Peter Thomas Scolari (September 12, 1955 – October 22, 2021) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Henry Desmond on Bosom Buddies (1980–1982), Michael Harris on Newhart (1984–1990), and Wayne Szalinski on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997–2000).
In 1972, he enrolled at Occidental College in Los Angeles as a theater arts major, but left a year later and returned to New York after his father died. He joined the Colonnades Theatre Lab, a repertory theatre in Manhattan, working with actors such as Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Jeff Goldblum and Michael O'Keefe. Scolari was also working on a degree in comparative literature at City College of New York. During this time, Scolari appeared in multiple off-Broadway plays and met Finnish actor Paavo Tammim, who taught him to juggle. He also studied mime and learned to ride a unicycle. His performance in a 1974 production of "Reflections" received a rave review from The New York Times.
In 1979 he returned to Los Angeles.
Scolari was signed to do an NBC pilot in 1979 titled The Further Adventures Of Wally Brown, a show that did not get picked-up. He starred in the short-lived 1980 sitcom Goodtime Girls as Benny, the juggling neighbor of the title characters.
Scolari was married four times. His first marriage was to Brooklyn attorney Lisa Kretzchmar. They divorced in 1983. He was married to Debra Steagal in 1986, a costume designer that he met while filming The Rosebud Beach Hotel and with whom he had two children. He later wed actress Cathy Trien, with whom he also had two children. In 2013 he married his longtime girlfriend, actress Tracy Shayne. The couple remained together until Scolari's death.
In 1984 Scolari joined the cast of Newhart as Michael Harris, a preppily-dressed, wannabe yuppie, and local TV producer of the fictional talk show "Vermont Today". Harris was a recurring character in the show's second season and the character was so popular with audiences that executive producer Barry Kemp signed Scolari to be a regular cast member in the show's following season, before it was even confirmed that there would be a third season. His role earned Scolari three Emmy nominations for best supporting actor in a comedy and remained with the show until its conclusion in 1990. During this time, Scolari also got to showcase his vaudevillian talents during three episodes of the annual television special, Circus of the Stars, including juggling with knives and fire, as well as juggling on a tightrope.
In 1993, Scolari starred in the series Family Album about a couple who move with their children back to their hometown of Philadelphia to be closer to their aging parents. Actress Gina Hecht was initially selected to play the wife of Scolari's character, but was replaced by Pamela Reed just two days before the show's pilot was shot. Scolari told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 1993 that he and Reed had "instant rapport", however the show lasted one season. Two years later he starred in the series Dweebs, which centers around the employees of a software firm. Scolari plays Warren Mosbey, the company's eccentric, socially-inept, tech-genius owner. The show was cancelled after one season.
In 1996, Scolari also starred as Littlechap in a version of the stage musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, produced for the A&E television network.
He later had a recurring role as Tad Horvath, the father of Lena Dunham's character on HBO's Girls, for which he won an Emmy in 2016. He played Gotham City’s corrupt police commissioner Gillian B. Loeb in Fox'’s superhero crime drama Gotham from 2014 to 2019. He played the role of a show business manager in the 2019 biographical miniseries Fosse/Verdon, and played Bishop Marx on the series Evil, from 2019 until his death.
Scolari received three Emmy nominations for his work on Newhart and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his recurring role as Tad Horvath on Girls in 2016.
Scolari died from leukemia in Manhattan on October 22, 2021, at age 66. He had been diagnosed with the disease two years earlier.