Louis Zorich, Tony-Nominated Broadway Veteran & Mad About You Star, Dies at 93

Louis Zorich, the Tony-nominated Broadway actor who won over TV audiences as the father of Paul Reiser's character on Mad About You, has died, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. He was 93.

Zorich made his Broadway debut in Jean Anouilh's original play Becket (1960), quickly amassing a main-stem résumé that included turns in Moby Dick (1962), The Odd Couple (1965), Danton's Death (1965), The Country Wife (1965) and The Condemned of Altona (1966). Zorich earned a Tony nomination for his performance as Cardinal Ragna in Peter Luke's Hadrian VII (1969).

The star went on to play many more Broadway roles, with credits including Fun City (1972), Moonchildren (1972), Goodtime Charley (1975), They Knew What They Wanted (1976), Death of a Salesman (1984), She Loves Me (1993) and Follies (2001). He made his final Broadway appearance in a revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2003).

Zorich's defining Hollywood role came in that of Burt Buchman, father of Paul Reiser's Paul Buchman on NBC's hit comedy series Mad About You (1992-1999). Zorich and the cast were honored with a 1998 Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for their ensemble performance. Zorich's screen work also included memorable turns in Fiddler on the Roof (1971), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and Detachment (2011).

Zorich made his mark with appearances in more than a dozen off-Broadway productions, including The Thracian Horses (1961), The Good Soldier Schweik (1963), All Women Are One (1965), Hot Grog (1977), The Size of the World (1996) and Beast on the Moon (2005). Zorich's final three off-Broadway credits were Chekov plays with Classic Stage Company: Uncle Vanya (2009), Three Sisters (2011) and Ivanov (2012).

Zorich is survived by his wife, the actress Olympia Dukakis, and their three sons.