Ron Rifkin

American actor

Ron Rifkin

Rifkin in 2014

Born|

Saul M. Rifkin

(1939-10-31) October 31, 1939 (age 84)

New York City, U.S.

Occupation| Actor
Years active| 1966–present
Spouse|

Iva Rifkin

(m. 1966)​

Ron Rifkin (born Saul M. Rifkin; October 31, 1939) is an American actor best known for his roles as Arvin Sloane on the spy drama Alias, Saul Holden on the drama Brothers & Sisters, and District Attorney Ellis Loew in L.A. Confidential. He received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Herr Schultz in the 1998 revival of Cabaret.

## Personal life[edit]

Saul M. Rifkin was born in New York City to Miriam and Herman Rifkin, who was born in Russia. He is the oldest of three children.[1] He was raised as an Orthodox Jew and remains Jewish though he left Orthodoxy at the age of 32.[2][3][4][5] His wife, Iva Rifkin, owns a fashion design business.[6][7]

## Career[edit]

In 2001, Rifkin's association with Touchstone Television began when he played intelligence agent Arvin Sloane in Alias, opposite Jennifer Garner. From 2006 to 2011, he played second-in-command businessman Saul Holden on Brothers & Sisters, opposite Sally Field. He also played Ann Romano-Royer's (Bonnie Franklin) second boyfriend Nick on One Day at a Time. He was a series regular during the sixth season. In the season 7 premiere, "Alex Moves In", it is revealed that Nick dies as a result of an accident with a drunk driver.[8]

Rifkin has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in film, on stage, and in television. His association with writer Jon Robin Baitz has been especially fruitful.[9] In 1991, his performance in Baitz's play The Substance of Fire won him the Obie, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Drama-Logue awards for Best Actor. The next year, he performed in Baitz's Three Hotels, for which he received a second Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nomination. In 1996, he starred in the film version of Substance; in 2002, he appeared in the Baitz play Ten Unknowns at Boston's Huntington Theatre; in 2004, he starred in his play The Paris Letter at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, a role he reprised the next year at the Laura Pels Theatre in New York City, and appeared in the ABC drama series Brothers & Sisters, which Baitz created, as a character named Saul, Rifkin's real name.

Rifkin received a 1998 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the Broadway revival of Cabaret. Additional theatre credits include David Hirson's Wrong Mountain, Arthur Miller's Broken Glass, Ivan Turgenev's A Month in the Country, and Neil Simon's Proposals.

Rifkin's extensive film credits include Silent Running (1972), The Sunshine Boys (1975), The Big Fix (1978), JFK (1991), Husbands and Wives (1992), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Wolf (1994), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Negotiator (1998), Boiler Room (2000), Keeping the Faith (2000), The Majestic (2001), Dragonfly (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Pulse (2006).

On television, Rifkin has appeared in numerous made-for-TV movies and miniseries, had regular roles on The Rockford Files, One Day at a Time, Husbands, Wives & Lovers, The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, and Alias, and made guest appearances on a number of series, including Barnaby Jones, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Sex and the City, The Bob Newhart Show, The Good Wife, ER, Law & Order, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Falcon Crest, Soap, Hill Street Blues, Smash, and The Outer Limits, for which he received a CableACE nomination.

Rifkin is the reader for a number of audiobooks, including Lois Lowry's The Giver, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Sang Spell, and Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed.

He currently portrays Defense Attorney Marvin Stan Exely, a recurring character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He also starred in Limitless as Brian Finch's father Dennis Finch and appears in Gotham as Father Creel.

In October 2020, a short film, Daddy, was uploaded on Christian Coppola's YouTube channel in which Rifkin stars alongside Dylan Sprouse. In the film, "after the death of his wife, an 80-year-old man checks into The Plaza Hotel to celebrate their first anniversary apart, hiring a male escort to take her place."

