Jack Axelrod, known for his role as a mob boss on General Hospital and memorable appearances on My Name Is Earl and Grey’s Anatomy, passed away at the age of 93 on Nov. 28 due to natural causes in Los Angeles, as announced by his representative, Jennifer Garland.
Axelrod’s early onscreen career included a role in Woody Allen’s Bananas (1971), and his extensive filmography featured movies like Hancock (2008), Winged Creatures (2008), Little Fockers (2010), Super 8 (2011), J. Edgar (2011), and The Lone Ranger (2013).
In his stint on General Hospital from 1987-89, Axelrod portrayed mobster Victor Jerome, and he played the “Electrolarynx Guy” on My Name Is Earl from 2005-08. On Grey’s Anatomy in 2006-07, he left a lasting impression as Charlie Yost, a patient with a prolonged semi-conscious state at Seattle Grace who passed away just as he was preparing to leave in a wheelchair.
Continuing to work consistently until his retirement in 2020 at the age of 90, Axelrod was born in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1930. He served as a corporal in the U.S. Army in Germany from February 1953 to February 1955, later studying architecture at UC Berkeley and becoming a licensed architect in Washington.
Axelrod delved into acting, studying with Uta Hagen at HB Studios in New York and making notable off-Broadway appearances in Macbeth and Gandhi. His television credits include Kojak, Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Dynasty, Night Court, Knots Landing, Murphy Brown, Everybody Loves Raymond, Star Trek: Voyager, Frasier, Scrubs, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Hot in Cleveland, Shameless, The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ray Donovan, Baskets, and Modern Family.
Beyond his screen work, Axelrod served as theater faculty at various institutions, including the University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, Boston University, Penn State, Temple University, Cal State Northridge, CalArts, and Brandeis University. Additionally, he was a guest instructor at the Aaron Speiser Acting Studio in Los Angeles.
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