Fred Melamed

Biography

Fred Melamed was born in New York City to Lou and Syma Melamed. His father was a television producer, having contributed to such watershed comedies as Car 54, Where Are You, and Sargeant Bilko. Fred received his theatrical training at the Yale School of Drama, after which he appeared with resident companies including Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater, The Kennedy Center, The Yale Repertory Theater, and as a founding member of Shakespeare & Co. In 1983, he made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-Winning Amadeus. On television, Fred will headline with Maria Bamford on the Netflix original series, Lady Dynamite from Mitch Hurwitz this spring. He recurs as errant father Charles Cole on Hulu's Golden Globe-nominated Casual, patrician chick-magnet J. Cronkite Valley Forge on New Girl, sports casting legend Glen Klose on Now We're Talking and Sir Patrick Stewart's messed-up psychiatrist Dr. Mendelson on Starz' Blunt Talk. In the past, Melamed's major roles have included Harvey Oberholt on House of Lies, Avi Mensusen on Girls, Professor Donald Holt on Married, Leonard Hillman on Childrens Hospital, Larry David's name-dropping psychiatrist Arthur Thurgood from Curb Your Enthusiasm, tough-guy jurist Alan Karpman on The Good Wife, and irascible voiceover legend Fred Melamed opposite Robin Williams on The Crazy Ones, among others. In film, Melamed has had a long association with Woody Allen. He has appeared in 7 Allen films, including the Oscar-Winning Hannah and Her Sisters, Another Woman, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Radio Days, Husbands & Wives, Hollywood Ending, and Shadows and Fog. But it was for his portrayal of "sensitive" villain Sy Ableman, in Joel and Ethan Coen's A Serious Man, nominated for Best Picture at the 2010 Academy Awards, that Melamed became most widely known. For…