Barefoot in the Park (TV series) "The Odd Couple" (Jerry Paris, Harvey Miller, Bruce Bilson and Garry Marshall among others). Barefoot in the Park (TV series) Barefoot in the Park is an American sitcom that aired in 1970 on ABC. Based on the Neil Simon Broadway play of the same name, the series cast members are predominantly black, making it the first American television sitcom since "Amos 'n' Andy" to have a predominantly black cast (Vito Scotti is the sole major white character). "Barefoot in the Park" had also previously been a 1967 film starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Scoey Mitchell plays Paul Bratter, a
Robert Redford about his blond male stereotype image and turned down roles in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "The Graduate". Redford found the niche he was looking for in George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), scripted by William Goldman, in which he was paired for the first time with Paul Newman. The film was a huge success and made him a major bankable star, cementing his screen image as an intelligent, reliable, sometimes sardonic good guy. Redford suffered through a few films that did not achieve box office success during this time, including "Downhill Racer" (1969); "Tell