‘NCIS’ and ‘My Name Is Earl’ Actor Jack Axelrod Dead at 93

Jack Axelrod has died at 93. THR reports that the General Hospital and My Name Is Earl actor died of natural causes on Nov. 28 in Los Angeles, per his rep. Axelrod was best known as mobster Victor Jerome on the long-running soap General Hospital in the late ’80s and the “Electrolarynx Guy” on NBC series My Name Is Earl from 2005 to 2008.

The late actor was born in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1930. Before going into acting, he was stationed in Germany from 1953 to 1955, serving as a corporal in the U.S. Army. After coming home, he majored in architecture at UC Berkley and was a licensed architect in Washington state. He also studied acting for six years with German-American actress and theatre practitioner Uta Hagen at HB Studios in New York.

He began in theater, starring in off-Broadway productions of Macbeth and Gandhi in 1969 and 1970, respectively. Jack Axelrod made his on-screen acting debut in Woody Allen’s Bananas and would go on to appear in Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Dynasty, Outlaws, Night Court, Knots Landing, Everybody Loves Raymond, Boy Meets World, Alias, Frasier, Scrubs, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and more. In 2006 and 2007, Axelrod portrayed semi-conscious patient Charlie Yost, who dies just before being discharged.

On NCIS, Axelrod played Schmeil Pinkhas in a two-episode arc, who had known Cote de Pablo’s Ziva David since she was three. He had consistent work throughout the years, up until he retired in 2020. His final role was in the dark comedy Bad Therapy, starring Rob Corddry, Anna Pniowsky, Alicia Silverstone, Aisha Tyler, and Haley Joel Osment. Some of his last roles also include Modern Family, No Activity, Station 19, and Speechless.

Aside from acting, his theater life was pretty prominent as well, just not always on stage. Axelrod served as a theater faculty member at University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, Boston University, Penn State, Temple University, Cal State Northridge, CalArts, and Brandeis University. He also was a guest instructor at the Aaron Speiser Acting Studio in LA. It’s clear that Axelrod made an impression on the theater, television, and film industries and will continue to do so beyond his death.

With General Hospita next year with an hour-long special, it wouldn’t be surprising if the soap paid tribute to Axelrod and all of the late stars of the long-running series.