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Doris Belack

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Doris Belack
Belack in 1990
Born(1926-02-26)February 26, 1926
New York City, U.S.
DiedOctober 4, 2011(2011-10-04) (aged 85)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1955–2011
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1946; died 2011)​

Doris Belack (February 26, 1926 – October 4, 2011) was an American character actress of stage, film and television.[1]

Early years

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Born on February 26, 1926, Belack was the younger child of Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Isaac and Bertha Belack; she had an older sister.[1]

Life and career

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Belack began her acting career immediately after she graduated from high school when she began performing in a summer stock theater company.[1]

She has sometimes been misidentified as the first Bernice Fish, the wife to Abe Vigoda's character Fish on Barney Miller. She was actually only a one-episode replacement for actress Florence Stanley, who played the role. Before that, Belack was seen mainly in soap operas. She originated the role of Anna Wolek Craig for nearly a decade on One Life to Live. She also appeared in Another World (three different roles over several years), The Doctors (1980, as psychiatrist Dr. Claudia Howard), and The Edge of Night (1981, as Beth Bryson). Later in the 1980s, she had the recurring role of Pine Valley's mayor on All My Children.

She played the formidable soap opera producer Rita Marshall in the 1982 comedy film Tootsie, which starred Dustin Hoffman. Her other film credits included roles in Fast Forward (1985), Batteries Not Included (1987), Splash, Too (1988), She-Devil (1989), Opportunity Knocks (1990), What About Bob? (1991), Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult. (1994), Krippendorf's Tribe (1998), The Odd Couple II (1998) and Fail Safe (2000).[2]

Belack played the lead role in the short-lived television sitcom Baker's Dozen as "Florence Baker", the no-nonsense captain of an undercover anti-crime unit of the NYPD. The show lasted a month on CBS. She guest starred on an episode of The Golden Girls in 1985 as Gloria, the sister of Bea Arthur's character Dorothy Zbornak. From 1990 to 2001, Belack played tough, sharp-tongued Judge Margaret Barry, a recurring role on Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She voiced Maureen McReary in Grand Theft Auto IV and provided the voices of Mrs. Dink and Mrs. Wingo in the Nickelodeon show Doug. Her last television appearance was on a 2003 episode of Sex and the City.[2]

Personal life and death

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Her husband, producer Philip Rose, died on May 31, 2011, four months before her own death. They were married for 65 years and had no children.[3]

Belack died on October 4, 2011, in New York City, aged 85.[1]

Partial filmography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Vitello, Paul (October 9, 2011). "Doris Belack, Judge on TV's 'Law & Order', Dies at 85". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011. Doris Belack, a veteran stage, television and screen actress best known for her roles as a no-nonsense judge on "Law & Order" and as the peeved soap opera producer in "Tootsie" died on Tuesday in New York. She was 85.
  2. ^ a b "Actress Doris Belack dies at 85". Variety. October 6, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  3. ^ "Philip Rose dies at age 89". Variety. June 5, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  4. ^ Luxoflux. True Crime: New York City. Activision. Scene: Pause menu credits, 4:29:50 in, VOICE TALENT.
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