'Wings' Alum Steven Weber Mourns 'Kind' Co-Star David Schramm's Death

Wings star Steven Weber shared tributes to co-star David Schramm on Twitter late Sunday. Schramm's [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Wings star Steven Weber shared tributes to co-star David Schramm on Twitter late Sunday. Schramm's death was announced on Sunday by Margot Harley, the co-founder of The Acting Company. Weber, who can now be seen on NBC's Indebted, remembered Schramm as a "fantastic" actor and "kind" man.

"David Schramm was quite simply a fantastic actor," Weber tweeted. "His timing was never less than perfect, his professionalism was always on display. He was kind. It was an honor and a pleasure to have been able to work with him. We are so grateful for the show's fans and for their kindness."

Schramm was 73. Harley did not provide a cause of death or further details. "We mourn his loss and will miss him," she said in a brief statement.

Schramm was born in Louisville, Kentucky and a classically trained actor who graduated from the Juilliard School.

Following a decade on the stage, Schramm was cast as the blustery airline owner Roy Biggins on Wings, which aired on NBC from 1990 to 1997. Schramm appeared in all 172 episodes of the eight-season show, which was created by Cheers veterans David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee. Weber and Tim Daly starred as brothers Joe and Brian Hackett, who operated an airline out of a Nantucket, Massachusetts airport. The series also starred Crystal Bernard, Thomas Haden Church, Rebecca Schull and Tony Shalhoub.

After Wings wrapped, Schramm focused almost exclusively on stage work. He toured the country and appeared in several Broadway productions. He last appeared on Broadway in a 2009 revival of Finian's Rainbow.

Before appearing in Wings, Schramm appeared in episodes of The Equalizer, Miami Vice and Spenser: For Hire. He also played Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in the 1983 miniseries Kennedy.

In a 2008 interview with NJ.com, Schramm said he knew Wings would be a success the moment he started work on it because of the writers' pedigree.

"I knew when we started it was going to be a success," he said at the time. "Not just because the writers had been involved with Cheers, Taxi and Mary Tyler Moore. But when we sat around the table reading the first script, and I saw this buffoon they created for me, this pompous guy who said garish things to women, and all the other rich characters, I turned to Rebecca (Schull, who played Fay) and said, 'I think we've landed in a tub of butter.' And we did. If only I put the money I made under my mattress instead of in the stock market."

Weber can be seen in Indebted, which airs on NBC Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. ET. He also stars in Netflix's 13 Reasons Why and had a recurring role on HBO's Ballers.

Photo credit: NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

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