Joanna Merlin (born JoAnn Delores Ratner; July 15, 1931 – October 15, 2023) was an American actress and casting director who worked with
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...
and starred in the original
Broadway production of ''
Fiddler on the Roof
''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...
''. She wrote two acting guides and was a faculty member of
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
's graduate acting program.
From 2000 to 2011, she was known for her recurring role on ''
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' as Judge Lena Petrovsky.
Early life
JoAnn Delores Ratner, who later took her mother's maiden name, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 15, 1931, to Toni Merlin and Harry Ratner, a Jewish grocer.
"Joanna Merlin" Profile
Memim.com. Accessed October 2015. Her parents had immigrated to the United States from Russia. Her family also included her older sister, Harriet Glickman, who would go on to gain recognition for helping persuade Charles M. Schulz in 1968 to add a black character to his ''Peanuts
''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...
'' strip, which he did with the introduction of Franklin.[
Merlin first acted on stage at age 11, joining a community theatre production, ''Too Many Marys''.] Merlin's family moved to Los Angeles when she was fifteen.[ She attended ]UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
, though did not graduate, and later studied under Michael Chekhov
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov (; 16 August 1891 – 30 September 1955), known as Michael Chekhov, was a Russian-American actor, Theatre director, director, author, and theatre practitioner. He was a nephew of the playwright Anton Chekhov an ...
, learning his world-renowned acting technique. She was described as the last student of Chekhov who was still alive and teaching.
Career
Merlin made her first screen appearance in Cecil B. DeMille's film '' The Ten Commandments'' in 1956.[ Five years later, she made her Broadway debut in '' Becket''][ before playing Tzeitel in ]Harold Prince
Harold Smith Prince (born Harold Smith; January 30, 1928 – July 31, 2019), commonly known as Hal Prince, was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre.
One of the foremost figures in 20th-century theat ...
's production of ''Fiddler on the Roof''. She left the cast of ''Fiddler on the Roof'' before the end of its tour to take care of her two small children, but Harold Prince gave her the opportunity to become involved in casting with a more flexible schedule. ''Company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
'' was the first musical for which Merlin served as the casting director. She was also in charge of casting for such plays as '' Follies'', '' Evita'' and ''Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...
''.[
In 1986, she served as casting director for the ]John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...
film, '' Big Trouble in Little China''.
After making appearances in several feature films, including the movie '' Fame'', in which she played Miss Olivia Berg, a classical dance teacher; Merlin appeared in the NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
crime drama ''Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...
'' in 1992 as a defense attorney. Like many actors from that show, she went on to play other characters in the ''Law & Order'' franchise - another defense attorney in the original show and a more recurring role as Judge Lena Petrovsky, a judge who was very stern, by-the-book, and scolded or sanctioned, at various times, ADAs Casey Novak ( Diane Neal) and Alexandra Cabot ( Stephanie March) and Detective (now Captain) Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay
Mariska Magdolna Hargitay Mariska says her own first name and the name of her father; the interviewer, James Lipton, also says her full name near the start of the show. (; born January 23, 1964) is an American actress, producer, and philanthrop ...
), in its first spin-off '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''. In the latter role, she appeared in 43 episodes, across every season between the years 2000 and 2011.[
Merlin taught in New York University's graduate acting program at the ]Tisch School of the Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...
and in 1999, founded the Michael Chekhov Association where she taught acting workshops.
Personal life and death
After a marriage to Martin Lubner in the 1950s ended in divorce, Merlin was married to David Dretzin from 1965 until his death in 2006, from an injury sustained in a car accident. They had two daughters: Rachel, a documentary filmmaker; and Julie, an actress.[
Merlin died from ]myelodysplastic syndrome
A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may includ ...
at the Los Angeles home of her daughter, Rachel, on October 15, 2023, at the age of 92.
Filmography
Film
Television
Stage
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merlin, Joanna
1931 births
2023 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American Jews
Actresses from Chicago
Actresses from Los Angeles
American casting directors
American film actresses
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Deaths from cancer in California
Deaths from myelodysplastic syndrome
Jewish American actresses
Tisch School of the Arts faculty
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
American women casting directors