Peter Bonerz

Graduated with a BS degree in 1960 at Marquette University, where he was part of a theater group of players.

Moved to New York in the early 1960s and joined The Premise, an improv group. After a stint as a draftee in the U.S. Army, he hooked up with The Committee, another improv troupe situated in San Francisco.

Bonerz first acted on stage in a production of "Agamemnon" at Columbia University in 1961.

In Medium Cool (1969), he played a fictional news cameraman during the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. On the set of "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972), he actually learned to work behind the camera as a director. The show was filmed in Los Angeles but set in Chicago.

Best known on TV for his co-starring role as curly-haired Jerry Robinson, an eccentric dentist on Bob Newhart comedy series. The show, which began in 1972, ran for six seasons--with ratings among the top 20 in the first three seasons.