Hirsch, Judd

Hirsch, Judd (b. 1935), character actor. The popular performer, with a “street face” that allows him to play everymen of different ethnic types, was born in the Bronx and studied engineering at City College before training as an actor at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and with various acting coaches. Hirsch worked in stock before making his Broadway debut in 1966, eventually getting noticed as the switchboard operator Bill in The Hot l Baltimore (1973) at the Circle Repertory Company, a group with whom he would often perform. He had become a familiar face in television by the time he starred as the widower‐writer George Schneider in Chapter Two (1977), followed by such successes as the Jewish accountant Matt Friedman in Talley's Folly (1979), the feisty senior citizen Nat in I'm Not Rappaport (1985 and 2002), and the crusty old bar owner Eddie in Conversations with My Father (1992). Mel Gussow in the New York Times described Hirsch's performance as Matt Friedman the “quintessential portrait of an outsider. . .part bookkeeper, part clown.”