John Rubinstein (born December 8, 1946) is an American actor, composer and director.

Early life

Rubinstein is the son of Polish parents. His mother, Aniela (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Młynarska), a dancer and writer, was a Roman Catholic native of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, the daughter of conductor Emil Młynarski. His father was Polish-Jewish concert pianist

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein Order of the British Empire, KBE OMRI (; 28 January 1887 – 20 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.

. He attended El Rodeo Public School in Beverly Hills (K–2), Cours La Cascade in Paris, France (1954), and St. Bernard's School (3–8) and

Collegiate School (New York City) Collegiate School is an all-boys private school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Founded by Dutch colonists in either 1628 or 1638, it is the nation's oldest private secondary school, and claims to be the nation's oldest scho ...

(9–12) in New York City. He studied theater and music at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(1964–1967), and later composition at the

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

School in New York.

Career

Theater

He made his Broadway acting debut in 1972 and received a Theatre World Award for creating the title role in the musical '' Pippin'', directed by

Bob Fosse Robert Louis Fosse (; June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, and stage director. Known for his work on stage and screen, he is arguably the most influential figure in the field of jazz dance in th ...

. In 1980 he won the Tony, Drama Desk, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and Drama-Logue Awards for his portrayal of James Leeds in Mark Medoff's '' Children of a Lesser God'', directed by Gordon Davidson. Other Broadway appearances were in

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three ...

's '' Fools'', directed by

Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theatre director and comedian. He worked across a range of genres and had an aptitude for getting the best out of actors regardless of ...

, and

Herman Wouk Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author. He published fifteen novels, many of them historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize in fiction. ...

's '' The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial'', which earned him a Drama Desk nomination; he replaced William Hurt as Eddie in David Rabe's '' Hurlyburly'', replaced

David Dukes David Coleman Dukes (June 6, 1945 – October 9, 2000) was an American character actor. He had a long career in films, appearing in 35. Dukes starred in the miniseries ''The Winds of War (miniseries), The Winds of War'' and ''War and Remembrance ...

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

's ''

M. Butterfly ''M. Butterfly'' is a play by David Henry Hwang. The story, while entwined with that of the opera '' Madama Butterfly'', is based most directly on the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a Beijing opera sin ...

'', and starred in '' Getting Away with Murder'', by

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 George Furth, directed by Jack O'Brien, and ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

'', by

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," M ...

Stephen Flaherty Stephen Flaherty (born September 18, 1960) is an American composer of musical theatre and film. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/book writer Lynn Ahrens. They are best known for writing the Broadway musicals ''Ragtime'', wh ...

, and Lynn Ahrens. In 2014, he joined the Broadway cast of the hit revival of '' Pippin'', directed by Diane Paulus, this time playing Pippin's father, Charlemagne; and subsequently repeated that role on the national tour throughout the United States and Japan in 2014–15. In 2016, it was announced that he would join fellow Tony-winner Christian Borle in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as Grandpa Joe, directed by Jack O'Brien. In 2023 Rubenstein starred in the one man biographical show ''Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground'' debuting

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

at the St. Clemens Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and subsequently touring around the US. The show portrays the former president at his home in retirement, working on his second autobiography, reminiscing about his life and musing about his popularity and how he will be remembered. He taught a course in musical theater audition techniques at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, and directed their spring musicals.

Film and television

Rubinstein's feature films include ''

21 Grams ''21 Grams'' is a 2003 American crime thriller film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It is the second installment in the duo’s informal “Trilogy of Death,” preceded by ''Amores perros'' (2000) ...

'', '' Red Dragon'', ''

Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French , from Medieval Latin , "price paid, wages", from Latin , "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts. In the social and le ...

'', '' Another Stakeout'', '' Someone to Watch Over Me'', '' Daniel'', '' The Boys from Brazil'', '' Rome & Jewel'', ''Jekyll'', ''Kid Cop'', '' Getting Straight'', '' Zachariah'', '' The Trouble with Girls'', and '' The Car''. He appears in the film '' Being the Ricardos'' as

Jess Oppenheimer Jessurun James Oppenheimer (November 11, 1913 – December 27, 1988) was an American radio and television writer, producer, and director. He was the producer and head writer of the CBS sitcom ''I Love Lucy''. Lucille Ball called Oppenheimer � ...

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theatre

Video games

Voice Work

Rubinstein has also performed in 150 Audio Books, mostly in the genres of Mystery Thriller & Suspense (94) or science fiction/fantasy (18) genres, either as a character but usually narrating the entire text. He also read the part of Captain Kirk in the

talking book An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

version of

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...

's original teleplay for

The City on the Edge of Forever "The City on the Edge of Forever" is the twenty-eighth and penultimate episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, first season of the American science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Star Trek: The Origin ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinstein, John 1946 births American people of Polish-Jewish descent American male film actors American male musical theatre actors American male singers American male television actors American television directors American theatre directors Collegiate School (New York) alumni Drama Desk Award winners Living people Jewish American male actors Male actors from Los Angeles Tony Award winners UCLA Film School alumni 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors