Robert Wuhl is an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television comedy series Arliss and for his portrayal of newspaper reporterAlexander Knox in Tim Burton's Batman and Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Early life
Wuhl was born in Union, New Jersey to a Jewish family. His father worked as a produce distributor. After attending Union High School, Wuhl headed to the University of Houston, where he was active in the drama department and the Epsilon-Omicron chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Wuhl was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater in April 2012.
Career
Wuhl's first role in movies was a starring role in the 1980 comedy The Hollywood Knights along with other fledgling actors Tony Danza, Michelle Pfeiffer and Fran Drescher, followed by a small role in the film Flashdance. Wuhl then had larger roles in movies including Good Morning, Vietnam with Robin Williams,Bull Durham with Kevin Costner, Tim Burton's 1989 Batman with Michael Keaton, Blaze with Paul Newman, Missing Pieces with Eric Idle, Mistress with Robert De Niro, Blue Chips with Nick Nolte, and Cobb with Tommy Lee Jones. He wrote two of the six episodes for the TV series Police Squad! in 1982, and did an audio commentary for its release on DVD in 2006. Wuhl once appeared on The Dating Game and The $10,000 Pyramid. Wuhl appeared with Keith Carradine in the 1985 music video to Madonna's hit "Material Girl". In 1992, he appeared in The Bodyguard as host of the Oscars. In reality he won two Emmy Awards for co-writing the Academy Awards in 1990 and 1991 with Billy Crystal. From 1996 to 2002 he wrote and starred in the HBO series Arli$$ as the title character, an agent for high-profile athletes. From 2000 to 2001, he was a frequent panelist on the ESPN game show 2 Minute Drill, often quizzing the contestants on sports-related movies. Wuhl was a player in the Game Show Network's Poker Royale series, a competition between pros and comedians. In 2006, he starred on HBO in a one-man-show, Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl, where he taught a history class to show how history is created and propagated in a similar fashion to pop culture. A second chapter entitled Assume the Position 201 with Mr. Wuhl aired on HBO in July 2007. Wuhl is currently developing a stage adaptation of "Assume the Position" at Ars Nova in New York City. He also hosted a sports, sports business and entertainment daily talk radio show, for Westwood One from January through December 2011. Wuhl occasionally fills in for Boomer Esiason on the Boomer and Carton show. He played a judge on the TNT series Franklin & Bash. He played Herb Tucker in a revival of the Neil Simon's 1979 play I Ought to Be in Pictures. In 2015, Wuhl portrayed himself on American Dad!, in the episode "Manhattan Magical Murder Mystery Tour". He then returned in 2017 to play himself again in the episode "The Talented Mr. Dingleberry". In 2019, he returned in the episode "One-Woman Swole" portraying himself as a judge in a bodybuilding contest.