## Filmography[edit]

### Film[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1969  | The Devil's 8 | Stewart Martin  |
1969  | Flareup | Sailor  |
1972  | Silent Running | Marty Barker  |
1972  | Fuzz | Cop guarding the Mayor's Mansion  | Uncredited
1975  | The Sunshine Boys | TV floor manager  |
1978  | Rabbit Test | Dr. Briscoe  |
1978  | The Big Fix | Randy  |
1981  | The Chosen | Baseball Coach  |
1983  | The Sting II | Eddie  |
1984  | Kidco | George Tuskie  |
1991  | JFK | Mr. Goldberg/Spiesel  |
1992  | Husbands and Wives | Rain's Analyst  |
1993  | Manhattan Murder Mystery | Sy  |
1994  | Wolf | Doctor Ralph  |
1995  | Last Summer in the Hamptons | Eli Garfield  |
1996  | The Substance of Fire | Isaac Geldhart  |
1996  | I'm Not Rappaport | Feigelbaum  |
1997  | L.A. Confidential | District Attorney Ellis Loew  |
1998  | The Negotiator | Commander Grant Frost  |
2000  | Drop Back Ten |  |
2000  | Boiler Room | Judge Marty Davis  |
2000  | Keeping the Faith | Larry Friedman  |
2001  | Sam the Man | Richard  |
2001  | The Majestic | Kevin Bannerman - Peter's Attorney  |
2002  | Tadpole | Professor Tisch  |
2002  | Dragonfly | Charlie Dickinson  |
2002  | The Sum of All Fears | Secretary of State Sidney Owens  |
2002  | Just a Kiss | Dr. Fauci  |
2006  | Pulse | Dr. Waterson  |
2010  | Peep World | Henry Meyerwitz  |
2012  | The Words | Timothy Epstein  |
2016  | True Memoirs of an International Assassin | Amos AKA The Ghost  |
2017  | They Shall Not Perish | Henry Morgenthau Sr. |
2018  | A Star Is Born | Carl  |
2018  | Daddy | Mr. Smith  | Short film
2020  | Minyan | Josef  |
2022  | Funny Pages | Grandpa  |

