Michael Lerner (actor)

Not to be confused with Michael Learned.

This article is about the actor. For other people named Michael Lerner, see Michael Lerner (disambiguation).

Michael Charles Lerner (June 22, 1941 – April 8, 2023) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jack Lipnick in Barton Fink (1991). Lerner also played Arnold Rothstein in Eight Men Out (1988), Phil Gillman in Amos & Andrew (1993), The Warden in No Escape (1994), Mel Horowitz on the television series Clueless, Jerry Miller in The Beautician and the Beast (1997), Mayor Ebert in Roland Emmerich's Godzilla (1998), Mr. Greenway in Elf (2003), and Senator Brickman in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).

Michael Lerner
Lerner in Barton Fink (1991)
Born	Michael Charles Lerner (1941-06-22)June 22, 1941 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	April 8, 2023(2023-04-08) (aged 81) Burbank, California, U.S.
Resting place	Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–2019
Relatives	Ken Lerner (brother) Sam Lerner (nephew)

Early life

Michael Charles Lerner was born on June 22, 1941,^[1] in Brooklyn, New York City, of Romanian-Jewish descent, the second of three sons to Blanche and George Lerner; according to Lerner, his father "liked to think he was an antiques dealer, but in all actuality he was a junk dealer."^[2][3] He was raised in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and in Solon, Ohio. His younger brother Ken, nephew Sam, and niece Jenny are also actors.^[3][4] His older brother, Arnold, died in 2004.^[1]

Career

Lerner made his first television appearance at the age of 13, as a "quiz kid" on a television program hosted by a local sportscaster. He played Willy Loman in a production of Death of a Salesman at Brooklyn College, where Joel Zwick was a classmate. The experience convinced him that he wanted to be an actor, rather than an English professor. He also appeared as Sir Toby Belch in a production of Twelfth Night directed by David Mamet in Greenwich Village; William H. Macy was also in that production.^[5] After graduating from Brooklyn College, where he studied acting, he received a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a master's degree in English drama.^[1] Although his then-wife still thought he should become an English professor, Lerner still wanted to be an actor;^[5] he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study theater in London for two years, at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. While there, he lived in a flat with Yoko Ono and John Lennon. In 1968, he appeared in Ono's short experimental film Smile, among other projects.^{[citation needed]} "She made a movie comprised of bare asses walking on a treadmill", he once said. "I’m in it and so is Paul McCartney. Plus I’m doing narration about censorship and all that crap."^[3]

In 1968, Lerner returned to the San Francisco Bay Area and joined the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.).^[3] At the age of 24 he appeared as "Hieronymous the Miser" in a KPFA radio production of Michel de Ghelderode's Breugelesque play, Red Magic.^{[citation needed]}

Lerner moved to Los Angeles in 1969, where he appeared in a production of Little Murders, a play by Jules Feiffer that was later adapted into a film by Alan Arkin. He also began making guest appearances in television shows such as The Brady Bunch, The Odd Couple, M*A*S*H, Banacek and The Rockford Files. In 1974, he appeared in the teleplay The Missiles of October, playing Pierre Salinger.^[3]

In 1970, Lerner made his film debut in Alex in Wonderland; director Paul Mazursky had seen his production of Little Murders and enjoyed his performance.^[3] He then went on to appear in supporting roles in various Hollywood movies such as The Candidate, St. Ives and the 1981 remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice. In 1991, after co-starring in Harlem Nights, Lerner played film producer Jack Lipnick in Barton Fink, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He based the character in part on legendary film mogul Louis B. Mayer; according to his brother Ken, he was working on a screenplay about Mayer when he died.^[1][3]

From 1996 to 1997, Lerner played Mel Horowitz on the television series Clueless. In 1997, he would play Joy Miller's father Jerry in The Beautician and the Beast. Lerner's later projects include the Christmas comedy Elf (2003) and Poster Boy (2004), as well as television programs such as Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Entourage.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, he appeared in the West End production of Up for Grabs with Madonna. He also appeared on BBC Radio Four in 2008 as a member of the cast of David Quantick's Radio Four's series One. He portrayed Senator Brickman in the Marvel Comics/Twentieth Century Fox film, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). In 2013, Lerner appeared in a Season 4 episode of Glee as Sidney Greene, an investor in the revival of Broadway musical Funny Girl. His character is on the panel of judges, watching the Rachel Berry character audition for the lead role. He reprised his role as Sidney in Season 5 in several New York-based episodes of the series, as Funny Girl opens on Broadway.^[6]

