Ron Glass - Definition and Overview

Ron Glass as Shepherd Book in Firefly

Ron Glass (born July 10, 1945 in Evansville, Indiana) is an American actor, best known for his role as the witty Detective Ron Harris in the long-running television sitcom Barney Miller (1975-1982).

Graduating from Saint Francis Seminary in 1964, Glass was already as multi-talented as he was sociable. An excerpt from the 1964 graduation issue of the Brown & White states:

A man with as many talents as friends is Big "G" from Evansville, Indiana… tops in any sport… handles his subjects with ease… knows as many words as Webster and has the best voice in the school. Ron always steals the show with his solo when the Glee Club performs. He maintains that nothing can compare with opera in beauty, and that no one has seen real acting till he has seen a good Shakespearian actor. He eats the most in the class, is always borrowing some tobacco, is forever laughing...

Glass made his stage debut at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis before moving to Hollywood. His earliest TV appearances include episodes of Sanford and Son in 1972 and episodes of Good Times in 1974. In 1975, he landed the role of Det. Ron Harris in Barney Miller which ran until 1982. Since then, Glass has appeared in dozens of television series, including the Disney children's series Teen Angel where he played God and the science-fiction series Firefly (2002), in which he plays Shepherd Book, a religious man with a mysterious past. Glass himself is a Buddhist.

Glass will reprise his role from Firefly in the film Serenity (2005).

External links

• IMBD profile: Ron Glass (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0322002/)
• Franciscan Alumni Association: Ron Glass (http://www.franciscan-alumni.org/stories/glass.html)