chicago. A decade later he again was nominated for a Jefferson Award for a supporting role in Greetings at the same theater.

A comedic and dramatic classical actor, Mr. Landis enjoyed roles in TV, film, and stage equally, although he had a special affection for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater he helped found, Ms. Landis said.

"At the end of his life, when he was talking about the Chicago Shakespeare Theater … he said, 'I feel that that is the place I belong to the most,'" she recalled.

Barbara Gaines, artistic director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, called Mr. Landis "one of Chicago's great actors."

"He had a huge and diverse talent and a generous heart and soul," Ms. Gaines said in an email. "He helped every actor he worked with by loving them unconditionally. He will be dearly missed."

In 2003, he was given the Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Richard Kneeland Award, an annual honor that recognizes an actor's "unique generosity of spirit."

He is survived by his wife, Phyllis Landis; son, Loren Landis; daughter Ruthie Landis, and three grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Weinstein Funeral Home, 111 Skokie Blvd., Wilmette, Ill.

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Screen Actors Guild Scholarship Fund or to the Actors' Fund.

Contact writer Jim Sielicki at: jsielicki@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.