Veteran Actor Steve Guttenberg Recalls 'Wonderful Upbringing' On Long Island

MASSAPEQUA, NY — There are numerous highlights for an acting career spanning six decades. But Steve Guttenberg started to see into his future while growing up in Massapequa.

“When I was 11 years old, I was at my grandmother's bedside,” Guttenberg told Patch. “'I think I want to be an actor.'”

The bug bit Guttenberg, and we would see him scratch that itch with roles in “Diner,” “Police Academy” franchise and “Three Men and a Baby.”

Before any dreams would materialize, including a new play about taking on Hollywood as a 20-something actor, life was simple for Guttenberg.

“I had a wonderful upbringing,” he said. “My parents were a dream. Two wonderful sisters.”

Guttenberg's family trekked east from Massapequa when he was in the second grade.

“No cell phones. No computers. Three channels on the television,” he recalled. “You used your imagination, a baseball and a bat, and your bicycle.”

Guttenberg's passion for the arts took hold when he joined the Nassau County-based Teen Repertory Theater when he was 12.

“I started doing children's play like 'Rumpelstiltskin,' 'Prince and the Pauper' and 'Snow White,'” he recalled.

At age 13, Guttenberg got encouragement from a family friend in California: actor Michael Bell, who was gaining success in TV and movies.

It wasn't until Guttenberg was a senior at Plainedge High School that he would tell friends about his career desires. Before that point, “it wasn't in the conversation.”

One way his friends got to see Guttenberg perform was in the school's production of the musical “Applause.”

Three days after graduating from Plainedge, Guttenberg, at age 17, looked to grab his rainbow as he left for Hollywood.

Now, Guttenberg is telling his story in play form. Based on his 2012 memoir, “Tales from the Guttenberg Bible” is running through May 21 at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After that, he'll bring the show that looks at his first 10 years in show business to Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theater.

“Then we'll see where it goes from there,” Guttenberg said.

The show features Guttenberg as himself from ages 17-28, and four other actors portraying a total of 90 real-life characters who crossed paths with Guttenberg, such as Paul Reiser, Merv Griffin and Tom Selleck.

The show explores topics including his Jewish upbringing, family life, ambition, innocence and kindness.

There is kindness in Guttenberg's voice when he talks about his family still in the region, including his sister Judy in Fanwood, New Jersey, and “practically my brother” Joey Pappalardo, who still lives in Plainedge.

“I was just at Joey's house around Easter,” Guttenberg said. "We're regular people."

Joey owns Pappalardo's Pizza Cove on Hicksville Road — a spot Guttenberg regularly frequented as a teen.

Another person who was at the pizzeria often was Edward Byrne, a NYPD officer, who was gunned down in 1988 at 22 years old.

“Eddie lived just around the block from my family,” Guttenberg said. “I knew the whole family.”

The opportunities for Guttenberg to return to the old neighborhood let him relive memories, as he is doing in the play.

It was his good friend, Hollywood producer Julian Schlossberg, who convinced Guttenberg that the book could be easily transferred into the play. The show was delayed a few years as Guttenberg's father was ill before he would die in July 2022.

“He loved this idea,” Guttenberg said.