Herb Edelman
{{short description|American actor (1933-1996)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Herb Edelman
| image = Herb Edelman The Good Guys 1969.JPG
| caption = Edelman as Bert on The Good Guys, 1969
| birth_name = Herbert Edelman
| birth_date = {{birth date|1933|11|05}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1996|07|21|1933|11|05}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield Gardens, Queens, New York, U.S.
| education = Brooklyn College
| alma mater = Cornell University
| occupation = Actor
| years_active = 1963–1995
| television = The Golden Girls
The Good Guys
Big John, Little John
| spouse = {{Marriage|Louise Sorel|1964|1970|end=div}}
|partner = Christina Pickles (1984–96){{cite web|work=The New York Times|date=July 27, 1996|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/27/nyregion/herb-edelman-62-a-character-actor.html|title=Herb Edelman, 62, A Character Actor}}
| children = 2
| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
| allegiance = {{USA}}
| branch = 25px United States Army
| serviceyears =
| rank =
| unit = 25px Armed Forces Radio Service
| battles = Korean War
| awards = }}
}}
Herbert “Herb” Edelman (November 5, 1933 – July 21, 1996) was an American comedian, and actor of stage, film and television. He was twice nominated for an Emmy Award for his television work. His best-known role was as Stanley Zbornak, the ex-husband of Dorothy Zbornak (played by Bea Arthur) on The Golden Girls. He also had a recurring role on the 1980s medical drama St. Elsewhere.
Early life and career
File:The Good Guys cast 1968.jpg, Edelman and Joyce Van Patten]]Herbert Edelman was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on November 5, 1933. His parents, Jennie ({{née}} Greenberg) and Mayer "Mike" Edelman, were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Ukraine, respectively. Before becoming an actor, Edelman studied to become a veterinarian at Cornell University but left during his first year. After serving in the U.S. Army as an announcer for Armed Forces Radio, he enrolled in Brooklyn College as a theater student, but eventually dropped out. He later worked as a hotel manager and as a taxicab driver. One of his fares was director Mike Nichols,{{cite news |title=Services set for actor Herb Edelman |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/07/24/Services-set-for-actor-Herb-Edelman/2314838180800/ |access-date=26 April 2020 |work=United Press International |date=July 24, 1996}} who in 1963 cast Edelman in his breakthrough Broadway role, as the bewildered telephone repairman in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. Edelman reprised his role in the 1967 film version (starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda).{{cite news |last1=Hayward |first1=Anthony |title=Obituary : Herb Edelman |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-herb-edelman-1331086.html |access-date=26 April 2020 |work=The Independent |date=29 July 1996}}
He appeared as Murray the Cop in the movie version of Simon's The Odd Couple (1968) and later appeared in Simon's California Suite (1978). He also had a role in The Way We Were (1973){{cite news |last1=Howard |first1=Alan R. |title='The Way We Were': THR's 1973 Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/way-we-were-review-1973-movie-1147992 |access-date=26 April 2020 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=16 October 2018}} and in an installment of the Japanese movie series Otoko wa Tsurai yo in 1979.
He remains best known for his three decades in television, usually as a co-star, recurring character, or guest star on CHIPS, The Golden Girls, That Girl, Love, American Style, The Streets of San Francisco, Maude, Cannon, Happy Days, Welcome Back, Kotter, Highway to Heaven, Kojak, Fantasy Island, Cagney & Lacey, and MacGyver, but occasionally in a lead role. In 1976, he starred in the Saturday morning children's series Big John, Little John, as well as The Good Guys with Bob Denver (in what was Denver's first series after Gilligan's Island), from 1968 to 1970.
He also appeared with Bill Bixby and Valerie Perrine in Bruce Jay Friedman's Steambath, a controversial PBS dramedy, during 1973. From 1984 to 1988, he had a recurring role on St. Elsewhere. Edelman also appeared in ten episodes of Murder, She Wrote between 1984 and 1995, most frequently appearing as New York Police Department Lieutenant Artie Gelber. His last role was in an episode of Burke's Law.
