Herb Edelman

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.

Edelman was born in Brooklyn, New York, 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, 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). In 1976, in an episode of The Love Boat entitled “Daredevil / Picture Me Spy”, Edelman portrayed a Russian professor at Stanford University. 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.

Edelman was married to actress Louise Sorel from 1964 to 1970. He had two children with his second wife, Merrilyn (Crosgrove) Saint. He was romantically linked with his St. Elsewhere co-star Christina Pickles from the mid-1980s until his death.

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, New York.