Sam Behrens (born Stanley Birnbaum; July 24, 1950) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jake Meyer on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital, Danny Waleska in the CBS prime time soap opera Knots Landing and as Gregory Richards in the NBC daytime soap opera, Sunset Beach.
Life and career Behrens was born Stanley Birnbaum to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City. He is of German ancestry on his paternal side. He has been married to Shari Belafonte since December 31, 1989.
Behrens began his soap opera career on ABC's Ryan's Hope, playing Dr. Adam Cohen from 1979 to 1980. In the 1980s, he moved from New York to Los Angeles, when he was cast as Jake Meyer on General Hospital from 1983 to 1987. After a recurring role on the NBC legal drama series, L.A. Law, Behrens was cast as Danny Waleska, Valene Ewing's (Joan Van Ark) new husband. He won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain: Prime Time for this role in 1991. Behrens also guest-starred on The Facts of Life and Murder, She Wrote, and played major roles in a number of made-for-television movies in the early 1990s. He also had a recurring role in the ABC drama series, Homefront in 1993. In film, Behrens had supporting parts in American Blue Note (1989), and Alive (1993).
From 1997 to 1999, Behrens starred alongside Lesley-Anne Down and other actors in the NBC daytime soap opera Sunset Beach produced by Aaron Spelling. He received two additional nominations for Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain: Daytime.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1979—1980 Ryan's Hope Dr. Adam Cohen Series regular1983 Star 80 BusinessmanUncredited1983—1987 General Hospital Jake Meyer Series regular1988 L.A. Law Charles Craft 3 episodes The Facts of Life Wes Mitchell 2 episodes Murder, She Wrote Kevin Styles Episode: "J.B.. as in Jailbird"1989 American Blue Note Nat Joy 1989—1990 Knots Landing Danny Waleska 36 episodesSoap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain: Prime Time (1991)1990 Unspeakable Acts Herschell Television film Uncut Gem Lewis Television film Murder by Numbers Lee 1991 Murder, She Wrote Steve Lockner Episode: "Unauthorized Obituary" And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird Steve Franklin 1992 Beyond Reality The Man Episode: "Dancing with the Man"1993 Alive Javier Methol Homefront Phil Havel 4 episodes1994 Viper Frederick Lang Episode: "Past Tense" Shadow of Obsession Philip Television film1995TummyRichard Power1996 Bermuda Triangle John Television film1997—1999 Sunset Beach Gregory RichardsTobias Richards Series regularNominated — Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain (1997—1999)2002 That's Life Robert Comiskey Episode: "Baum's Thesis" The Young and the Restless Maxwell Hollister Recurring role 2007 The Closer Ken Scott Episode: "Lovers Leap"2017Confessions of a Teenage Jesus JerkElder2019Gloria BellMan #1
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