Personal life and death
Edelman was married to soap opera actress Louise Sorel from 1964 to 1970; he had two children, Briana Edelman and Jacy Edelman. He was romantically linked with his St. Elsewhere co-star Christina Pickles from the mid-1980s until his death.
Herbert Edelman died of emphysema on July 21, 1996, in Los Angeles at the age of 62. He was interred at Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens, Queens.{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland and Company |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-7992-4 |page=219 |edition=Third |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ |access-date=23 September 2016}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1967
| Russian Premier | |
| 1967
| Harry Pepper | |
| 1968
| P.J. | Charlie |Alternative title: New Face in Hell |
| 1968
| Murray | Alternative title: Kiss My Butterfly |
| 1968
| {{sortname|The|Odd Couple|dab=film}} | Murray | |
| 1972
| {{sortname|The|War Between Men and Women}} | Howard Mann | |
| 1973
| {{sortname|The|Way We Were}} | Bill Verso | |
| 1974
| {{sortname|The|Front Page|dab=1974 film}} | Schwartz | Credited as Herbert Edelman |
| 1974
| {{sortname|The|Yakuza}} | Wheat | Alternative title: Brotherhood of the Yakuza |
| 1975
| Polo | Alternative title: Hollywood Cowboy |
| 1976
| Danny | TV movie |
| 1977
| Villa Nueva | |
| 1978
| Sid | |
| 1978
| Harry Michaels | |
| 1979
| Michael Jordan | 24th entry in the Japanese Otoko wa Tsurai yo series |
| 1981
| Sam | |
| 1983
| Dr. Jonas Pletchick | |
| 1984
| Matt Henry | |
| 1992
| {{sortname|The|Naked Truth|dab=1992 film}} | Rupert Hess | Credited as Herbert Edelman |
| 1995
| Cops n Roberts | | (final film role) |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1964
| {{sortname|The|Reporter|dab=TV series}} | Benny | Episode: "How Much for a Prince?" |
| 1965
| {{sortname|The|Nurses|dab=Primetime CBS drama}} | Marco | Episode: "The Witnesses" |
| 1965
| Moody | Episode: "Live a Little... Kill a Little" |
| 1966
| Garvin | Episode: "The Long Hot Bus" |
| 1966
| Uncle Harry | Episode: "Marriage Counselor" |
| 1966
| Eddie | Episode: "Time for Arrest" |
| 1967
| {{sortname|The|Girl from U.N.C.L.E.}} | Mr. Asterick | Episode: "The Furnace Flats Affair" |
| 1967
| Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Seth Swine | Episode: "The Reason Nobody Hardly Ever Seen a Fat Outlaw in the Old West Is as Follows" |
| 1967
| Howard | Episode: "If You Knew Martha" |
| 1967
| {{sortname|The|Flying Nun}} | Albion "Al" Caine | Episode: "Ah Love, Could You and I Conspire?" |
| 1968–70
| {{sortname|The|Good Guys|dab=1968 TV series}} | Bert Gramus | 42 episodes |
| 1971
| {{sortname|The|Bill Cosby Show}} | Mr. Maher | Episode: "Tobacco Road" |
| 1971
| Col. Bringham | Episode: "This Little Piggie" |
| 1971
| Gregory Constantine | Episode: "Once Upon a Dead Man" |
| 1971
| Frank Mason | Episode: "Run for the Money" |
| 1972
| Banacek | Joe Taddenhurst | Episode: "Project Phoenix" |
| 1972
| Banyon | Harry Sprague | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1972
| {{sortname|The|Bold Ones: The New Doctors}} | Howard Feinstein | Episode: "A Quality of Fear" |
| 1972
| Dr. Patterson | Episode: "RX: Christmas" |
| 1973
| Ironside | David Wollens | Episode: "Murder by One" |
| 1973
| {{sortname|The|New Dick Van Dyke Show}} | George Benson | Episode: "One of the Boys" |
