Iris Acker

Iris Acker was an actress.

With a talent for light comedy and musicals, she once was one of the busiest actresses Florida, appearing at nearly every large and small venue across the region. Yet she became as well-known to later generations as the creator, executive producer and host of a series of public television interview shows that championed the arts for 32 years.

She was the first woman president of the local chapter of the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists as well as serving on the national board, and became the first Actors’ Equity Liaison for the State of Florida. She created and paid for the region’s first casting hotline – on an answering machine – to help her colleagues find opportunities. Later, she began a half-price ticket program she dubbed “Ticket Madness” based in book stores and which evolved into WLRN’s Cultural Connection.

For Disney, she played Mrs. Howard in Flight of the Navigator.