Robert Harper

Robert Harper was an American actor who worked in theater, film and television. He grew up in Middletown Township, New Jersey and earned a degree in English literature from Rutgers University before taking a job at Arena Stage, where he appeared in works by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Miller and Wilder. His Broadway work included The Inspector General, a revival of Once in a Lifetime and the original company of Arthur Miller's The American Clock. Harper was best known as Sharkey in Once Upon a Time in America (1984) and played Charlie Gereson in Creepshow (1982); other films included Final Analysis (1992), The Insider (1999) and Molly (1999). He often played lawyers, among them Bubba Weisberger on the sitcom Frank's Place from 1987 to 1988, a performance a Chicago Tribune review praised.