Actor. The 6’5″, Emmy-nominated actor began his career by performing in the Broadway theater production of Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park in 1963; a role he reprised when the play was adapted to television in 1967. Though appearing in numerous television sitcoms and movies throughout the 70s and 80s, Herbert Edelman is most remembered for his part as Stan Zbornack, Dorothy’s ex-husband in the popular, comedic sitcom The Golden Girls, which ran from 1985 to 1992. Edelman also played memorable parts as regular or recurring characters on the popular sitcoms and Knots Landing, Cagney & Lacey, Murder, She Wrote, St. Elsewhere, Welcome Back, Kotter, and Maude, where he first played opposite his Golden Girls partner, Bea Arthur. Born in Brooklyn, New York in november of 1933, Edelman originally attended Cornell University to pursue a degree in veterinary medicine. During a stint as a taxi cab driver in 1963, he met stage director, Mike Nichols, after picking him up in his cab. Fate was his tip that night, and Edelman went on to an acting career in stage, film, and television that spanned three decades. Personally, Edelman was married – for six years – to soap opera actress, Louise Sorel. After the marriage ended in 1970, Edelman was later linked with his St. Elsewhere costar, the British actress, Christina Pickles. The two were romantically involved until his death. On July 21, 1996, in Woodland, California, Herb Edelman, aged only 62, lost his fight with emphysema.