Being the class clown paid off for Joseph Bernard.

While growing up in New York, he realized he could turn cutting up in school into a career. Working as an actor was all he wanted to do with his life, and he never held a job that wasn't associated with acting, including teaching, writing and directing.

Bernard died Monday at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. He was 82.

At the time of his death he was helping his friend Jerry Lewis prepare for a guest spot on "Law & Order: SVU." Bernard served in a similar role in the mid-1990s when Lewis appeared in the Broadway production of "Damn Yankees."

Bernard moved to Las Vegas in 1979 after spending 11 years as executive director and teacher at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in Hollywood. He came here to open the Joseph Bernard Acting Studio on the theory that there would be plenty of dancers and singers who would be interested in acting. But, as he later said, most of his students were dealers, cocktail waitresses and bellhops.

During his career he taught thousands of acting students, including his granddaughter, Molly Kate Bernard, 17. "We were best friends," she said.

She studied acting with her grandfather starting at age 6. "He was my influence in everything; he was my world."

His teaching technique was to be "truthful but kind," she said. She plans to follow in his footsteps as an actor.

Born Dec. 12, 1923 in Brooklyn, N.Y., Joseph Bernard received a scholarship in 1941 to study at the New School in New York City with legendary acting coach Stella Adler. One of Bernard's classmates was Marlon Brando.

His training was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He landed on the shores of Normandy, France, eight days after D-Day.

After the war, he returned to the New School and worked in the play "Winter Soldiers," followed by a role in "Skipper Next to God," directed by Strasberg. The play starred John Garfield.

"When he was a young actor in New York and met my mom, he was good friends with Marlon Brando, Sidney Poitier, Henry Fonda and Garfield," said Bernard's daughter, Bella Julie Bernard.

Garfield, who became Joseph Bernard's best friend, died in 1952 shortly before he was to be Bernard's best man at his marriage to wife Bina.

The Bernards were married 49 years. Bina died in 2001.

Bernard appeared in an estimated 25 Broadway productions.

His first job as a theater director was "Command Decision," a 1949 production starring Henry Fonda.

Bernard won a featured role in the 1961 film "Judgment at Nuremberg," playing Richard Widmark's assistant, and he also was in "Ice Station Zebra."

Bernard acted in such television shows as the original "Star Trek," "The Twilight Zone," "Mission: Impossible," "I Spy," "It Takes a Thief," "The Untouchables" and "The Flying Nun," which he also directed.

Locally, Bernard appeared in stage productions of "I'm Not Rappaport," "The Sunshine Boys" and "The Price."

In 1983, he wrote and directed "Take Off Your Clothes, I'll Make You a Star," which was produced at the Union Plaza. He also was involved in a second production of the show last year.

In addition to his daughter, and granddaughter, both of Las Vegas, Bernard is survived by his son, Sam, of Santa Monica, Calif. Plans for a memorial service in Las Vegas have not been finalized.