Robert Pastorelli is good company as a gruff man with something unexpected to say. His partnership with Candice Bergen in Murphy Brown gives us the clearest reason to seek out his work.
Fi1m perspective
The housepainter has opinions. As Eldin Bernecky in Murphy Brown (1988), Robert Pastorelli gets to be a confidant as well as a man with a practical job, and the eccentricity has somewhere to go. Candice Bergen’s Murphy is funny, capable and difficult; Pastorelli gives her someone worth talking to without making her easier to manage. We warmed to Eldin because his philosophical bent makes him interesting company even before there is a joke to deliver. Pastorelli and Bergen are comfortable letting these two people remain awkward.
He had come through small television and film parts as streetwise characters before Murphy Brown provided the breakthrough. Timmons in Dances with Wolves (1990) was his first substantial film role. Kevin Costner’s patient Western is worth the long journey, despite its too-reassuring view of Sioux life. Its warmth and attention to character suit an actor whose appeal depends on giving a supporting figure a little individuality. It is a useful next stop after the sitcom, provided the slower pace appeals.
There are limits to how much the cast can do for the material. The secretary gags and musical routines in Murphy Brown are less rewarding than Bergen’s difficult, capable lead, and she remains the main reason we recommend the programme. Pastorelli’s contribution is the rapport beside her, where an eccentric supporting character has a purpose beyond being odd. Film work also used his tougher edge in Eraser (1996), while Michael (1996) placed him in a fantasy comedy alongside John Travolta.
Leading television roles in Double Rush (1995) and the American Cracker (1997) offered a different test. Neither series lasted long, so we would be wary of treating the leading credits alone as a guide to what to watch. The work we return to is the comedy beside Bergen, where his philosophical housepainter has somebody formidable to talk to. Start there, and allow for the occasional routine that tries too hard.
Biography
Robert Joseph Pastorelli was an American actor. Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he began his career with stage work in New York in the 1970s before moving to Los Angeles in 1982.
He appeared in supporting film roles including Vinnie in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and Timmons in Dances with Wolves (1990). On television he played Eldin Bernecky in the series Murphy Brown for seven seasons from 1988 to 1994, and he received an Emmy nomination for the role.
Pastorelli died in Hollywood Hills, California, in 2004.
