Actor Jack Axelrod, widely acclaimed for his roles in Grey’s Anatomy and General Hospital has died. He was 93.
His representative, Jennifer Garland, confirmed the news to multiple outlets revealing the star died from natural causes at his home in Los Angeles on 28th November.
“I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with him in his last years, as he had no immediate family,’ Garland said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.
“We spent much time outdoors, where Jack loved to sketch, read news articles and recite Shakespearean sonnets.”
Variety reports Axelrod had an extraordinary career across a multitude of television appearances, portraying Victor Jerome on the ABC soap General Hospital for 40 episodes from 1987 to 1989.
File/MODERN FAMILY/ “Can’t Elope” Jack Axelrod on “Modern Family,” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2019. (Byron Cohen via Getty Images)
Axelrod made guest appearances in a long list of shows including Dallas, Dynasty, Boy Meets World, Murphy Brown, Alias, Frasier, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Scrubs, Private Practice, Dexter and Shameless.
Axelrod had been a star since the early 70s and had over 89 credits to his name.
He was born in Los Angeles on 25th January 1930, and later served as a corporal in the U.S. Army, being stationed in Germany from 1953 until 1955.
On return from service he went on to study architecture at the University of California, Berkeley and became a licensed architect in Washington state.
While maintaining his professional career as an architect, he played Banquo in an off-Broadway production of Macbeth that premiered in 1969, as reported by Variety.
File/Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s 2001 rehearsal of “Heartbreak House”In front is Francesca Faridany playing Ellie Dunn. At left is Kimberly King playing Hesione Hushabye. In black is Charles Lanyer playing Boss Mangan. At right is Jack Axelrod playing Mazzini Dunn. Liz Hafalia (LIZ HAFALIA/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
After years of theatre productions and off-Broadway, Axelrod got his big break in 1971 when he starred in Woody Allen’s film Bananas and went on to launch further efforts from there.
His work extended to the big screen, with several movies such as Hancock (2008), Little Fockers (2010) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), to his name.
Axelrod retired from acting in 2020, however, continued to share his love of acting with the world as he taught in the theatre departments of several universities and was a guest teacher at the Aaron Speiser Acting Studio in Los Angeles prior to his death.
The actor’s final appearance was in the 2020 feature film Bad Therapy.
