Michael Lerner

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. Lerner also played Arnold Rothstein in Eight Men Out (1988), Bugsy Calhoune in Harlem Nights (1989), 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).

Early life Michael Charles Lerner was born on June 22, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York City, of Romanian-Jewish descent, the second of three sons to Blanche (née Halpern) 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." His older brother, Arnold, died in 2004.

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. 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. In 1968, he appeared in Ono's short experimental film Smile, among other projects. "She made a movie 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." In 1997, he would play Joy Miller's father Jerry in The Beautician and the Beast. In 1998, Lerner portrayed Dr. Lupus in Celebrity, later panning the movie as a "piece of shit" due to conflicts with director and co-star Woody Allen. By 1999, Lerner acknowledged that he was primarily seen as a character actor. as well as television programs such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Entourage.

In 2002, 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.

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. Lerner stated that he was briefly married before receiving his Fulbright Scholarship, but that the marriage was not recorded as it was annulled shortly after.

Selected filmography

Films 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 LarcenyPete Poster Boy Jack Kray 2005 When Do We Eat? Ira Stuckman2006 Love and Other DisastersMarvin Bernstein Art School ConfidentialArt Dealer The Last Time Leguzza 2007 A Dennis the Menace Christmas Mr. Souse SlipstreamBig Mikey2008 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 Entwhistle2019 Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein Bobby Fox Final performance before death

Television