Jerome Raphael obit

Jerome Raphel Has Died

 

He was not on the list.

Jerome Raphel (1925-2012) was a New York stage actor who appeared on Sesame Street in the "Mad Painter" films. The bald-pated Raphel appeared in seven of the ten inserts, as a favorite victim of the painter, even more often than Stockard Channing. He appeared in capacities ranging from baker to street cleaner.

Raphel was a veteran of the theater, and had performed with his "Painter" co-star Paul Benedict on stage in Waiting for Godot and other productions. On Broadway, he played Judge Hawthorne in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. He also played a shiftless musician in The Connection, a play about the intersection of jazz and drugs, and reprised the role for the 1962 film version (with Roscoe Lee Browne), earning his screen debut.

His movie career was generally limited to obscure experimental and independent films including Hallelujah the Hills, The Double-Barreled Detective Story (as Sherlock Holmes, again co-starring with Benedict), The Cool World, and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (with Robert Redford and John Vernon). Outside of Sesame Street, TV appearances included Get Smart, appropriately cast as the head of "The League of Bald-Headed Men," as well as Naked City and Route 66.

Actor

Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Ryan Dillon in Sesame Street (1969)

Sesame Street

8.1

TV Series

Mad Painter's Victim

Bald Man

Mad Painter Victim ...

1972–1986

7 episodes

 

Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)

Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here

6.3

Salesman (as Jerome Raphel)

1969

 

Don Adams and Barbara Feldon in Get Smart (1965)

Get Smart

8.2

TV Series

Winters (as Jerome Raphel)

1968

1 episode

 

The Double-Barrelled Detective Story (1965)

The Double-Barrelled Detective Story

5.9

Sherlock Holmes

1965

 

William Shatner in For the People (1965)

For the People

7.5

TV Series

Mr. Marco (as Jerome Raphel)

1965

1 episode

 

The Cool World (1963)

The Cool World

6.4

Mr. Shapiro

1963

 

Hallelujah the Hills (1963)

Hallelujah the Hills

6.2

Father

1963

 

The Connection (1961)

The Connection

7.0

Solly (as Jerome Raphel)

1961

 

Naked City (1958)

Naked City

8.2

TV Series

Man With Bucket (uncredited)

1961

1 episode

 

George Maharis and Martin Milner in Route 66 (1960)

Route 66

7.7

TV Series

Hercules George (as Jerome Raphel)

1960

1 episode

 

Archive Footage

Compression (1995)

Compression

TV Series

(archive footage)

2023

2 episodes