David Schramm, star of '90s sitcom Wings , dies at 73
David Schramm, a theater actor and star of the sitcom Wings, has died at age 73.
Schwamm's publicist Rick Miramontez told EW that the actor was discovered dead yesterday in New York. The cause of death is not yet known. Margot Harley, Schramm's fellow co-founder of The Acting Company, a theater troupe based in New York City, said in a statement, "We mourn his loss and will miss him."
Hailing from Louisville, Ky., Schramm was among The Julliard School's first graduating class. In the late '70s and '80s, he appeared in off-Broadway productions like Shakespeare's King Lear, in which he played the titular monarch. In 1979, he starred on Broadway in Bedroom Farce, opposite Judith Ivey.
For many audiences, Schramm will always be known as Roy Biggins, the grumpy airline owner who was the rival of brothers Joe (Tim Daly) and Brian Hackett (Steven Webers) on Wings. The actor appeared in all 172 episodes of the sitcom, which ran from 1990-97.
Schramm knew Wings was going to be a hit from the start, saying in an interview once that getting the role was like landing "in a tub of butter."
"I knew when we started it was going to be a success. Not just because the writers had been involved with Cheers, Taxi, and Mary Tyler Moore," he said in 2008. "But when we sat around the table reading the first script, and I saw this buffoon they created for me, this pompous guy who said garish things to women, and all the other rich characters, I turned to Rebecca (Schull, who played Fay) and said, 'I think we've landed in a tub of butter.' And we did. If only I put the money I made under my mattress instead of in the stock market."
Schramm also appeared in television series like the miniseries Kennedy, Another World, and the short-lived series Working Girl opposite Sandra Bullock. His last TV credit was 1998's Hercules. The actor's film credits include Let It Ride (1989), Johnny Handsome (1989), and A Shock to the System (1990).
After Wings, Schramm returned to the stage. Between 2009 and 2010, Schramm appeared in the revival of Finian's Rainbow in New York and performed in productions at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey, the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., Pasadena Playhouse, and more.
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