Stu Bergman

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Stu Bergman was a fictional character in the now-cancelled American soap opera, Search for Tomorrow. The part was played for almost all of the show's 35 years by Larry Haines.

[edit] Jo's best friend

Stu lived in the fictional community of Henderson with his wife, Marge (Melba Rae), and his children Janet and later, their son, Tommy (played famously by John James and Robert LuPone).

They were next-door neighbors and best friends of the recently widowed Joanne Gardner. The Bergmans always were able to bring a smile to Jo's face, whenever she needed their advice, or good cheer.

Just as Jo and Marge were best friends, their daughters, Janet and Patti, also became best friends. Stu and Marge were together for almost twenty years when in 1971, she died. (Since actress Melba Rae, who played Marge had just died too, the character was not recast).

Because the house had too many memories of Marge, Stu and Tommy moved in with Janet and her new husband, Wade Collins (John Cunningham). Jo and Stu remained best friends and cronies afterwards.

Stu eventually got over his grief for Marge and married a woman named Ellie Harper (Billie Lou Watt). She proved to be a great wife to Stu for a long time, but she eventually ran off with the temperamental chef at the Hartford House, the inn that he and Jo ran together.

Stu and Jo were related as her father, Frank Gardner, had married his widowed mother. They were stepsiblings, but they truly cared for one another. He was also the grandfather of Gary Walton (Rick Lohman); Liza Walton Sentell; and Danny Walton (Cain DeVore); their father was the late Dr. Dan Walton, Janet's second husband. During the Travis and Liza storyline, Stu was tied into it, as Liza was his granddaughter; and Martin Tourneur, Travis's uncle was married to Jo.

In the last episode, after Stu and Jo had been at her daughter Patti's wedding to Hogan McCleary, Jo was looking up at the sky, and Stu, who had been through it all with Jo, asked what she was searching for. She replied, "Tomorrow, and I can't wait!" Then the two long time best friends hugged.

[edit] Trivia

During his time on Search for Tomorrow, Larry Haines, who played Stu, teamed up again with Rick Lohman, who played his grandson, Gary Walton, to play in-laws on the short lived sitcom, Phyl and Mikhy.

Larry played the father in-law, Max Wilson, a University track coach, and Rick played Mikhail "Mikhy" Orloff, a track star from Russia who was married his daughter, Phyllis (Murphy Cross). The language barrier was bad for Mikhy, who, unfortunately for him, his Russian accent made the word "Dad" sound like "dead", to Max's dismay.