Robert Hays

An earnest, boyishly handsome actor, Robert Hays has often adopted an amusing deadpan expression as well-meaning but clueless romantic leads caught up in farcical situations. A "Marine brat," Hays was born in Bethesda, Maryland but grew up in Turkey, India and England before graduating from high school in Nebraska. Attending college in San Diego, he caught the theater bug after studying acting for a semester and promptly joined the Actor's Guild at the Old Globe Theater. Hays stayed with the company for five years, performing in plays ranging from Richard III to The Glass Menagerie to Say Who You Are, winning the Globe's Atlas award for the latter. He was roommates with actor David Leisure in college, who would later play a Hare Krishna in both Airplane films.

He started out in TV as a guest on such shows as The Rockford Files, The Streets of San Francisco, Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat and Wonder Woman. He was also in the TV movies Delta County, U.S.A. (1977) with Jeff Conaway, the horror camp classic The Initiation of Sarah (1978) with Shelley Winters and directed by Tom Holland and The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything with Pam Dawber. He was also in the miniseries The Young Pioneers (1978) with Linda Purl. He was also in the ABC sitcom Angie (1979 -1980) with Donna Pescow and Doris Roberts. He is probably best known for his roles in film as pilot Ted Striker in Airplane! (also known as Flying High) and its 1982 sequel, he was also in the films Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Utilities (1983), Stephen King's Cat's Eye (1985), Honeymoon Academy (1989), Fifty/Fifty (1992), Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) Robert Altman's Dr. T & the Women (2000) and Superhero Movie (2008). In 1984 he was in a TV adaptation of Mr. Roberts with Charles Durning.

He was in the short-lived Starman series, based on the John Carpenter film. He played "Bud", the man thought to be Hyde's dad, in several episodes of That '70s Show. He was the very first celebrity guest on The Larry Sanders Show (1992). He has performed in many television movies and done voice work, such as the title character in the Marvel Comics adaptation of Iron Man. In 2013, Hays appeared in a slapstick-laden TV spot promoting tourism in Wisconsin, which also reunited him with Airplane! co-director David Zucker. He was also in the holiday TV movies Christmas Every Day (1996) and The Santa Trap (2002) with Shelly Long. He has also been a guest on such shows as The Larry Sanders Show. Touched by an Angel, The Outer Limits, Spin City and the TV movie Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014). Hays married musician and singer Cherie Currie (The Runaways) on May 12, 1990. The couple have a son, Jake. Hays and Currie divorced in 1997 after seven years of marriage.