Richard J. Zobel Jr. (June 5, 1952 – October 4, 2005) was an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He starred as the attorney Aaron Levinsky in the original

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

run of '' Nuts'' in 1980. Over the course of his career, he was also a singer, instrumentalist, animator, writer, and producer.

Career

Zobel was born in

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Located within the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,461 at the 2010 census. West Chester is the mailing address for most of its neighb ...

, and moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for his acting career. His

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

credits included ''

All's Well That Ends Well ''All's Well That Ends Well'' is a play by William Shakespeare, published in the ''First Folio'' in 1623, where it is listed among the comedies. There is a debate regarding the dating of the composition of the play, with possible dates rangin ...

'' and ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...

'' in the

New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions are ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

in 1978, and '' The Country Girl'' in 1984. He starred as the attorney Aaron Levinsky in the original

run of '' Nuts'' in 1980. He appeared in small and supporting film roles, and had guest appearances in over a dozen television series including ''

The X Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

'', '' ER'', ''

China Beach ''China Beach'' is an American war drama television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, nicknamed "China Beach" in English by American and Australia ...

'', ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...

'', and '' Star Trek: Voyager'', from 1984 through 1999. He was also a singer and a musician."Who's behind the Best Electronic Greeting Cards?"
''RubberChickenCards.com''. Retrieved December 23, 2017. He acted and sang in, and was the vocal arranger for, the 1987 film ''

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

'', and the 2008 making-of documentary about the film, ''Dispatches from Nicaragua'', is dedicated to his memory. He was a commentator in the 2004 documentary ''The Loss of Nameless Things'', about seriously injured playwright

Oakley Hall III Oakley "Tad" Hall III (May 26, 1950 – February 13, 2011) was an American playwright, director, and author. In 1978, after a very promising beginning to his career, he suffered massive head injuries in a fall from a bridge, and spent decades ...

. Zobel had starred as the title role in Hall's first adaptations of

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics. Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...

's bizarrely comic and revolutionary 1896 French play ''

Ubu Roi ''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de P ...

'' (called ''Ubu Rex'') and its sequels, in New York City

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...

and at the Lexington Conservatory Theatre 1976–1977.

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Ho ...

''The Loss of Nameless Things'': The Players
(page 2). ''

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

''. Retrieved December 23, 2017. Zobel also produced the play, and created the masks for it.

"UBU ROI by Alfred Jarry; Translated by Oakley Hall III"
(Production Notes). ''Firlefanz-Gallery.com''. Retrieved December 23, 2017. In 2000, Zobel co-founded Rubber Chicken Cards, which sells online greeting cards that combine voice-over acting with irreverent humor, with fellow actor Steven Rotblatt.Verrier, Richard
"Actor Plays His Cards Right"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. July 5, 2006.Verrier, Richard
"Rubber Chicken Tickles the Funny Bone."
'' The Standard''. July 19, 2006. For the cards Zobel sang, played several instruments, wrote scripts, did animation, and voiced numerous characters. He died in October 2005 of cancer.

Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zobel, Richard American male stage actors American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors People from West Chester, Pennsylvania 1952 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American male actors