Years active 1971-present Name Edwin Sherin | Role Theatre Director Spouse Jane Alexander (m. 1975) | |
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Born January 15, 1930 (age 94) ( 1930-01-15 ) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. Occupation U.S. theatre actor, director and producer; television director, television producer Movies Valdez Is Coming, Lena: My 100 Children Children Jon Sherin, Geoffrey Sherin, Tony Sherin Awards Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Nominations Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play Similar People Jane Alexander, Dick Wolf, Lewis Gould, Rene Balcer, Jon Cypher | ||
A Moon to Dance By - NJN/State of the Arts
Edwin Sherin (January 15, 1930 – May 4, 2017) was an American theatre and television director and producer. Sherin's wife was actress Jane Alexander and his stepson was the similarly dubbed Jace Alexander, with whom he collaborated on the television legal drama/police procedural Law & Order on thirty-two (32) separate occasions. He directed many episodes of the television drama Law & Order, as well as directed for the stage, mainly on Broadway, including The Great White Hope, which starred Alexander in both the theater and film versions. Additional members of his family included the actress Maddie Corman, his stepson Jace's current wife.
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Biography
Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, He began his theatrical career as an actor, playing small roles on Broadway in Face of a Hero and Romulus, among others.
He met Alexander while serving as the resident director at Washington, DC's Arena Stage, where he cast her and James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope. In 1968, he directed the play and its two stars on Broadway, and the production marked the start not only of his Broadway directorial career, but a long professional and personal relationship with Alexander as well.
He directed Alexander in The First Monday in October on Broadway in 1978, Hedda Gabler at the Hartman Theatre (Connecticut) in 1981 in the American Playhouse television movie A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, in 1991. and in the Broadway revival of The Visit.
While working at the Arena Stage, Sherin directed many plays, including The Wall (1963-1964), Galileo (1964-1965), St. Joan (1965 - 1966), Macbeth (1966-1967), The Iceman Cometh (1967-1968), and King Lear (1968-1969).
Sherin won the 1969 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director for The Great White Hope and was nominated for a 1974 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (Find Your Way Home).
The Time of Your Life was revived in March 17, 1972 at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles where Henry Fonda, Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Thompson, Strother Martin. Jane Alexander, Richard X. Slattery, Lewis J. Stadlen and Pepper Martin were among the cast with Sherin directing.
In 1974, Sherin directed a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire at London's Piccadilly Theatre with Claire Bloom, Martin Shaw, Joss Ackland, and Morag Hood. In 2009 directed Thom Thomas's A MOON TO DANCE BY at The Pittsburgh Playhouse and at The George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J. starring Jane Alexander.
Television
Sherin executive-produced 163 episodes of the popular NBC drama Law & Order, between 1993 and 2000. His television directing credits include all three editions of the current L&O franchise; Hill Street Blues; L.A. Law; Doogie Howser, M.D.; Homicide: Life on the Street; and Medium.
Movies
Sherin directed only two theatrical films - Valdez Is Coming with Burt Lancaster and Susan Clark, and My Old Man's Place with William Devane and Michael Moriarty. Both films were released in 1971.
Personal life
The couple were married in March 1975 in Massachusetts. "The two met at Washington's Arena Stage 10 years ago when he was a producer-director and she was in the troupe." They had four children - Alexander's son Jace, a television director who frequently worked for him during his time with L&O, and his three sons, Tony, Geoffrey, and Jon, from a previous marriage. He and Alexander became Canadian citizens, having maintained a home in Lockeport, Nova Scotia since 1998. Sherin died on May 4, 2017 in Nova Scotia, aged 87.
Director
Sources: Internet Broadway Database; Internet Off-Broadway Database