Allan Rich

Benjamin Norman Schultz (February 8, 1926 – August 22, 2020),^[1] known professionally as Allan Rich, was an American character actor.

Allan Rich
Rich in 1984
Born	Benjamin Norman Schultz (1926-02-08)February 8, 1926
Died	August 22, 2020(2020-08-22) (aged 94) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1963–2014
Spouse	Elaine Rich ​ ​ (m. 1951; died 2015)​
Children	2

Career

Rich began his acting career when he was nine years old.^[2] He appeared in the Broadway productions I'll Take the High Road (1943), Career Angel (1944), Darkness at Noon (1951), and The Emperor's Clothes (1953).^[3] In 1948, Rich played the title role in a production of Ben Jonson's Volpone in Yellow Springs, Ohio.^[4]

Beginning in 1979, Rich was distributor and publisher of Hollywood portraits made by George Hurrell.^[2]

Personal life and death

Rich was one of the many alleged communist sympathizers blacklisted in the 1950s Hollywood blacklist.^[5] He married Elaine in 1951, who would go on to be a personal manager to a number of actors after the couple moved to Los Angeles in 1976. The couple had two children together.^[6] Elaine Rich died in 2015, aged 81.^[6]

Rich spent the last five years of his life as a resident at the Lillian Booth Actors Home, run by the Actors Fund of America. He died from progressive dementia in Englewood, New Jersey, in August 2020, at the age of 94.^[7][8]

Activism

Rich was the co-founder of non-profit organization We Care About Kids, which produces educational short films for middle and high school youths.^{[9][better source needed]}

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Serpico	Dist. Atty. Herman Tauber
1974	The Gambler	Bernie
1975	The Happy Hooker	Desk Sergeant
1978	Uncle Joe Shannon	Dr. Clark
1979	Voices	Montrose Meier
	The Frisco Kid	Mr. Bialik
	The Seekers	General Wayne
1980	Hero at Large	Marty Fields
	Leo and Loree	Jarvis
1982	Eating Raoul	Nazi
	The Entity	Dr. Walcott
	Frances	Mr. Bebe
1984	Kidco	Jim Clark
1985	Rocky IV	Boxing Commissioner	Scene deleted
1986	Bad Guys	Luigi Constantine
1989	Another Chance	J.R. Jacobs
	Checking Out	Dr. Haskell
1990	Betsy's Wedding	Nate Tobias
1991	Highlander II: The Quickening	Allan Neyman
1994	Quiz Show	Robert Kintner
	Disclosure	Ben Heller
1995	Two Much	Reverend Larrabee
1996	Jack	Dr. Benfante
	The Rich Man's Wife	Bill Adolphe
1997	Out to Sea	Sebastian
	Amistad	Judge Juttson
1998	A League of Old Men	Judge	Also director
	Malaika	Sal's Pizza Customer
1999	The Dogwalker
2001	Skippy	Gordan Gates
2002	The Burial Society	Hy Leibowicz
2003	Intoxicating	Michael Reilly
2006	The Alibi	Klump
2007	Man in the Chair	Speed
	The Memory Thief	Zvi
	Rise: Blood Hunter	Harrison
	My Sexiest Year	Papa
2008	The Last Word	Francis
2013	Rain from Stars	Old John
2014	Wish I Was Here	Klump	Final film role
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	The San Pedro Beach Bums	Captain Rossinki	Episode: "The Bums vs. the Reds"
1977	Hawaii Five-O	Lou Marvin	Episode: "Practical Jokes Can Kill You"
1979	Happy Days	Professor Thomas	Episode: "Potsie Quits School"
1979	The Seekers	Gen. "Mad Anthony" Wayne	2 episodes
1979	Barney Miller	Mr. Ramson, the furrier	Episode: "Voice Analyzer"
1980	CHiPs	Judge Towers	Episode: "Jailbirds"
1981–1983	Hill Street Blues	Judge Maurice Schiller	4 episodes
1981	Barney Miller	Lenord the theatre producer	Episode: "Resignation"
1983	Magnum, P.I.	Coluga	Episode: "From Moscow to Maui"
1986	Life With Lucy	The Judge	Episode: "Lucy, Leagle Beagle"
1987	The Golden Girls	Alexi	Episode: "Letter to Gorbachev"
1995	The Nanny	Judge	Episode: "The Party's Over"
1998	The New Batman Adventures	Edward "King" Barlowe	Voice, episode: "Joker's Millions"
2000–2001	Judging Amy	Jim Southam	4 episodes
2004	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Solly	Season 4
2010	House M.D.	Sidney	Episode: "Selfish"

References

1. McNary, Dave (August 24, 2020). "Allan Rich, Actor in 'Serpico,' 'Quiz Show,' 'Amistad,' Dies at 94". Variety. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
2. Doolittle, Leslie (December 7, 1997). "Portrait of a character: Veteran actor Allan Rich". The Orlando Sentinel. Florida, Orlando. p. 2. Retrieved March 11, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Allan Rich". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
4. "Area Theater Stages Farce". Dayton Daily News. Ohio, Dayton. November 28, 1948. p. 63. Retrieved March 11, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Hollywood's Comeback Kid at 80". Archived from the original on September 3, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2011.
6. Barnes, Mike (August 17, 2015). "Elaine Rich, Personal Manager for Fran Drescher, Dies at 81". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
7. Barnes, Mike (August 24, 2020). "Allan Rich, Character Actor Who Overcame the Blacklist, Dies at 94". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
8. Young, Julius (August 25, 2020). "Allan Rich, 'Serpico,' Quiz Show' star who overcame Hollywood blacklist, dead at 94". Fox News. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
9. http://www.wecareaboutkids.org/kids-team.htm ^{[bare URL]}

External links

• Allan Rich at IMDb
• Allan Rich at AllMovie
• Personal website
• Personal Youtube page