Christopher Bernau (born Herbert Augustine Bernau, June 2, 1940 – June 14, 1989) was an American actor.

Filmography

*(''

Dark Shadows ''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinsport ...

'') (1969-1970) (Phillip Todd/Opening Voiceover) *(Broadway on Showtime) (1980) (

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

) *(''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'') (1977-1988) (Alan Spaulding)

Life and career

Bernau was born in Santa Barbara, California to Herbert Bernau, a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patien ...

, and Emma Bernau (nee Vercellino), a homemaker. Bernau showed a love for the theatre at an early age, and was frequently cast in high school plays. Bernau trained in the drama department at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

before getting his big break, appearing in the

New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions ar ...

's production of '' Antony and Cleopatra'' in 1962. He continued in that role until 1964, when he toured nationally in the production of ''

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of a middle-aged couple, Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive ...

'' These roles, in addition to performing at Canada's Stratford Festival, led to an appearance in a brief story arc on ''

'' in 1969 and 1970, where he portrayed Philip Todd. His most famous role, however, was that of villain

Alan Spaulding Alan Spaulding is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera '' Guiding Light''. He was played by Christopher Bernau from the time of the character's introduction in 1977 until 1984, and from 1986 to June 1988, when Bernau left the role due t ...

on the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

'', a role he played from 1977 to 1984 and again from 1986 until 1988. He left the show due to illness shortly before his death in 1989. Though his famous character was portrayed as a habitual womanizer, Bernau is considered to be one of the only truly " out" soap opera actors, as it was fairly well known by both the actors he worked with and the soap press at large that he was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Death

Bernau was diagnosed with HIV but continued to work on ''Guiding Light''. He left the show in the summer of 1988, when he became too ill to show up at work, with his role being recast with

Daniel Pilon Daniel Pilon (November 13, 1940 – June 26, 2018) was a Canadian actor, known for his role on ''Dallas'' as Renaldo "Naldo" Marchetta. Pilon was born in Montreal, Quebec. In addition to ''Dallas'', he has appeared in daytime soap operas such as ...

. Bernau died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

brought on by complications from AIDS on June 14, 1989 at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital (now

Mount Sinai West Mount Sinai West, opened in 1871 as Roosevelt Hospital, is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System. The 514-bed facility is located in the Midtown West neighborhood of New York City. The fac ...

) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at the age of 49. At first, Bernau's AIDS diagnosis was kept private, with his death certificate listing 'natural causes' as the cause of his death. He is buried at Santa Barbara Cemetery,

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

References

External links

* * *
Christopher Bernau
on

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1940 births 1989 deaths American gay actors American male soap opera actors Male actors from Santa Barbara, California AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) LGBT people from California 20th-century American male actors Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery 20th-century LGBT people {{US-actor-stub