Herb Edelman

Herb Edelman
Edelman as Bert on The Good Guys, 1969
Born	Herbert Edelman (1933-11-05)November 5, 1933 New York, New York, U.S.
Died	July 21, 1996(1996-07-21) (aged 62) 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	Louise Sorel ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1970)​
Partner	Christina Pickles (1984–96)
Children	2
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Unit	Armed Forces Radio Service
Battles/wars	Korean War

Herbert Edelman (November 5, 1933 – July 21, 1996) was an American 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

Edelman was born in New York City in the borough of Brooklyn. 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, 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).

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) 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 actress 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.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	In Like Flint	Russian Premier
1967	Barefoot in the Park	Harry Pepper
1968	P.J.	Charlie	Alternative title: New Face in Hell
1968	I Love You, Alice B. Toklas	Murray	Alternative title: Kiss My Butterfly
1968	The Odd Couple	Murray
1972	The War Between Men and Women	Howard Mann
1973	The Way We Were	Bill Verso
1974	The Front Page	Schwartz	Credited as Herbert Edelman
1974	The Yakuza	Wheat	Alternative title: Brotherhood of the Yakuza
1975	Hearts of the West	Polo	Alternative title: Hollywood Cowboy
1976	Smash-Up on Interstate 5	Danny	TV movie
1977	Charge of the Model T's	Villa Nueva
1978	Goin' Coconuts	Sid
1978	California Suite	Harry Michaels
1979	Tora-san's Dream of Spring	Michael Jordan	24th entry in the Japanese Otoko wa Tsurai yo series
1981	On the Right Track	Sam
1983	Cracking Up	Dr. Jonas Pletchick
1984	Wheels on Meals	Matt Henry
1992	The Naked Truth	Rupert Hess	Credited as Herbert Edelman
1995	Cops n Roberts		(final film role)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	The Reporter	Benny	Episode: "How Much for a Prince?"
1965	The Nurses	Marco	Episode: "The Witnesses"
1965	Honey West	Moody	Episode: "Live a Little... Kill a Little"
1966	Hey, Landlord	Garvin	Episode: "The Long Hot Bus"
1966	Occasional Wife	Uncle Harry	Episode: "Marriage Counselor"
1966	That Girl	Eddie	Episode: "Time for Arrest"
1967	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	Accidental Family	Howard	Episode: "If You Knew Martha"
1967	The Flying Nun	Albion "Al" Caine	Episode: "Ah Love, Could You and I Conspire?"
1968–70	The Good Guys	Bert Gramus	42 episodes
1971	The Bill Cosby Show	Mr. Maher	Episode: "Tobacco Road"
1971	Bewitched	Col. Bringham	Episode: "This Little Piggie"
1971	McMillan & Wife	Gregory Constantine	Episode: "Once Upon a Dead Man"
1971	Mission: Impossible	Frank Mason	Episode: "Run for the Money"
1972	Banacek	Joe Taddenhurst	Episode: "Project Phoenix"
1972	Banyon	Harry Sprague	Episode: "Pilot"
1972	The Bold Ones: The New Doctors	Howard Feinstein	Episode: "A Quality of Fear"
1972	Temperatures Rising	Dr. Patterson	Episode: "RX: Christmas"
1973	Ironside	David Wollens	Episode: "Murder by One"
1973	The New Dick Van Dyke Show	George Benson	Episode: "One of the Boys"
1973	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	Happy Days	Burglar	Episode: "The Cunningham Caper"
1975	Barney Miller	Alan Schuster	Episode: "The Guest"
1975	Medical Center	Brannigan	Episode: "Gift from a Killer"
1976	Jigsaw John	Lieutenant Hill	Episode: "Sand Trap"
1976	Big John Little John	Big John Martin	13 episodes
1977	Blansky's Beauties	Sindu	2 episodes
1977	Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected	Don Lucas	Episode: "You're Not Alone"
1977	The San Pedro Beach Bums	Schwann	Episode: "The Angels and the Bums"
1978	CHiPs	Sanders	Episode: "Rainy Day"
1978	Chico and the Man	Doctor	Episode: "The Hot Rock"
1978	Charlie's Angels	Joey January	Episode: "Angels in Vegas"
1979	The MacKenzies of Paradise Cove	Big Jim	2 episodes
1980–81	Ladies' Man	Reggie	16 episodes
1981–82	Strike Force	Commissioner Herb Klein	20 episodes
1982–83	Nine to Five	Harry Nussbaum	8 episodes
1984	Trapper John, M.D.	Dr. Haller	Episode: "A Little Knife Music"
1984-88	St. Elsewhere	Richard Clarendon	17 episodes
1984–95	Murder, She Wrote	Lieutenant Artie Gelber, and others	10 episodes
1985	The Fall Guy	Hal Vargas movie producer	Episode: "Reel Trouble"
1985	The Paper Chase	Dr. Arnie Samuels	Episode: "The Big D"
1985	Highway to Heaven	Dr. Cohn	2 episodes
1985	Hardcastle and McCormick	Harry Baxter	Episode: "Games People Play"
1985–92	The Golden Girls	Stan Zbornak	26 episodes
1987	Matlock	Arthur Rydell	Episode: "The Rat Pack"
1988	Beauty and the Beast	Harold Levinson	Episode: "Temptation"
1989	The Famous Teddy Z	Lassister Fogel	Episode: "The Dark Closet"
1989	Out of This World	Stanley Mansfield	Episode: "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"
1989–90	thirtysomething	Murray Steadman	2 episodes
1990	The Bradys	Gene Dickinson	2 episodes
1990	Knots Landing	Sergeant Levine	5 episodes
1991	MacGyver	Gorman	Episode: "Faith, Hope and Charity"
1992	Batman: The Animated Series	Stern	2 episodes
1992–93	L.A. Law	Judge Al Jones	2 episodes
1993	The Golden Palace	Stanley Zbornak	Episode: "One Angry Stan"
1994	The Mommies	Therapist	Episode: "The Exercist"

Award nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1987	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series	The Golden Girls	Nominated
1988				Nominated

External links

• Herb Edelman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Herb Edelman at IMDb
• Herb Edelman at Find a Grave
• Classic Television Archive: Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (1977)