Brad Garrett

Actor-comedian

• Born: April 14, 1960
• Place of Birth: Oxnard, California

Contribution: Brad Garrett is an Emmy Award–winning actor and comedian best known for his roles on the sitcoms Everybody Loves Raymond and ‘Til Death.

Background

Brad Garret was born Bradley H. Gerstenfeld on April 14, 1960, in Oxnard, California and grew up in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles. He and his two brothers were brought up by their father, Al Gerstenfeld, a geriatrics hearing aid specialist, and their mother, Barbara, a homemaker.

Garrett graduated from El Camino Real High School in 1978 and then attended the University of California, Los Angeles, dropping out after six weeks to pursue stand-up comedy. He was able to make a career of stand-up, performing in various clubs and comedy houses in and around Los Angeles, including the Ice House in nearby Pasadena and the Improv in Hollywood.

Career

Garrett’s success led him to become a contestant on the talent competition television show Star Search, which featured aspiring entertainers competing in a variety of categories such as singing, dancing, and comedy. Garrett proved to be a skilled impressionist, and this, combined with audience-favorite self-deprecating jokes about his own almost seven-foot height, made him the first grand champion in the comedy category in 1984. He won the $100,000 prize in addition to gaining national exposure for his stand-up act.

Garrett’s win on Star Search earned him an invitation to perform on The Tonight ShowStarring Johnny Carson. As a result of this exposure, Garrett began landing top-billing jobs at high-profile performance venues in Las Vegas.

As Garrett’s fame as a comic increased, he began to receive offers to appear on television, initially on popular game shows such as Super Password and Family Feud. More television work followed into the late 1980s, with Garrett acquiring voice work on such animated shows as Transformers and Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling. In 1988 Garrett was cast in the lead of a CBS sitcom called First Impressions, in which he used his real-life impression skills to play a single dad who works as an impressionist. The show fared poorly and only lasted eight episodes before it was cancelled.

Similar work continued into the 1990s, as Garrett was able to find somewhat steady work as a voice actor on the animated show Biker Mice from Mars. He also appeared in a 1996 episode of the hugely popular NBC sitcom Seinfeld, in which he played an unstable car mechanic. Garrett’s appearance on this show earned him more critical notice, and he appeared later that year in a regular supporting role on the NBC sitcom The Pursuit of Happiness, which was cancelled after thirteen episodes.

Garrett received his big break in 1996 when he was cast on CBS’s Everybody Loves Raymond, a family sitcom based on the stand-up comedy of Ray Romano. The show revolved around the lives and family squabbles of the Barones, an Italian American family living in Lynbrook, New York. Garrett played police officer Robert Barone, the ever-depressed and jealous brother of Romano’s Ray Barone, a successful sportswriter for Newsday.

Everybody Loves Raymond was a gigantic hit, winning wide critical praise and multiple Emmy Awards. Over the show’s nine-year run, Garrett won three Primetime Emmys for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series and was nominated for two more.

Due to Garrett’s acclaimed performance on the show, he began to receive offers for more mainstream film and television appearances. In 1999 he appeared in a small role in Woody’s Allen’sSweet and Lowdown before appearing briefly with Alan Alda in the 2001 drama Club Land.

Garrett was nominated for another Emmy and for a Screen Actors Guild Award when he starred as comedian Jackie Gleason in the 2002 television biopic Gleason. After lending his voice to a fish character in the 2003 Disney-Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, Garrett went on to act in a supporting role in the 2005 Vin Diesel comedy The Pacifier.

Even after Everybody Loves Raymond ended in 2005, Garrett had no trouble finding work. He won the 2005 championship of Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown before appearing in a Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. In 2007 Garrett was cast in a supporting role in the film Music and Lyrics, starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, and then went on to voice an adviser to a wannabe-chef rat in the animated film Ratatouille.

In 2006 Garrett became the vehicle for his own sitcom, ‘Til Death, which premiered on Fox that fall. The series focused on Garrett’s Eddie Stark and his wife of twenty-five years dealing with a young newlywed couple who have moved in next door. The show lasted four seasons until 2010.

Following the cancellation, Garrett lent his voice to the animated films Tangled (2010), Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011), the Planes series of animated films (2013, 2014), The Clockwork Girl (2014), and appeared in the film The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013). He returned to television in 2013 for the ABC series How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life), but the show only lasted one season. He also appeared on CBS's sitcom The Crazy Ones (2013–14), which was one of Robin Williams's last works before his August 2014 suicide.

In the mid-to-late 2010s, Garrett's work included more voice roles and television appearances. In 2015, he was featured on the television series Fargo, playing the role of Joe Bulo over five episodes. He also appeared in Manhattan (2015), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2016), This Is Us (2016), Bull (2017), I'm Dying Up Here (2018), and Tangled: The Series (2018–19). Starting in 2018, he starred as Douglas Fogerty, a single dad and support group member, on ABC's Single Parents. During this time, he took on voice roles for Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and Finding Dory (2016). He also reprised the voice of Eeyore, which he had first performed for a Disney Winnie the Pooh video game in 1995, in two Disney features, Christopher Robin (2018) and Ralph Breaks the Internet. The latter was the second installment of the Wreck-It-Ralph franchise. Garrett then appeared in a variety of television programs, including playing Bruce Harvey in High Desert (2023) and voicing the Kraken in Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years (2021-2024).

Impact

Garrett’s sharp style of humor and skill in impressions made him a stand-up star by his early twenties. He had trouble breaking into acting, however, appearing in various unpopular and short-lived series until he received his big break playing Robert Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond. Garrett’s hulking size and perfect delivery solidified his status as an iconic comedic actor, and his unique baritone voice has guaranteed him success in a number of popular animated films.

Personal Life

In 1999 Garrett married Jill Diven, but they divorced in 2007. They have a son, Maxwell Bradley, born in 1998, and a daughter, Hope Violet, born in 2000. Garrett owns a comedy club in Las Vegas and teaches acting and stand-up classes. He also fundraises for his charity, the Maximum Hope Foundation, which provides financial assistance to families of severely ill children.

Bibliography

"Brad Garrett." Internet Movie Database, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0004951/ Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.

“Brad Garrett: Biography.” TV Guide. CBS Interactive Inc., n.d. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.

Garrett, Brad. “Brad Garrett Returns in New Show, ‘How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life).’” Interview by Shelley Ernling. Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 9 Apr. 2013. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.

Leach, Robin. “Brad Garrett Opens His Comedy Club Tonight at MGM Grand.” Las Vegas Sun. Las Vegas Sun, 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.

Lee, Ken. “Brad Garrett’s Divorce Is Finalized.” People. Time Inc., 5 Nov. 2011. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.

Ouzounian, Richard. “Not Everybody Loves Brad.” Toronto Star. Toronto Star Newspapers, 20 July 2013. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.

Steinberg, Jacques. “As Emmy Buzz Begins to Fade, Talk of a ‘Raymond’ Spinoff.” New York Times. New York Times Co., 20 Sept. 2005. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.