Sam Behrens (born Stanley Birnbaum; July 24, 1950) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Jake Meyer on the ABC daytime soap opera ''
General Hospital'', Danny Waleska in the CBS prime time soap opera ''
Knots Landing'' and as
Gregory Richards in the NBC daytime soap opera, ''
Sunset Beach''.
Life and career
Behrens was born Stanley Birnbaum to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
, New York. He is of German ancestry on his paternal side. He has been married to
Shari Belafonte since December 31, 1989.
Behrens began his soap opera career on ABC's ''
Ryan's Hope'', playing Dr. Adam Cohen from 1979 to 1980. In 1980s. he moved from New York to Los Angeles, when was cast as Jake Meyer on ''
General Hospital'' from 1983 to 1987. After recurring role on the NBC legal drama series, ''
L.A. Law'', Behrens was cast as Danny Waleska,
Valene Ewing's (
Joan Van Ark) new husband. He won
Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain: Prime Time for this role in 1991.
Behrens also guest starred on ''
The Facts of Life'' and ''
Murder, She Wrote'', and played major roles in a number of made for television movies in early 1990s. He also had the recurring role in the ABC drama series, ''
Homefront'' in 1993. In film, Behrens had supporting parts in ''
American Blue Note'' (1989), and ''
Alive'' (1993).
From 1997 to 1999, Behrens starred alongside
Lesley-Anne Down and other actors in the NBC daytime soap opera ''
Sunset Beach'' produced by
Aaron Spelling. He received two additional nominations for
Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain: Daytime.
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Behrens, Sam
1950 births
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male soap opera actors
Jewish American male actors
Living people
Male actors from New York City
People from Brooklyn
21st-century American Jews