David Margulies, a man familiar from his many years of character actor work in a variety of movies and TV series, has died at the age of 78.
Perhaps best known for his work as the New York Mayor Lenny Clotch in Ghostbusters who confronts our heroes about the rise of supernatural phenomena in his city, and agrees to let them try to sort it out, Margulies was a veteran of the stage and screen.
Born in Brooklyn in 1937, he graduated from City College of New York and immediately began work in the theatre, appearing off-Broadway in a play called Golden 6 in 1958. He made it to the Great White Way itself in 1973 with a revival of The Iceman Cometh.
Making his film debut with 1972's musical comedy Scarecrow In A Garden Of Cucumbers, Margulies established a reputation for quality character performances, and, as he aged, became known as someone who could play authority figures. His credits include Dressed To Kill, All That Jazz, Daniel, Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel, Ishtar, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Nine 1/2 Weeks, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ira & Abby, Fading Gigolo and, recently, A Most Violent Year.
On television, he was seen in a wide variety of series including Law & Order, Touched By An Angel, Chicago Hope, Northern Exposure, The Equalizer, _NYPD Blu_e, The Sopranos, The Good Wife and Happyish.