Stage-trained character lead often cast as upstanding if somewhat green characters on TV, and as varying degrees of sleazeballs in films, Getz began acting while attending the University of Iowa. During that period, he helped found the Center for New Performing Arts. Getz dropped out of school and attended San Francisco's respected American Conservatory Theater. While working in a winery, he became involved with the Napa Valley Theater Company. Coincidentally, this distinctive locale led to the Iowa native's professional acting debut playing an attendant in "Killer Bees" (ABC, 1974), a
