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Sandy Baron
Sandy Baron
	Baron in 1968
Born	Sanford Irving Beresofsky; May 5, 1936; Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Died	January 21, 2001 (aged 64); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
Education	Thomas Jefferson High School
Alma mater	Brooklyn College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1962–1998
Spouses	; Geraldine Mary Crotty (m. 1962; div. 1967) ; Mary Jo Webster (m. 1970; div. 1975) ; Stephanie Ericsson (m. 1976; div. 1981)

Sandy Baron (born Sanford Irving Beresofsky; May 5, 1936 – January 21, 2001) was an American actor and comedian who performed on stage, in films, and on television. He is best known for his recurring role of Jack Klompus on the NBC sitcom Seinfeld.

Early life

Sanford Beresofsky was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Brownsville neighborhood, the son of Helen Farberman, a waitress, and Max Beresofsky, a house painter,^[1] both Yiddish-speaking Russian Jewish immigrants.^[2] His father was born in Slonim, Belarus.^[3] He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in East New York; and while he was a student at Brooklyn College, to which he received a scholarship, he changed his name to "Sandy Baron"—taking his inspiration from the nearby Barron's Bookstore.^[1]^[4] He began his career working in the Catskill Mountains resorts with their "Borscht Belt" brand of Jewish humor, on which Baron made his mark. He then moved on to the Compass Players Improv Comedy group in the late 1950s.

Career

Baron made his Broadway debut in Tchin-Tchin in 1962. He also appeared in many other Broadway plays, hits as well as flops, including Arturo Ui, Generations, and Lenny (Los Angeles production). He replaced Cliff Gorman in the lead role of Lenny Bruce on Broadway.

In 1964, he established a reputation as part of the weekly television program That Was The Week That Was, and as the opening act for Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme at the Copacabana in New York City. In the 1966–1967 season, Baron co-starred with Will Hutchins in the NBC sitcom Hey, Landlord, about a brownstone apartment in Manhattan. In the 1970s, he made regular appearances on talk shows such as The Mike Douglas Show and The Merv Griffin Show, and multiple guest appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Baron was also co-host of The Della Reese Show and hosted a number of television talk shows including A.M. New York and Mid-Morning LA. In addition, he was the host of the pilot for Hollywood Squares and often appeared as a celebrity contestant on this and other games shows.

He acted in many television programs, including a recurring role in Seinfeld as Jack Klompus. Episode "The Pen" featuring dialogue between Baron's character and Jerry that, as a critic wrote, "[was] one of many reasons Seinfeld has been compared to the plays of Samuel Beckett."^[5] He starred in Law & Order and took the role of Grandpa in a 1996 TV-movie revival of The Munsters, titled The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas. His appearances in feature films included Sweet November (1968), Targets (1968), If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969), The Out-of-Towners (1970), and Birdy (1984). Along with several of his contemporaries, Baron played himself in Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose (1984), and narrated the film.^[1]

Baron also wrote music, starting out in 1961 in the Brill Building in New York City with songs such as "Flying Blue Angels" and Adam Wade's "The Writing on The Wall". In 1971, he co-wrote Lou Rawls' hit "A Natural Man" with Bobby Hebb ("Sunny"). Baron wrote and recorded a number of comedy albums, including The Race Race and God Save the Queens co-written with Reverend James R. McGraw, editor/writer of Dick Gregory's books.

Throughout his career, he opened for Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra, The Fifth Dimension, Bobby Vinton, Anthony Newley and Diana Ross among others.

Personal life and death

Baron was married to model/actress Geraldine Baron, writer/activist Mary Jo Webster Baron, and writer/screenwriter Stephanie Ericsson,^[6] with each marriage ending in divorce. He had no children.^[7] Baron died on January 21, 2001, of emphysema in Van Nuys, California, at the age of 64.^[8]

Television

Year	Title	Role
1965–1975	The Mike Douglas Show	Himself
1966–1967	Hey, Landlord	Charles 'Chuck' Hookstratten
1970–1971	Love, American Style	Salesman / Freddie
1981	Cassie & Co.	John Stuart
1981	An Evening At The Improv	Himself
1990–1991	The Munsters Today	Yorga
1991	Walter & Emily	Stan
1992	Life Goes On	Sam Berkson
1996	Tracey Takes On...	Sheldon Sturges
1996	The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas	Grandpa Munster
1991–1997	Seinfeld	Jack Klompus

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Sweet November	Richard
1968	Targets	Kip Larkin
1969	If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium	John Marino
1969	Girls in the Saddle
1970	The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart	Man telling joke in bar	Uncredited
1970	The Out-of-Towners	TV Man
1978	Straight Time	Manny
1984	Broadway Danny Rose	Sandy Baron
1984	Birdy	Mr. Columbato
1986	Sid and Nancy	Hotelier - U.S.A.
1986	Mission Kill	Bingo Thomas
1986	Vamp	Vic
1990	The Grifters	Doctor
1991	Motorama	Kidnapping Husband
1991	Lonely Hearts	Apartment Manager
1994	Leprechaun 2	Morty
1995	Twilight Highway	Lenny
1998	The Hi-Lo Country	Henchman