Emmy-nominated veteran actor Harris Yulin had another major TV role lined up when he died suddenly of cardiac arrest on June 10 at the age of 87 — he was set as a lead opposite Kevin Kline, Joe Tenney and Laura Linney in the upcoming MGM+ comedy American Classic. The half-hour series, from creators/executive producers Michael Hoffman and Bob Martin, had just started production in New York on Monday, with Yulin preparing to start filming his role this week before his passing.
Shooting on American Classic, from Fifth Season, with Mar-Key Pictures, Likely Story and Anonymous Content, is continuing. The schedule has been adjusted around Yulin’s scenes as the producing team is regrouping to figure out next steps, sources tell Deadline. The role Yulin was supposed to play, Linus, will likely be recast.
American Classic centers on Broadway star and notorious narcissist Richard Bean (Kline) who returns to his hometown and the family-run theater to discover that his father Linus, the former artistic director, has lost a step and that the once-respected theater, now run by his brother Jon (Tenney) and his wife (Linney) has become, by necessity, a low-rent dinner theater serving roast beef and murder mysteries.
According to his family, Yulin has been looking forward to working on American Classic with Hoffman, who had directed him in the 2005 film Game 6, and many other artists he was close with and admired. In addition to Kline, Tenney and Linney, the cast of the series includes Jane Alexander, whose husband Yulin was set to play, Jessica Hecht, Nell Verlaque, Billy Carter, Elise Kibler and Ajay Friese.
“Harris Yulin was very simply one of the greatest artists I have ever encountered,” Hoffman, who also is directing the American Classic pilot episode, said in a statement following Yulin’s death. “His marriage of immense technique with an always fresh sense of discovery, gave his work an immediacy and vitality and purity I’ve experienced nowhere else. And what he was as an actor, he was as a man, the grace, the humility, the generosity. All of us at American Classic have been blessed by our experience with him. He will always remain the beating heart of our show”.
Earlier this year another new streaming comedy, Hulu’s Mid-Century Modern, was faced with the unexpected death of one of its leads, Linda Lavin. She passed away during a production hiatus having filmed seven of the show’s 10 Season 1 episodes. The producers used the break to rework the remaining three scripts and Lavin’s character was written off with a proper goodbye.
