‘He really wanted me to start working again’

Steve Guttenberg is back on the small screen after some time away to help his ailing father.

The “Three Men and a Baby” star, 64, returns to TV on Saturday in the Lifetime flick “How to Murder Your Husband: The Nancy Brophy Story,” co-starring Emmy nominee Cybill Shepherd.

Guttenberg got candid with People recently about how his dad, Stanley — who died at the age of 89 last July — hoped that his son would step back into acting more.

The star had spent the last five years as a caregiver to his father, who faced health problems stemming from kidney failure.

“He was an extraordinary guy,” he said. “He really was the guy who you didn’t want to disappoint. He really wanted me to start working again. And I wanted to start working again.”

Guttenberg added that he and his sister became trained dialysis technicians so that their dad could relax and do his treatments at home.

While Guttenberg let Hollywood take more of a backseat the last few years, he continued doing smaller parts, as well as a multi-season, recurring role on the ABC sitcom “The Goldbergs.” The “Cocoon” actor hopes to keep on working in the film business, though, even wishing he could do an action comedy at some point.

“I would like to work with some of my friends who I know,” he added.

However, it was only when it was time to shoot his forthcoming TV drama that he felt ready to fully jump back into Hollywood.

“I got on a plane on my dad’s birthday to go to Vancouver to shoot that movie, so I have to feel that he had a hand in that,” he explained. “I was very lucky because I was the second lead, so I was able to get my skills back and started to remember what film acting is all about.”

As for remembering his dad, the Brooklyn native has even penned a book on the subject of being a caregiver, titled “Time to Think.”

“It’s all the memories of my dad when he was young and fit and what he did for me,” he said of the book, whose release date has not been set. It will be published by Post Hill Press.

Guttenberg told People about how his father would pick him up as a little kid — but when his dad got sick, they faced a role reversal:

“I would pick him up and hold him,” he said.

“My dad would help me put my pajamas on when I was a kid. And when I was older, I helped my dad put the pajamas on,” the “Police Academy” alum stated.

“So I wrote this book, and it’s for the caregivers,” he went on. “I think that’s going to be powerful.”