Sal Viscuso

The dedication of Sal Viscuso to the craft of acting can be dated to a singular evening in 1967 A college freshman he happened upon a teleplay of Ronald Ribmans CBS Playhouse The Final War of Olly Winter 1967 and was so inspired by Ivan Dixons Emmywinning rendition of the title role that he entered the drama department the very next day later explaining I felt that there I had found my family He earned his BA from the University of California at Davis then went on to study with Olympia Dukakis at NYU School of the Arts from which he graduated with an MFA Opportunities presented themselves rapidly and Sal made his film debut in the classic The Taking of Pelham One Two Three 1974 An introduction to Burt Metcalfe associate producer of the iconic series MASH 1972 led to his move to Los Angeles and soon Sal was a regular on NBCs sitcom The Montefuscos 1975 He was an offscreen loudspeaker announcer as well as various other characters on MASH 1972 appeared in Gene Wilders homage to 1920s Hollywood The Worlds Greatest Lover 1977 improvised in Robert Altmans Three Women 1977 and played multiple parts on the beloved Barney Miller 1975 one of which was written especially for him by the shows creator Danny Arnold He was also to feature in what TIME magazine has rated as one of the Top 100 TV shows of all time Susan Harriss Soap 1977 His vocationally challenged Father Timothy Flotsky and the shows depiction of one of the first openly gay characters on network television created instant controversy that attracted 19 million viewers to the series premiere Shortly thereafter Sal commenced his professional association with the BancroftBrooks combine of talent first appearing in Anne Bancrofts Fatso 1980 and then in Mel Brooks Spaceballs 1987 about which he has remarked I continue to get more attention from that project than from anything Ive ever done