Ned Eisenberg obit

 

Ned Eisenberg, Attorney Roger Kressler on ‘Law & Order: SVU,’ Dies at 65

He also appeared for Clint Eastwood on the big screen in 'Million Dollar Baby' and 'Flags of Our Fathers.'

He was not on the list.

Ned Eisenberg, the busy Bronx-born character action who portrayed defense attorney Roger Kressler on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for more than a decade, has died. He was 65.

Eisenberg died Sunday at his home in New York, his rep Jeremy Leiner of Nicolosi & Co. announced.

Said his wife, Patricia, in a statement: “As Ned would say, he was attacked by two very rare assassins — cholangiocarcinoma and ocular melanoma. Over the course of two years, he bravely fought the cancers in private while continuing to work in show business to ensure that his medical coverage paid for himself and his family.”

For Clint Eastwood, Eisenberg played Sally Mendoza, the first manager of Hilary Swank’s Maggie Fitzgerald, in Million Dollar Baby (2004), winner of the Oscar for best picture, and the photographer Joe Rosenthal in Flags of Our Fathers (2006).

He made his big-screen debut in The Exterminator (1980) and also appeared in The Burning (1981), Moving Violations (1985), Roger Spottiswoode’s Air America (1990), Walter Hill’s Last Man Standing (1996), Mike Nichols’ Primary Colors (1998), Steven Zaillian’s A Civil Action (1998), Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center(2006), Limitless (2011), Won’t Back Down (2012), Experimenter (2015) and Asher (2018).

He played Kressler on 24 episodes of Law & Order: SVU from 1999-2019.

He also starred on the 1990-91 NBC comedy The Fanelli Boys alongside Christopher Meloni and Joe Pantoliano and more recently worked on HBO’s Mare of Easttown (as Det. Hauser) and on Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (as the manager Lou Rabinowitz).

Born in the Bronx on Jan. 13, 1957, Eisenberg attended the High School of Performing Arts.

He began his professional theater career in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and made it to Broadway in 2000 as Truffaldino in Julie Taymor’s The Green Bird, as Uncle Morty in 2006’s Awake and Sing! and as Roxy Gottlieb in Bartlett Sher’s Golden Boy.

He went on to appear in the 2014 Broadway musical Rocky and in the 2017 revival of Six Degrees of Separation.

He also worked on the stages of the Theatre for a New Audience, New York City Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Vineyard, Second Stage and Ensemble Studio Theatre and in 1987 co-founded the New York-based Naked Angels Theatre Company with Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Lili Taylor and Fisher Stevens.

His TV résumé also included guest-starring spots on The Plot Against America, The Blacklist, Elementary, Bull, White Collar, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary, 30 Rock, The Big C and New Amsterdam and recurring stints on The Night Of, Little Voice, Person of Interest, The Black Donnellys and Law & Order.

In addition to his wife, survivors include his son, Lino.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1980      The Exterminator             Marty   

1981      The Burning        Eddy     

1982      The Soldier          Israeli Prisoner

1983      Deadly Force      Rat Game Owner             

1983      Slayground          Lonzini

1984      Firstborn              Learner Driver   Uncredited

1985      Moving Violations            Wink Barnes      

1985      Key Exchange     Piero    

1987      Hiding Out           Rodriguez           

1990      Air America         Pirelli    

1996      Last Man Standing           Fredo Strozzi     

1998      Primary Colors   Brad Lieberman               

1998      Celebrity              Elaine's Book Party Guest            

1998      A Civil Action      Uncle Pete         

1999      Let It Snow          Carl       

2003      Head of State     Mike Blake         

2004      Million Dollar Baby          Sally Mendoza  

2006      World Trade Center        Officer Polnicki

2006      Flags of Our Fathers        Joe Rosenthal   

2011      Limitless               Morris Brandt   

2012      Won't Back Down            Arthur Gould     

2015      Experimenter    Solomon Asch   

2015      Meadowland     Principal Griffin                

2018      Asher    Abram  

 

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1981      We're Fighting Back        Ace         Television film

1985–1989          Miami Vice          Various                 4 episodes

1986      Crime Story         Dr. Eisenberg     Episode: "Abrams for the Defense"

1986, 1987          The Equalizer     Josh / Frank Stevens       2 episodes

1989      Charlie Al Hattman         Television film

1990–1991          The Fanelli Boys                Anthony Fanelli                 19 episodes

1992      Dear John            C.J.         Episode: "The Big Payday"

1992      A Murderous Affair: The Carolyn Warmus Story Det. Richard Freedman Television film

1992      Reasonable Doubts         Kyle Wynn           Episode: "Brother's Keeper"

1993      L.A. Law                Howard Bannister            Episode: "Leap of Faith"

1994      Time Trax            Mitch    Episode: "Missing"

1994      Star Struck          Mickey Television film

1996      Public Morals     Llama Salesman                Episode: "The Purple Cover"

1997      Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing   Emad Salem        Television film

1997–2009          Law & Order       James Granick   7 episodes

1998      Exiled    Jerry Kleinert      Television film

1998      The First Seven Years      Sobel

1999      The Sopranos     Ariel       Episode: "Denial, Anger, Acceptance"

1999      Dash and Lilly     Bob Constantine               Television film

1999–2019          Law & Order: Special Victims Unit             Various                 24 episodes

2000      Cheaters              Robert Clifford Television film

2002      NYPD Blue           Vic Davis              Episode: "One in the Nuts"

2002, 2007          Law & Order: Criminal Intent      Artie Ableson / Danny Sussman 2 episodes

2003      Queens Supreme             Lawyer Episode: "The House Next Door"

2003      Whoopi                Judge    Episode: "Shout"

2004      Dragnet                Peter Radic / Vukov Regad           Episode: "Retribution"

2004      The Jury               Elliot Riis              Episode: "Pilot"

2004      Rescue Me          Burt       Episode: "Orphans"

2006      3 lbs       Brad Ellis              Episode: "Heart Stopping"

2007      The Black Donnellys        Detective Frankie Stein 4 episodes

2008      New Amsterdam              Fiske      Episode: "Love Hurts"

2011      The Big C              Dr. Volimer         Episode: "Losing Patients"

2011      Blue Bloods         Sandy    Episode: "Lonely Hearts Club"

2012      30 Rock                Marty    Episode: "Today You Are a Man"

2012      White Collar       Walt Furlong      Episode: "Vested Interest"

2012      Made in Jersey ADA Diego Haas                2 episodes

2013, 2016          Person of Interest            Detective Joseph Soriano

2014      Madam Secretary             Dan Pasternak   Episode: "The Call"

2014      The Mysteries of Laura Julius Sarkissian                Episode: "The Mystery of the Art Ace"

2015      The Good Wife Craig Hallman    Episode: "Driven"

2016      The Night Of       Lawrence Felder               2 episodes

2016      Bull        Christopher Franklin       Episode: "Too Perfect"

2018      Elementary         Marvin Hathaway             Episode: "The Geek Interpreter"

2019      The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel          Lou Rabinowitz Episode: "Strike Up the Band"

2020      The Plot Against America              Abe Steinheim   Episode: "Part 2"

2020      Little Voice          Al            6 episodes

2021      Mare of Easttown            Detective Hauser              3 episodes

2021      The Blacklist       Vito Decanio       Episode: "Dr. Roberta Sand, Ph.D."