Pat Corley, 76; Character Actor Played Bartender Phil on ‘Murphy Brown’

Pat Corley, 76, a character actor best known as Phil the bartender on “Murphy Brown,” died of congestive heart failure Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son Jerry Corley said.

Corley’s five-decade career included roles in the films “Coming Home,” “True Confessions” and “Against All Odds.”

He appeared on “Murphy Brown,” the CBS sitcom starring Candice Bergen as a hard-driving TV newswoman, from 1988 to 1996. Among his other TV roles were a questionable baseball team owner on “The Bay City Blues” and coroner Wally Nydorf on “Hill Street Blues.”

Corley, a native of Dallas, moved to Stockton as a teenager and appeared in summer productions acting, singing and dancing. After moving to New York he acted in on- and off-Broadway plays.