Michael Constantine, the Greek Character Actor Who Gained Fame Playing the Jewish Principal on Room 222, Dead at 94

By Nicholas Stix

Michael Constantine played “Principal Seymour Kaufman” on Room 222, a breakthrough liberal dramedy that ran from from 1969-1974 on abc.

Note that of the series’ four main characters, two were black, including its star, Lloyd Haines.

Constantine was nominated for two Emmys for Best Supporting Actor, winning once.

One of the keys to Room 222’s success, was Jerry Goldsmith’s beautiful opening theme, which began with an acoustic guitar, which gives way to a hippy-dippy recorder (in tune with the times), and which later gave way to the lone horn, which was a Goldsmith signature.

Room 222: Original Opening theme, and a Later Version

David Gideon, who posted these two versions at youtube, wrote,

“Jerry Goldsmith employed a 7/8 time signature in this theme giving it a quirky, off-center feel. In later seasons it was ‘freshened’ with a few synthesizer gloops and you can compare the two versions and pick the one you like best.”

Michael Constantine had 386 TV and movie credits, including 113 appearances on Room 222, and at one point had his own, short-lived series, Sirota’s Court (13 episodes), in which he played a judge. He often played Italians and Jews.

Constantine appeared repeatedly in a bevy of other series, including hits like Quincy, M.E., Remington Steele, and Simon & Simon, and answers to trivia questions like Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Darkroom, and Amanda’s.

Late in Constantine’s career, he appeared in the hit movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), and a failed sequel (2003) and TV series (2016) based on it.