In the Indian Wells Theater production of “Tuesdays With Morrie,” Tony Award-winning actor Hal Linden plays a college professor giving a former student one last lesson in life.

The Equity play, co-starring Brian Raffi as columnist Mitch Albom, shows how Albom's student-mentor relationship with Morris Schwartz grows into a life-altering friendship as Schwartz struggles with Lou Gehrig's disease.

It begins a two-weekend run Friday at the Cal State San Bernardino Palm Desert Theater.

But a student-mentor story began playing out behind the scenes in September when Linden began rehearsing with Raffi and the college students who play on-stage helpers called “Ninjas.”

“Their table reads were mind-blowing for me,” said one Ninja, Paloma Periera. “I've sat for table reads where (actors) weren't really engaged in their text. If there's anything I've gotten from him, it's how much Hal will dig into the text and pick out little moments and find out the thoughts behind his character and for the entire show.”

Raffi said he learned that from Linden, too.

“He pushed me to go deeper, something every actor should do, to find the layers of meaning in the script and circumstance,” Raffi said. “His attitude, work ethic, willingness to help and lack of ‘star' ego is an inspiration to me and should be a model for any young actor, or for that matter, anyone in any profession.”

Even director David Catanzarite, an adjunct faculty member at College of the Desert, says he's been mentored by the actor best known as the star of the 1970s police comedy “Barney Miller.”

“I learn from every artist I've worked with, but one who's had as much experience as Hal's had in so many different areas, I'm learning a lot from the ideas he brings to the process,” said Catanzarite.

Linden, a La Quinta resident, debuted on Broadway in the 1957 Tony Award-winning musical “The Bells Are Ringing.”

By the 1960s, he was a Broadway star in shows such as “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever,” “Illya Darling” and “Three Men On A Horse.” He won his Tony for the 1971 musical “The Rothschilds.”

Linden had mentors on Broadway and in TV.

“I did three shows with George Abbott” when he was in his 80s and 90s, Linden said before a rehearsal.

“We always think of George Abbott as the step-on-your-cue guy. Get the laugh and move it along. ‘Pace, pace, pace.' It wasn't like that at all. Yes, eventually you need pace to do a show, but, in the work, his favorite expression was, ‘That's too actor-y.' He meant, ‘I don't believe it. Go home, do some work so when you say that line, I believe you.'”

Linden's other mentor was Danny Arnold, creator of “Barney Miller,” which won three Emmy Awards.

Don't expect pearls of wisdom from Linden's character. What drew him to the play was the poignant and humorous interplay between Albom and Schwartz as Albom grows from student to care giver.

“I find that more interesting,” he said. “For pearls of wisdom, go to an evening with Morrie Schwartz and let him tell his stories. This is not a lecture hall. It's a theater.”