Don Calfa, evil mortician in ‘The Return of the Living Dead,’ dies at 76

Don Calfa, the film, stage and television actor whose credits included “The Return of the Living Dead,” ’’Weekend at Bernie’s” and “Barney Miller,” has died.

His publicist, Michael Perez, tells the Associated Press that Calfa died Thursday in Palm Springs of natural causes, two days before his 77th birthday.

The New York City native started on Broadway in the 1960s. Calfa appeared in dozens of comedies, dramas and horror flicks, notably as the mortician Ernie Kaltenbrunner in “The Return of the Living Dead.”

Calfa worked with directors such as Steven Spielberg (“1941”), Martin Scorsese (“New York, New York”) and Blake Edwards (“10”). He also had a busy career in television, working on “Barney Miller,” ’’Hill Street Blues” and “Kojak,” among other shows.