### Television[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1966  | Gidget | Mel  | Episode: "Love and the Single Gidget"
1970  | Room 222 | Ralph Fisk  | Episode: "Ralph"
1970  | The Interns | Ferguson  | Episode: "Mondays Can Be Fatal"
1972  | Awake and Sing! | Sam Feinschreiber  | TV movie
1972  | The Sandy Duncan Show | Warren  | Episode: "Doctor New"
1972  | Young Dr. Kildare | Harry Flicker  | Episode: "No More Than a Bad Cold"
1973  | Bachelor-at-Law | Assistant District Attorney  | TV movie
1973  | Adam's Rib | Asst. Dist. Atty. Roy Mendelsohn  | 13 episodes
1973  | Insight | John Bailey  | Episode: "Reunion"
1974  | Get Christie Love! | Normand  | Episode: "Get Christie Love!"
1974  | The Bob Newhart Show | Jeff Boggs  | Episode: "Mind Your Own Business"
1974  | Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law | Marty Dyer  | Episode: "To Keep and Bear Arms"
1974  | The Suicide Club |  | TV movie
1974  | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | Ed Schroeder  | Episode: "A New Sue Ann"
1974  | The ABC Afternoon Playbreak | Tony  | Episode: "Oh, Baby, Baby, Baby..."
1975  | The Dream Makers | Herb  | TV movie
1975  | Barnaby Jones | Snipper Wilcox  | Episode: "Counterfall"
1975  | Cannon | Paul Goldberg  | Episode: "The Deadly Conspiracy: Part 1"
1975  | The Night That Panicked America | Mercury Theatre Player  | TV movie
1975  | Kojak | Rick Levene  | Episode: "No Immunity for Murder"
1975  | When Things Were Rotten | Prince John | 9 episodes
1975–1976  | The Rockford Files | Tom Robertson / Warren Weeks  | 2 episodes
1976  | Doc | Gary  | Episode: "A Little Bit of Soap"
1976  | Medical Center | Danny Armbruster  | Episode: "Life, Death and Mrs. Armbruster"
1977  | In the Glitter Palace | Roger  | TV movie
1977  | McMillan & Wife | Aaron Leacock  | Episode: "Have You Heard About Vanessa?"
1977  | Husbands and Wives | Ron Cutler  | TV movie
1977  | Family | Dr. Grant  | Episode: "Acts of Love: Part 2"
1977  | The Tony Randall Show | Benten  | Episode: "Walter Screws Up"
1977  | Rafferty | Dr. Bakersmith  | Episode: "Walking Wounded"
1978  | A Question of Guilt | Assistant District Attorney Verrell  | TV movie
1978  | Columbo | Luther  | Episode: "Make Me a Perfect Murder"
1978  | Husbands, Wives & Lovers | Ron Willis  | 10 episodes
1978  | Soap | Dr. Kanter  | 3 episodes
1978  | Greatest Heroes of the Bible | Beseleel  | 4 episodes
1979  | Alice | Eric  | Episode: "Sweet Charity"
1979  | The Mary Tyler Moore Hour | Artie Miller  | 11 episodes
1979  | Mrs. R's Daughter | Joseph Barron  | TV movie
1979  | Salvage 1 | Reporter Mike Flannery  | Episode: "Diamond Volcano"
1980  | Knots Landing | Stan Lesser  | 2 episodes
1980–1981  | One Day at a Time | Nick Handris  | 16 episodes
1982  | The Day the Bubble Burst |  | TV movie
1983  | Another Woman's Child | Barry Stein  | TV movie
1983  | The Winds of War | Mark Hartley  | Episode: "The Storm Breaks"
1983  | Ryan's Four |  | Episode: "Ryan's Four"
1983  | Faerie Tale Theatre | The Squire  | Episode: "Sleeping Beauty"
1983  | Falcon Crest | Dr. Hal Lantry  | 9 episodes
1984  | Hill Street Blues | Monty DiMair  | Episode: "Ratman and Bobbin"
1984  | The Ratings Game | TV Director  | TV movie
1984–1991  | American Playhouse | Leonard / Samuel Roth  | 2 episodes
1985  | Evergreen | Solly  | Episode #1.1
1985  | Do You Remember Love | Gerry Kaplan  | TV movie
1986  | The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible | Mordecai (voice)  | Episode: "Queen Esther"
1986  | Dress Gray | Maj. Consor  | 2 episodes
1987  | Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 | Allen Ginsberg | TV movie
1990  | Three Hotels |  | TV movie
1990–1992  | The Trials of Rosie O'Neill | Ben Meyer  | 34 episodes
1990–1992  | Law & Order | Alex Drakos / Defense Attorney Phillip Nevins  | 2 episodes
1992  | ScreenPlay | Teddy Weinfeld  | Episode: "Buying a Landslide"
1993  | Room for Two | Jack Weissman  | 3 episodes
1994  | WSH: The Myth of the Urban Myth | Professor Pulling  | TV movie
1995  | Fallen Angels | Frank Barsaly  | Episode: "Red Wind"
1995–1996  | ER | Dr. Carl Vucelich  | 9 episodes
1996  | Norma Jean & Marilyn | Johnny Hyde | TV movie
1997  | Leaving L.A. | Dr. Neil Bernstein  | 6 episodes
1997–1998  | The Outer Limits | Dr. Martin Nodel  | 2 episodes
2000  | Flowers for Algernon | Dr. Jonah Strauss  | TV movie
2000  | Deliberate Intent | Howard Siegel  | TV movie
2001  | The Warden | Judge Faschbinder  | TV movie
2001  | A Nero Wolfe Mystery | Nikola Miltan / Attorney Perry Helmar  | 3 episodes
2001–2006  | Alias | Arvin Sloane | 103 episodes
2002  | Sex and the City | Julian Fisher  | Episode: "A 'Vogue' Idea"
2006–2011  | Brothers & Sisters | Saul Holden | 95 episodes
2009  | American Masters | Narrator  | Episode: "Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About"
2011–2014  | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Defense Attorney Marvin Exley  | 6 episodes
2013  | Touch | Isaac  | Episode: "Leviathan"
2013  | Smash | Himself  | Episode: "The Tonys"
2014  | Mind Games | Ted Sanders  | Episode: "Pilot"
2015  | The Good Wife | Spencer Randolph  | Episode: "Winning Ugly"
2015–2016  | Gotham | Father Creal  | 5 episodes
2015–2016  | Limitless | Dennis Finch  | 12 episodes
2016  | Elementary | Wayne Vachs  | Episode: "Worth Several Cities"
2018  | Blindspot | Rob Donnelly  | Episode: "Deductions"
2018–2019  | New Amsterdam | Dean Peter Fulton  | 7 episodes

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Ron Rifkin TV Listings / Biography". TV-Now.com.
2. ^ "Theater; Acting Against Type: The Self-Hating Jew". New York Times. April 24, 1994.
3. ^ Axelrod, Toby (December 6, 1996). "Haunted By The Holocaust: Brooklyn-born Ron Rifkin lands film role of his career as a Lear-like figure in 'The Substance of Fire'". The Jewish Week. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011.
4. ^ Elkin, Michael (December 21, 2006). "Jewish Jingle Belles? Chanukah with the 'Brothers & Sisters'". The Jewish Exponent.
5. ^ "Ron Rifkin's Jewish Journeys | Luke Ford". lukeford.net. February 20, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
6. ^ De Vries, Hilary. "Death of a Coat Salesman: After 30 years in the theater and six years in the fashion business, Ron Rifkin becomes an overnight success with a tailor-made role in ‘The Substance of Fire’," LA Times, July 28 1991. Retrieved Feb. 26, 2023.
7. ^ "Ron Rifkin Biography (1939-)". FilmReference.com.
8. ^ ""One Day at a Time" Alex Moves In (TV Episode 1981)". IMDb. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
9. ^ Green, Jesse (June 5, 2005). "The Muse Who Sold Shmattes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 13, 2018.

