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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 Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
''.


Personal life

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. He was raised as an Orthodox Jew and remains Jewish though he left Orthodoxy at the age of 32. His wife, Iva Rifkin, owns a fashion design business.


Career

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 Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress. She has performed in movies, Broadway theater, television, and made records of popular music. Known for her extensive work on screen and stage, she has received many accola ...
. 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. 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. 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 Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
's Huntington Theatre; in 2004, he starred in his play ''The Paris Letter'' at the
Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...
Theatre in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of 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 The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the Broadway revival of ''
Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
''. Additional theatre credits include David Hirson's ''Wrong Mountain'',
Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...
's '' Broken Glass'',
Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...
's '' A Month in the Country'', and
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 ''
Proposals Proposal(s) or The Proposal may refer to: * Proposal (business) * Research proposal * Marriage proposal * Proposition, a proposal in logic and philosophy Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Proposal'' (album), an album by Ransom & Statik Se ...
''. 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 The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...
'' (1994), '' L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Negotiator'' (1998), '' Boiler Room'' (2000), '' Keeping the Faith'' (2000), '' The Majestic'' (2001), ''
Dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...
'' (2002), '' The Sum of All Fears'' (2002), and ''
Pulse In medicine, the pulse refers to the rhythmic pulsations (expansion and contraction) of an artery in response to the cardiac cycle (heartbeat). The pulse may be felt ( palpated) in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surfac ...
'' (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 ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 ...
'', ''
Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...
'', '' The Bob Newhart Show'', '' The Good Wife'', '' ER'', ''
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 ...
'', '' A Nero Wolfe Mystery'', '' Falcon Crest'', ''
Soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...
'', '' Hill Street Blues'', '' Smash'', and '' The Outer Limits'', for which he received a CableACE nomination. Rifkin is the reader for a number of
audiobook 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 ...
s, including
Lois Lowry Lois Ann Lowry (; née Hammersberg; born March 20, 1937) is an American writer. She is the author of many books for children and young adults, including '' The Giver Quartet'', '' Number the Stars'', the Anastasia series, and '' Rabble Starkey''. ...
's ''
The Giver ''The Giver'' is a 1993 young adult dystopian novel written by American author Lois Lowry and is set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but is revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses. In the novel, the society has take ...
'', 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 YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
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


Film


Television


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rifkin, Ron 1939 births 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American male actors Male actors from New York City American male film actors American people of Russian-Jewish descent American male stage actors American male television actors Audiobook narrators Drama Desk Award winners Jewish American male actors Living people Tony Award winners 21st-century American Jews