| 1973
| {{sortname|The|Partridge Family}} | Darby Willis | Episode: "The Strike-Out King" |
| 1974
| Hawkins | Lt. Horowitz | Episode: "Murder on the Thirteenth Floor" |
| 1974
| Maude | Woody | Episode: "Maude the Boss" |
| 1975
| Burglar | Episode: "The Cunningham Caper" |
| 1975
| Alan Schuster | Episode: "The Guest" |
| 1975
| Brannigan | Episode: "Gift from a Killer" |
| 1976
| Lieutenant Hill | Episode: "Sand Trap" |
| 1976
| Big John Martin | 13 episodes |
| 1977
| Sindu | 2 episodes |
| 1977
| Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected | Don Lucas | Episode: "You're Not Alone" |
| 1977
| Schwann | Episode: "The Angels and the Bums" |
| 1978
| CHiPs | Sanders | Episode: "Rainy Day" |
| 1978
| Doctor | Episode: "The Hot Rock" |
| 1978
| Joey January | Episode: "Angels in Vegas" |
| 1979
| The MacKenzies of Paradise Cove | Big Jim | 2 episodes |
| 1980–81
| Reggie | 16 episodes |
| 1981–82
| Commissioner Herb Klein | 20 episodes |
| 1982–83
| Harry Nussbaum | 8 episodes |
| 1984
| Dr. Haller | Episode: "A Little Knife Music" |
| 1984-88
| Richard Clarendon | 17 episodes |
| 1984–95
| Lieutenant Artie Gelber, and others | 10 episodes |
| 1985
| {{sortname|The|Fall Guy}} | Hal Vargas movie producer | Episode: "Reel Trouble" |
| 1985
| {{sortname|The|Paper Chase|dab=TV series}} | Dr. Arnie Samuels | Episode: "The Big D" |
| 1985
| Dr. Cohn | 2 episodes |
| 1985
| Harry Baxter | Episode: "Games People Play" |
| 1985–92
|{{sortname|The|Golden Girls}} | Stan Zbornak | 26 episodes |
| 1987
| Matlock | Arthur Rydell | Episode: "The Rat Pack" |
| 1988
| Harold Levinson | Episode: "Temptation" |
| 1989
| {{sortname|The|Famous Teddy Z}} | Lassister Fogel | Episode: "The Dark Closet" |
| 1989
| Stanley Mansfield | Episode: "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow" |
| 1989–90
| Murray Steadman | 2 episodes |
| 1990
| {{sortname|The|Bradys}} | Gene Dickinson | 2 episodes |
| 1990
| Sergeant Levine | 5 episodes |
| 1991
| MacGyver | Gorman | Episode: "Faith, Hope and Charity" |
| 1992
| Stern | 2 episodes |
| 1992–93
| L.A. Law | Judge Al Jones | 2 episodes |
| 1993
| {{sortname|The|Golden Palace}} | Stanley Zbornak | Episode: "One Angry Stan" |
| 1994
| {{sortname|The|Mommies|dab=TV series}} | Therapist | Episode: "The Exercist" |
Award nominations
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Association ! Category ! Nominated work ! Result |
|---|
| 1987
| rowspan="2"| Primetime Emmy Awards | rowspan="2"| Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series | rowspan="2"| The Golden Girls | {{nom}} |
| 1988
| {{nom}} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{IMDb name|248983}}
- {{Find a Grave|6502791}}
- [http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/TalesOfTheUnexpected.htm Classic Television Archive: Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (1977)]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edelman, Herb}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male stage actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:Brooklyn College alumni
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:Deaths from emphysema
Category:Jewish American military personnel
Category:Military personnel from New York City
Category:Male actors from Brooklyn
Category:United States Army personnel of the Korean War
Category:Jews from New York (state)