JUDD HIRSCH
Judd Hirsch was born in The Bronx in New York City and was a physics major when he graduated from the City College of New York, and he married while he was in college, but that marriage only lasted two years. He discovered a love of acting, and he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. He took what roles he could get, including in a Colorado stock company, but in 1966, at the age of 31, he made his Broadway debut in Barefoot in the Park. He continued to appear in many plays, and in 1973, he was in the opening night cast of the hit play, The Hot L Baltimore. In 1974, after two uncredited bit movie parts, he played the lead in John Badham's superb TV movie "The Law", and he returned for a two part sequel the following year. Hirsch really stood out as public defender Murray Stone, and it led to his starring role in a TV series, Delvecchio. That show lasted just one season, but the following season Hirsch got the lead role of Alex Reiger in the wonderful ensemble TV series, Taxi, surely one of the best cast and funniest TV shows ever! While appearing in Taxi, Hirsch took time out to make a few movies, including Ordinary People, where he was nominated for an Oscar, and he also won a Tony Award for "I'm Not Rappaport". In 1988, he had the lead in another wacky TV show, Dear John. In 1992, Hirsch, then 57, married Bonni Chalkin 34, and they had a son and a daughter, but they divorced in 2005. In the 1990s and 2000s, he has alternated between TV (both guest appearances and series), movies, and and the theater, winning another Tony Award for Conversations With My Father. In 2005 he took a role in TV's Numb3rs, as the father of both a brilliant mathematician and an FBI Agent, who together solve crimes. Judd Hirsch has had a long exemplary career on TV, on the stage, and in a few movies. He will surely forever be best remembered as Alex Reiger from Taxi (and it WAS a wonderful role in a great series), but if you can ever see the 1974 TV movie The Law, go out of your way to do so, because it IS that good! As of 2021, he is still alive at the age of 86!
