"He's dead." "And before that?" "He was alive."

Or
Landesberg's End
Steve Landesberg, renowned for doing the best Gregory Peck impersonation this side of Crow T. Robot, has died of colon cancer at the age of 74. Landesberg was at his deadpan best as the 12th Precinct’s eccentrically esoterically erudite detective sergeant Arthur P. Dietrich on Barney Miller, who could speak at length on any topic to the consternation and amusement of the squad. After attending a Goethe Festival, he offered, “Take my soul, please.” When a pregnant woman who spoke only German appeared in the station, Dietrich conversed in fluent German. When Barmey asked, “You speak German?" Dietrich responded, "Don't you?" He had a similar approach to comedy on his own time, observing “"Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense." He applied his deadpan in a number of guest spots, as Ryan Reynolds’ father in Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place and as Jason Segel’s pediatrician in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.