Alan Mandell Explained

Alan Mandell
Birth Name:Albert Mandell
Birth Date:27 December 1927
Birth Place:Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality:Canadian/American
Occupation:actor

Alan Mandell (born Albert Mandell on December 27, 1927) is a Canadian-American actor known for playing Rabbi Marshak in the Coen Brothers' 2009 film A Serious Man. With several decades of experience as a stage actor, he is especially acclaimed as an interpreter of the works of Samuel Beckett.[1]

Life

Albert Mandell was born to a Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario in 1927.[2] He acted on stage in both Canada and the United States, building a reputation in San Francisco's theater scene in the 1950s.[3] In 1968 he legally changed his given name to Alan to avoid being confused with noted mobster Albert Anastasia.

Mandell's association with Beckett began in 1957, with a production of Waiting for Godot at the San Francisco Actor's Workshop. He subsequently played Lucky in a production of Godot directed by Beckett himself.[4]

Outside of Beckett, Mandell has acted in productions of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land and Arthur Miller's The Price. In 2007 he appeared as Juror #9 in a Los Angeles production of Twelve Angry Men, directed by Scott Ellis and costarring Richard Thomas and George Wendt.[5]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1988Illegally YoursJuror #8
1991The Marrying ManMurch
1993Midnight WitnessShaw
2001Hedwig and the Angry InchPatron at BarUncredited role
2006ShortbusTobias, the Mayor
2009A Serious ManRabbi Marshak
2013Herblock: The Black & the WhiteHerbert Blockdocumentary
2015Addicted to FresnoArthur Lupka
2019Velvet BuzzsawVentril Dease

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1974Great PerformancesDistrict Police InspectorEpisode: "Enemies"
1975The Invisible ManSenator BaldwynEpisode: "Man of Influence"
1975CannonBillingsEpisode: "Fall Guy"
1976The Six Million Dollar ManTechnicianEpisode: "The Secret of Bigfoot: Part 2 "
1976BarettaAssistant DA MerrimanEpisode: "The Left Hand of the Devil"
1976BarettaRichmondEpisode: "Runway Cowboy"
1977Man from AtlantisGrant StockwoodEpisode: "The Death Scouts"
197879 Park AvenueDr. George WaldheimTV miniseries
1978Eight is EnoughunknownEpisode: "Cinderella's Understudy"
1980Breaking AwayPinball playerEpisode: "Grand Illusion"
1991SistersOwen GlendowerEpisode: "One to Grow On"
2010Grey's AnatomyHenry StammEpisode: "Shiny Happy People"

Notes and References

  1. News: Byrd . Craig . Alan Mandell Will Finish His Stage Career the Way He Started It: with a Performance of Endgame . . April 20, 2016 . June 5, 2018.
  2. News: Alan Mandell papers, 1950-2012 . . June 5, 2018.
  3. News: McNulty . Charles . Theater pulses in Alan Mandell's veins . . February 13, 2015 . June 5, 2018. limited.
  4. News: Rampell . Ed . Q&A: Actor Alan Mandell on Samuel Beckett . . April 11, 2012 . June 5, 2018. limited.
  5. News: Verini . Bob . Twelve Angry Men . . March 30, 2007 . June 5, 2018.