Ron Leibman Dies at 82

His Roy Cohn in AiA was never topped.

Leibman... I suppose he missed out on the great breakfast at the Mortimer Club.

He was perfect as Roy Cohn in Angels in America.

He, Marcia Gay Harden and Jeffrey Wright *made* that show. The rest were meh.

He was sexy in Norma Rae.

Wait a minute...is this the guy from Up The Academy who said, "Tickle your ass with a feather?"

Married to Jessica Walter. Formerly married to Linda Lavin.

Talented guy. Any stories? Nice guy? Asshole?

rrrrr

Don't forget he was Rachel Green's father.

He was a very good actor. RIP.

A foursome - The Hot Rock BOMB

[quote]His Roy Cohn in AiA was never topped.

Unlike the real Roy.

He was very funny in "Where's Poppa" as the brother of George Segal who keeps getting mugged going through Central Park trying to keep his brother from killing derange Mom Ruth Gordon; he showed a cute naked butt when he was stripped at one point. Very good actor, too!

I remember him from the commercials for Kaz!

I only remembered him from Norma Rae. He played the Jewish NYC-based union organizer who befriends Norma and helps them form a union. There was a sadness and vulnerability between them because Norma had a crush on him, but it was clear they inhabited two different worlds.

Has Jeffrey Tambor released a statement yet?

Aww, I liked him.

[quote]He, Marcia Gay Harden and Jeffrey Wright *made* that show. The rest were meh.

As it turns out, it's the show that's meh.

I always get excited when someone commands me to march a gay hard-on.

I had no idea he was that old. I was always a fan of Jewish boys.

I saw him and Jessica Walter on Broadway in Neil Simon's play Rumors in 1988. DL fave Joyce Van Patten was also in it. It was a very good play for people who dislike Neil Simon.

[quote]I had no idea he was that old. I was always a fan of Jewish boys.

Same with me, r20. I've always been attracted to the Jewish boys.

Ron Leibman and Jessica Walter were on Gilbert Gottfried’s podcast a few years ago. Very funny and warm, their showbiz stories were a delight.

Ron went completely wacko on Carson many years ago bemoaning the lack of roles for ethnic men.

I once encountered Ron before Victor Garber and Don Scardino's cabaret act at Barbaran's in NYC. He was the screamingest queen I'd ever met up until then. Bright red vinyl jacket, fuck-me pumps, and coming on to every man under 30 in the place. I could never watch a performance of his after that without thinking of that night. He seemed to have had a thing for Lenny Baker.

[quote] His Roy Cohn in AiA was never topped.

Considering how Roy Cohn died, I find that hard to believe.

[quote] Don't forget he was Rachel Green's father. -Marlo Thomas

I’d rather remember he was in [italic]Up the Academy[/italic].

Yyyy

50 years ago, in the summer of 1969, I was an apprentice at the Bucks County Playhouse, where the big event of the summer was Ron Leibman, starring in a production of “Scuba Duba,” by Bruce Jay Friedman. In addition, it was directed by the film actor, George Segal, who even then looked much older in person than on film.

Leibman kept pretty much to himself . His character, a husband alone in a villa on the Riviera, dealing with his wife who’s left him for a black intellectual, is onstage for all of the two act play, and talks a lot. I remember a lot of it was funny, in the way of New York angst. But it’s more of a dramady, with many sad moments.

Leibman was polite, friendly on approach, but seemed as morose as his character. After one performance, he was visited by Stiller and Meara, whom I had barely heard of at the time. They seemed like old friends.

Segal was a workmanlike director. I can’t recall his ever directing anything else. All us “apprenti” had been avidly looking forward to his arrival, but, after his first day of rehearsal, Peter Mumford, the stage manager, could only describe him in one word, “Rude-a-rama!”

The last play of that season was Arthur Miller’s “The Price,” with one Rue Mc Clanahan as the wife, with whom I stayed in touch for a while.

But that, as they say, is another story.

Awww, tell us!

Have I released a statement yet?

"Stiller and Meara, whom I had barely heard of at the time"

WHAT? They were regulars on the Ed Sullivan Show!!!

I didn’t watch the Ed Sullivan Show.

[quote]I didn’t watch the Ed Sullivan Show.

You missed a lot.

I didn't watch because I wasn't born and my parents were teenagers on opposite sides of the country when it was cancelled.

Why did he play Kaz if he was Jewish?

[quote] Has Jeffrey Tambor released a statement yet?

We'll know once Jason Bateman issues a mansplanation for it on his Twitter feed.

Why did he hook up with Linda Lavin?

It comes in threes. Robert Walker Jr, Ron Leibman, and.....

[quote]Robert Walker Jr, Ron Leibman, and.....

and if there's a God, Olivia de Havilland

[quote] Why did he hook up with Linda Lavin?

Because Vic Tayback said "thanks but no thanks."

Around 2011-12, I was walking around Hollywood Boulevard looking at the hand and foot prints on a weeknight in the winter months, when it tends to be relatively quiet in that area.

Ron Leibman was the only other person there doing the same thing. I recognized him from "Friends" and was surprised that he would be there in a touristy area, doing something touristy.

He was excellent in Norma Rae, as good as Sally Field was and she was amazing in that film.

R36, how could you be working in a play in 1969 and "not be born" when the Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971) was on? Plus what does being on the opposite side of the country have to do with it? It was a national network show.

I guess Norma Rae was good...all I did was stare at Sally Field's obnoxious new breast implants when I saw it in 1979.

I WIN

He was in Norma Rae and then had a series that failed. But he didn’t really do anything else. So... why was he so famous for a while? I’m trying to remember.

I knew him as Jennifer Anniston's dad on Friends but I recognize him from TV roles he did throughout.

R48, that’s like remembering Katherine Helmond only from that stupid Tony Fucking Danza show instead of for her brilliant work on [italic]Soap[/italic] or the movies she made for Terry Gilliam and Alfred Hitchcock.

I know R49...sue me.

[quote]I know R49...sue me.

For what? I bet your taste in possessions is as bad as your taste in entertainment. No one with any taste or breeding wastes their time watching such a stupid, unfunny, and retrograde TV show.

But people with "taste and breeding" spend all day on gay gossip boards?

[quote]But people with "taste and breeding" spend all day on gay gossip boards?

A word can have multiple meanings.

He was such a natural actor to me. He was perfect in Auto Focus.

I wonder how Jessica is holding up