Catch up with Larry from 'Three's Company'

Three's a charm

Richard Kline in 2001; (inset) Kline in character during his "Three's Company" days in 1981.

(PEOPLE) -- From 1977 through 1984, viewers tuning in to "Three's Company" watched the unctuous Larry Dallas brag about his way with the ladies to Jack, Janet and Chrissy (and, later, to Cindy and Terri), his neighbors in apartment 201.

When Larry was around, the sleaze factor was sure to skyrocket. He was "the classic horny next-door neighbor," says Richard Kline, now 51, the native New Yorker who made the role famous. But even without the help of his TV neighbors, Kline has worked successfully and steadily on the stage and screen and behind the scenes since the show's end.

"Three's Company" is just a small note in a long resume of Kline's performances. Most recently, he guest-starred on "Judging Amy," "Gilmore Girls," and "NYPD Blue," as well as Nickelodeon's "Noah Knows Best." Yet his return to another full-time sitcom role, playing Gene Schwartz, father to title character Adam Schwartz on the now-canceled 2001 sitcom "Inside Schwartz," was brief.

MORE STORIES PEOPLE COVER STORY: Matthew Perry: Happy, Healthy and Hot!  More from PEOPLE.COM    RESOURCES PEOPLE.COM PROFILE: Get to know your favorite star    E-MAIL Want more from PEOPLE.COM? Sign up  for free e-mails   He oozed sleaze on "Three's Company," but Richard Kline went on to have a respectable career after the sitcom's demise.

Yet it was just a pit stop on the journey Kline's been taking since 1971, when he started his acting career onstage at New York's Lincoln Center, as part of its esteemed repertory company. He debuted on Broadway 20 years later in "City of Angels" and also played Jeeves in the 1996 American premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "By Jeeves."

Kline has also found success directing stage and screen productions. In 1990 he won the L.A. Drama Critics' Award for directing Noel Coward's "Present Laughter," and later directed a number of episodes of the CBS comedy "Evening Shade," which starred Burt Reynolds. Kline also directed the 1997 award-winning one-man show by Los Angeles NBC weatherman Fritz Coleman, "It's Me! Dad!," for both television and stage.

"I just consider myself a working actor," Kline says of his journeyman status. "I'll do theater, sitcoms, TV or film. As long as I don't have to eat bugs -- I wouldn't do 'Fear Factor.'" Kline has also been teaching comedy workshops in Los Angeles, "with an emphasis on, go figure, sitcoms," he says. He is currently preparing to star in the comedy "Caught in the Act," slated for a regional theater in Kansas City.

On the personal front, he also recently married the former Beverley Osgoode, a masseuse from Montreal. "The third time is the charm," Kline says of his new marriage. "This time is forever." It just might be: After all, he's already had success with the number three. And though Kline has fond memories of his "Three's Company" days, his favorite project is daughter Colby, who will be starting her freshman year at her dad's alma mater, Northwestern University, in the fall -- and following in his footsteps as a musical-theater major.