Janet Margolin


Janet Margolin was an American theater, television and film actress.

Early life

Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Jewish parents Benjamin and Annette Margolin. Her father was a Russian-born accountant who founded the Nephrosis Foundation, now the Kidney Foundation of New York.
She attended the High School of Performing Arts. In 1961 at the age of 18, while a prop girl at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Margolin won a pivotal Broadway stage role as Anna in Morris West's Daughter of Silence. The New York Times in reviewing the play listed her among leaders of "a fine cast" and said that "her Anna has a fragile, haunted dewiness."

Career

In 1962, Margolin played her first movie role as the female lead in David and Lisa. She co-starred with Marlon Brando in 1965's Morituri and with Steve McQueen in the western Nevada Smith. She later played Wanda, the love interest of the lead character David Kolowitz, in the movie Enter Laughing.
In Take the Money and Run, she played the love interest of the bumbling thief played by Woody Allen, and in Annie Hall, she played the social-climbing wife of Allen's character.
In 1979, Margolin co-starred with Roy Scheider in director Jonathan Demme's thriller Last Embrace.
Margolin's last film appearance was in Ghostbusters II in 1989, and her last television roles were as a killer in an episode of Murder, She Wrote and as a victim in Columbo: Murder in Malibu in 1990.

Personal life

Margolin died of ovarian cancer at the age of 50 on December 17, 1993, in Los Angeles, California. She was cremated and her ashes were placed in an urn garden at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. She and her husband actor/director Ted Wass had two children, Julian and Matilda.
Margolin frequently and erroneously has been identified as the sister of actor Stuart Margolin and director Arnold Margolin, though she acted alongside Stuart Margolin in the pilot episode of the TV series Lanigan's Rabbi, where they appeared as husband and wife. She was a friend of producer/actress Jennifer Salt, who had co-starred with Wass in the 1970s sitcom Soap.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1961The Edge of NightBetty MorrisseyAugust 17, 1961 episode
1962Ben CaseyIllyana TrivasEpisode: "Legacy from a Stranger"
1962Alcoa PremiereBarbaraEpisode: "The Hands of Danofrio"
1963East Side/West SideDoris ArnoEpisode: "You Can't Beat the System"
1963The DefendersDinah CaldwellEpisode: "Old Lady Ironsides"
1964Arrest and TrialHelen KazarEpisode: "A Circle of Strangers"
1966Ten Blocks on the Camino RealEsmereldaTV movie
1967Coronet BlueRivaEpisode: "The Assassins"
1971Medical CenterTerri SpencerEpisode: "Web of Darkness"
1971The Young LawyersCelia BradburyEpisode: "The Bradbury War"
1971The InternsRoseEpisode: "The Manly Arts"
1971The Last ChildKaren MillerTV movie
1971Jan HerronEpisode: "The Forest and the Trees"
1972The Mod SquadCathyEpisode: "Eyes of the Beholder"
1972Family FlightCarol RutledgeTV movie
1973-1975Police StoryVarious3 episodes
1974Pray for the WildcatsKrissie KincaidTV movie
1974Planet EarthHarper-SmytheTV movie
1974Lucas TannerZeta AlexanderEpisode: "By the Numbers"
1975The Wide World of MysterySusan BrowningEpisode: "Please Call It Murder"
1975Police WomanLisa TibbettEpisode: "Pattern for Evil"
1975S.W.A.T.EmilyEpisode: "Vigilante"
1976Joe ForresterEpisode: "The Promised Land"
1976SerpicoHelenaEpisode: "The Serbian Connection"
1976-1977Lanigan's RabbiMiriam Small5 episodes
1977Martinelli, Outside ManRosalieTV movie
1977Murder in Peyton PlaceBetty Anderson RoerickTV movie
1977Sharon: Portrait of a MistressCarolTV movie
1977Starsky and HutchDr. Judith Kaufman2 episodes
1978The Eddie Capra MysteriesDaniellaEpisode: "Nightmare at Pendragon Castle"
1979The Triangle Factory Fire ScandalRoseTV movie
1980The Plutonium IncidentJudith LongdenTV movie
1987Tonight's the NightChrisTV movie
1990Murder C.O.D.Maye WalshTV movie
1990ColumboTheresa GorenEpisode: "Murder In Malibu"
1990Murder, She WroteRita GarrisonEpisode: "Deadly Misunderstanding"

Awards and nominations