Personal life

In addition to his acting career, Lerner was a collector of rare books, an aficionado of Cuban cigars, and—by his own account—a very good poker player.^[3][5] He was missing the tip of one index finger, due to an injury suffered while cutting a tongue sandwich while working at a deli in New York City.^[1]

Death

Lerner died of complications from brain seizures at a hospital in Burbank, California, on April 8, 2023, at the age of 81.^[1][3]

Selected filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Smile		Short experimental film directed by Yoko Ono
1970	Alex in Wonderland	Leo
1971	The Ski Bum	Rod
1972	The Candidate	Paul Corliss
1974	Busting	Marvin Royce
	Newman's Law	Frank Acker
	Hangup	Fred Richards
1976	St. Ives	Myron Green
1977	The Other Side of Midnight	Barbet
	Outlaw Blues	Hatch
1979	Goldengirl	Sternberg
1980	The Baltimore Bullet	Paulie
	Coast to Coast	Dr. Frederick Froll
	Borderline	Henry Lydell
1981	The Postman Always Rings Twice	Mr. Katz
	Threshold	Henry de Vici
1982	National Lampoon's Class Reunion	Dr. Robert Young
1983	Strange Invaders	Willie Collings
1985	Movers & Shakers	Arnie
1987	Anguish	John Pressman
1988	Vibes	Burt Wilder
	Eight Men Out	Arnold Rothstein
1989	Harlem Nights	Bugsy Calhoune
1990	Maniac Cop 2	Deputy Commissioner Edward Doyle
	Any Man's Death	Herb Denner
1991	Omen IV: The Awakening	Earl Knight
1991	Barton Fink	Jack Lipnick	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor[citation needed]
1992	Newsies	Weasel
	The Comrades of Summer	George
1993	Amos & Andrew	Phil Gillman
1994	Blank Check	Biderman
	Radioland Murders	Lieutenant Cross
	The Road to Wellville	Goodloe Bender
	No Escape	The Warden
1995	No Way Back	Frank Serlano
	A Pyromaniac's Love Story	Perry
	Girl in the Cadillac	Pal
1997	The Beautician and the Beast	Jerry Miller
	For Richer or Poorer	Phillip Kleinman
1998	Godzilla	Mayor Ebert
	Safe Men	Big Fat Bernie Gayle
	Celebrity	Dr. Lupus
	Tale of the Mummy	Professor Marcus
	Desperation Boulevard	Manny Green
1999	The Mod Squad	Howard
	My Favorite Martian	Mr. Channing
2001	Mockingbird Don't Sing	Dr. Stan York
2002	101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure	Producer	Voice
2003	Elf	Mr. Greenway
2004	The Calcium Kid	Artie Cohen
	Larceny	Pete
	Poster Boy	Jack Kray
2005	When Do We Eat?	Ira Stuckman
2006	Love and Other Disasters	Marvin Bernstein
	Art School Confidential	Art Dealer
	The Last Time	Leguzza
2007	A Dennis the Menace Christmas	Mr. Souse
	Slipstream	Big Mikey
2008	Yonkers Joe	Stanley
2009	A Serious Man	Solomon Schlutz
	Life During Wartime	Harvey Wiener
2010	Pete Smalls Is Dead	Leonard Proval
	Wax On, F*ck Off	Cy Rosenthal	Short film
2011	Atlas Shrugged: Part I	Wesley Mouch
2012	Mirror Mirror	Baron
2014	X-Men: Days of Future Past	Senator Brickman
2015	Ashby	Entwhistle
2019	Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein	Bobby Fox	Final performance before death

