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Charles Siebert, a dependable actor from the 1970s to the early 1990s, balanced his career between live theater and film/television as both an actor and director. Born in 1938 in Wisconsin as the eldest of four children, he began his career after attending journalism school at Marquette University and serving in the U.S. Army during the 1960s. After marrying his college sweetheart, Catherine Kilzer, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. The couple later returned to the U.S. with their English-born son, Christopher, settling in New York City, where they had two more children, Charles Andrew and Gillian.
Charles worked in various regional theater productions before advancing to Broadway and off-Broadway roles. He debuted on Broadway in Galileo (1967) and appeared in notable New York plays such as The Gingerbread Lady (1970) alongside Tony winner Maureen Stapleton, Sticks and Bones (1972), and the 1974 revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Elizabeth Ashley, in which he played Gooper. He was also part of the 1968 musical Jimmy Shine featuring Dustin Hoffman. Concurrently, Charles appeared in New York-based daytime soaps including Search for Tomorrow, Another World, and As the World Turns.
In the mid-1970s, Charles moved to Los Angeles, where he appeared in numerous commercials and guest roles on popular TV series of the era, such as All in the Family, Rhoda, Barnaby Jones, One Day at a Time, Maude, Kojak, and The Rockford Files. A notable role was his portrayal of Helen Keller's father in the 1979 TV movie The Miracle Worker, starring Melissa Gilbert as Helen and Patty Duke as Annie Sullivan. For seven seasons, he co-starred as Dr. Stanley Riverside, chief of emergency services, on Trapper John, M.D. (1979) alongside Pernell Roberts and Gregory Harrison. During this time, he developed a strong interest in directing and directed several episodes of the series.
Throughout his career, Charles performed with some of the finest regional theaters in the U.S., including San Francisco's ACT in its inaugural year; Chicago's Goodman Theatre; The Theatre Company of Boston; Baltimore's Center Stage; The McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey; the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut; and seven seasons at the Williamstown Summer Theatre in Massachusetts. In the 1990s, he became primarily known as a TV director for shows like Knots Landing, Silk Stalkings, The Pretender, Hercules, and Xena: Warrior Princess.
After the death of his first wife, Catherine, in 1981, Charles remarried in 1986 to Kristine Leroux, a former real estate executive, who brought three children into the family. Of his three children, both Christopher and Charles Jr. pursued careers in jazz music as leading members of the band Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers. Charles Sr. is now retired and living contentedly with his wife in Northern California's wine country.
