Mark Linn-Baker’s appearance in a modern adaptation of Moliere’s “The Imaginary Invalid” at New World Stages may seem rooted in the past, but it’s his past.
The first New York City show the former star of TV’s “Perfect Strangers” did was an evening of Moliere plays directed by Andrei Serban.
“In many ways, this is full circle, coming around again,” Linn-Baker said of the Red Bull Theater production through June 29. “It’s set in some former century in France, but with a contemporary knowledge. I think it’s a very current adaptation.”
In the time since that Yale Rep production of Moliere plays, presented by the Public Theater, Linn-Baker has co-starred in “Perfect Strangers,” done countless TV guest appearances, movies, Broadway and Off Broadway.
A kind of everyman of theater, Linn-Baker in 1998 did a Roundabout Theatre Co. production of “A Flea in Her Ear” by Georges Feydeau. He also appeared in a Red Bull production of The School for Scandal.
He then talked with the group’s artistic director, Jesse Berger, about doing another project, settling on “The Imaginary Invalid.” They asked Jeffrey Hatcher to adapt the play. He co-stars with Sarah Stiles (who plays Bonnie Barella in “Billions”) in a production directed by Jesse Berger.
“It’s a 400-year-old comedy relevant because the comedic situations stand up,” he said. “There’s a reason it continues to be done after 400 years.”
An actor in theater, television, and film, and a St. Louis native, Linn-Baker likes living and acting in New York City. “Every background, income level, we all share the same streets,” he said.
His mother Joan (née Sparks), a dancer, and father, William Nelson Baker, co-founded the Open Stage Theater in Hartford, CT, while making money from other jobs.
“I was always there doing tech work, hanging the lights, running the light boards,” he said. “It was always part of what we did as a family, and it seemed important.”
Linn-Baker studied math at Yale University until a “huge, gorgeous” production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd set him on a new course. “I saw it a few times,” he said. “That’s what made me decide that’s what I wanted to do.”
He switched from math to psychology and then acting, first undergraduate and then graduating from the Yale School of Drama in 1979, cast in Woody Allen’s 1979 film “Manhattan” that year.
“It was at a time when the Yale Rep was part of the national culture. The work there regularly appeared in Time magazine and Newsweek,” he said. “There was newspaper coverage. The coverage of theater nationally is nonexistent.”
He did Shakespeare in the Park and joined the Actors Equity Association, where he lost his name and found his future. He couldn’t have the same first and last name as anyone in the union, regardless of middle initial.
“Standing at the Actors Equity building, signing up for my union membership, I had to make a choice,” he said. “I hyphenated my last name and middle name.”
Mark Linn-Baker was born and “lived like a rat on the Lower East Side,” barely getting by, but “fortunately, things started to click.” He was cast as Benjy Stone in the 1982 comedy “My Favorite Year,” opposite Peter O’Toole, about television’s early days.
“He’s trying to teach a woman how to tell a joke,” said Chaz McCormack, an actor who still remembers Linn-Baker’s performance. “They have Chinese takeout. The scene was funny. He held his own against Peter O’Toole.”
Linn-Baker made his Broadway debut in 1983 in “Doonesbury,” the musical based on the comic strip. He has stayed busy with a Wikipedia biography longer than a diner menu. He continued his career from theater to TV, Shakespeare to Sheridan, Marlowe and Moliere, as well as Neil Simon’s “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” and other classic comedies.
“You do it funny. That’s all there is to it. It’s mathematical. It’s a science,” he said. “If you do it right, you get the laugh.”
He went through COVID-19 (“Covid is not funny,” he said), and continues to act on stage, not simply screen.
“The satisfaction of creating something that I think is of value, that entertains people and has something to say,” he said of what motivates him to take the stage.
Doing Off Broadway theater is fulfilling, he added, but he needs to do other work to keep the cash flowing in. “A Broadway salary is doable,” he said. “If you’re not on Broadway, if you’re working Off-Broadway, you need to find some other income.”
Known for his role as Midwesterner Larry Appleton on “Perfect Strangers,” he has been busy lately with a recurring role on TV’s “Ghosts,” an appearance on “Succession,” and a string of TV guest appearances.
“When you start new theater work, a new film job, a new TV job, it’s the first day of school,” he said. “It’s new, but you’re there because somebody wanted you there. There are people you want to work with.”
While he has a huge body of work, to millions he remains the co-star of “Perfect Strangers,” becoming a kind of television friend to millions.
“What didn’t come from us? We did 150 episodes. In every episode, there’s stuff that came from us,” Linn-Baker said. “A lot of people watched that show on Friday nights with their families. They have great memories of watching that show being a family event.”
Linn-Baker has his own fond memories of that show and that time of his life, creating a steady stream of new episodes.
“It was the last physical comedy, I think, that was on television,” he said. “When we started, it was the last year that Lucille Ball had a show on the air. We visited her on her set.”
While many people say hard work and talent equal success, Linn-Baker says a little luck can help.
“I had opportunities to work that got great exposure in film, television and theater,” he said. “And that helped to create a career. It’s not something I was trying to do at the time.”
He has long felt he “was doing what I should be doing,” still memorizing scripts with the skill that comes from decades of practice. “It’s not a difficult thing for actors. Maybe it’s an aptitude,” he said. “Actors are able to remember.”
Talking soon before his June 17 birthday, he thinks more about his Off-Broadway show than birthday candles. “I will be doing what I love doing, working,” he said in general, not of that specific date.
His favorite place in New York, “at the moment,” is the Palm a block from the theater. “After the show, I can go there and have half a martini, put my head on the bar and rest,” he said.
What play would he like to do if he could pick one now? He paused, and after a few seconds of perfectly timed suspense, replied.
“Moliere’s ‘Imaginary Invalid,’” he said. “That’s the one I wanted to do, and that’s the one I’m getting to do right now.”