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Dr. Kildare	Dr. Brown	1 episode
1969	The Good Guys	Arthur	2 episodes
	Three's a Crowd	Sid Bagby	Television film
	The Brady Bunch	Johnny	1 episode
1970	The Young Lawyers	Anthony Maroni
	The Doris Day Show	Mr. Murray	2 episodes
1971	That Girl	Charlie	1 episode
	The D.A.	Mark Warren
	What's a Nice Girl Like You...?	Fats Detroit	Television film
1972	The Bold Ones: The New Doctors	Jack Watson	1 episode
	Ironside	Adrian Father
	Night Gallery	Dr. Burgess
	The Delphi Bureau	Cy Turrell
	Banacek	Bartender
	The Streets of San Francisco	Lou Watkins
1973	Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice	Dr. Nasserman
	Firehouse	Ernie Bush	Television film
	The Bob Newhart Show	Mr. Carolla	1 episode
	Emergency!	Martin Noble
	Love Story	Lou Graham
	The New Perry Mason	Derek Stocker
1974	M*A*S*H	Captain Bernie Futterman
	The Rockford Files	Dr. Ruben Steelman
		Arnold Love	2 episodes
	Love, American Style	Karatz	1 episode
	Chase	Cupid
	The Odd Couple	Sgt. Chomsky
	Reflections of Murder	Jerry Steele	Television film
	The Missiles of October	Pierre Salinger
1975	Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic	Dr. Marvin Kittredge
	The Dream Makers	Mike
	A Cry for Help	Philip Conover
	Starsky & Hutch	Fat Rolly	2 episodes
	Lucas Tanner	Artie	1 episode
	Rhoda	Ralph Bentley
1976	Jigsaw John	Arthur Devore
	Harry O	Wilt Kane
	Police Woman	Guidera
	The Rockford Files	Murray Rosner
1978	Ruby and Oswald	Jack Ruby	Television film
	Kojak	Dr. Samuel Fine	1 episode
	Vegas	Nate Stephenson - pilot episode: 'High Roller'
	Wonder Woman	Ashton Ripley
1979	Hart to Hart	Poker Player
1980	Barnaby Jones	Albert Kruger
	This Year's Blonde	Jack L. Warner	Television film
1982	Hart to Hart	Art Radner	1 episode
1983	Hill Street Blues	Rollie Simone	4 episodes
	Blood Feud	Eddie Cheyfitz	Television film
	Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess	Harry Cohn
1985	Hollywood Beat	Pilot	Pilot episode
	MacGyver	Gantner
	The A-Team	Jerry	1 episode
1987	Amazing Stories	Mr. Marvin
	Hands of a Stranger	Capt. Cirrillo	Television film
	The King of Love	Nat Goldberg
1988	Great Performances	Oscar Hammerstein	1 episode
	The Equalizer	Amar
1991	Omen IV: The Awakening	Earl Knight	Television film
1992	The Comrades of Summer	George
1993	Tales from the Crypt	Mr. Byrd	1 episode
1995	Picture Windows	Maestro
	Courthouse	Judge Myron Winkleman	11 episodes
1996–97	Clueless	Mel Horowitz	18 episodes
1998–99	Godzilla: The Series	Mayor Ebert	Voice, 3 episodes
2000	Murder at the Cannes Film Festival	Morrie Borelli	Television film
2001	Third Watch	Seymour Morgenstern	1 episode
2003–06	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Morty Berger	2 episodes
2004	Kingdom Hospital	Sheldon Fleischer	3 episodes
2007	Entourage	Joe Roberts	1 episode
2008	Dirty Sexy Money	Martin
2009	Saving Grace	Rebbe Jory Quecksilber
2010	The Bannen Way	The Mensch	Web series; 16 episodes
2012	The Good Wife	Judge Dwight Sobel	1 episode
	Suburgatory	Aaron Laynberg
2013–14	Glee	Sidney Greene	5 episodes
2015	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Darren Schlepping	1 episode
	Childrens Hospital	Pop
2016	Maron	Ralph

References

1. McCarthy, Lauren (April 10, 2023). "Michael Lerner, 'Elf' and 'Barton Fink' Actor, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
2. Kaplan, Michael (January 1999). "Interview with Michael Lerner". Cigar Aficionado. Archived from the original on March 10, 2010. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
3. "Michael Lerner, Actor in 'Barton Fink,' 'Harlem Nights' and 'Eight Men Out,' Dies at 81". The Hollywood Reporter. April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
4. "Michael Lerner Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
5. "Michael Lerner on Eddie Murphy, Barton Fink, and Woody Allen's worst movie". The A.V. Club. April 28, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
6. "Lea Michele and Michael Lerner". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved August 23, 2014. Lea Michele and Michael Lerner on the set of "Glee" on March 16, 2014, in New York City.

External links

• Michael Lerner at IMDb
• Michael Lerner discography at Discogs
• Michael Lerner at Find a Grave