## External links[edit]

* Ron Rifkin at IMDb
* Ron Rifkin at the Internet Broadway Database

Awards for Ron Rifkin

* v
* t
* e

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play

1975–2000|

* Anthony Hopkins (1975)
* John Wood (1976)
* Al Pacino (1977)
* Barnard Hughes (1978)
* Philip Anglim (1979)
* John Rubinstein (1980)
* Ian McKellen (1981)
* Christopher Plummer (1982)
* Harvey Fierstein (1983)
* Dustin Hoffman (1984)
* John Lithgow (1985)
* Ed Harris (1986)
* James Earl Jones (1987)
* Ron Silver (1988)
* Philip Bosco (1989)
* Nathan Lane (1990)
* Ron Rifkin (1991)
* Brian Bedford (1992)
* Ron Leibman (1993)
* Brian Bedford (1994)
* Ralph Fiennes (1995)
* Frank Langella (1996)
* David Morse / Christopher Plummer (1997)
* Anthony LaPaglia (1998)
* Brian Dennehy (1999)
* Stephen Dillane (2000)

2001–2022|

* Richard Easton (2001)
* Alan Bates (2002)
* Eddie Izzard (2003)
* Kevin Kline (2004)
* Brían F. O'Byrne (2005)
* Richard Griffiths (2006)
* Frank Langella (2007)
* Mark Rylance (2008)
* Geoffrey Rush (2009)
* Liev Schreiber (2010)
* Bobby Cannavale (2011)
* James Corden (2012)
* Tracy Letts (2013)
* Bryan Cranston (2014)
* Alex Sharp (2015)
* Frank Langella (2016)
* Kevin Kline (2017)
* Andrew Garfield (2018)
* Jay O. Sanders (2019)
* Edmund Donovan (2020)
* No Award (2021)
* Ruben Santiago-Hudson (2022)

* v
* t
* e

Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical

1947–1975|

* David Wayne (1947)
* Myron McCormick (1950)
* Russell Nype (1951)
* Yul Brynner (1952)
* Hiram Sherman (1953)
* Harry Belafonte (1954)
* Cyril Ritchard (1955)
* Russ Brown (1956)
* Sydney Chaplin (1957)
* David Burns (1958)
* Russell Nype / Leonard Stone (1959)
* Tom Bosley (1960)
* Dick Van Dyke (1961)
* Charles Nelson Reilly (1962)
* David Burns (1963)
* Jack Cassidy (1964)
* Victor Spinetti (1965)
* Frankie Michaels (1966)
* Joel Grey (1967)
* Hiram Sherman (1968)
* Ron Holgate (1969)
* René Auberjonois (1970)
* Keene Curtis (1971)
* Larry Blyden (1972)
* George S. Irving (1973)
* Tommy Tune (1974)
* Ted Ross (1975)

1976–2000|

* Sammy Williams (1976)
* Lenny Baker (1977)
* Kevin Kline (1978)
* Henderson Forsythe (1979)
* Mandy Patinkin (1980)
* Hinton Battle (1981)
* Cleavant Derricks (1982)
* Charles Coles (1983)
* Hinton Battle (1984)
* Ron Richardson (1985)
* Michael Rupert (1986)
* Michael Maguire (1987)
* Bill McCutcheon (1988)
* Scott Wise (1989)
* Michael Jeter (1990)
* Hinton Battle (1991)
* Scott Waara (1992)
* Anthony Crivello (1993)
* Jarrod Emick (1994)
* George Hearn (1995)
* Wilson Jermaine Heredia (1996)
* Chuck Cooper (1997)
* Ron Rifkin (1998)
* Roger Bart (1999)
* Boyd Gaines (2000)

2001–present|

* Gary Beach (2001)
* Shuler Hensley (2002)
* Dick Latessa (2003)
* Michael Cerveris (2004)
* Dan Fogler (2005)
* Christian Hoff (2006)
* John Gallagher Jr. (2007)
* Boyd Gaines (2008)
* Gregory Jbara (2009)
* Levi Kreis (2010)
* John Larroquette (2011)
* Michael McGrath (2012)
* Gabriel Ebert (2013)
* James Monroe Iglehart (2014)
* Christian Borle (2015)
* Daveed Diggs (2016)
* Gavin Creel (2017)
* Ari'el Stachel (2018)
* André De Shields (2019)
* Danny Burstein (2020/21)
* Matt Doyle (2022)
* Alex Newell (2023)
* Daniel Radcliffe (2024)

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* France
* BnF data
* Germany
* Israel
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Netherlands
* Poland

Other|

* SNAC
* IdRef

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