American actor Ron Leibman passed away at the age of 82 on Friday due to pneumonia in New York City, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Leibman had received the Tony Award for Best Actor and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor for his role in the play Angels in America: He had also acted in films like Norma Rae, Slaughterhouse-Five and Where’s Poppa?
Leibman had also played Rachel’s (Jennifer Aniston) no-nonsense father in the popular sitcom Friends. He was honored with the Emmy Award for his performance as a car thief turned criminal attorney, in the crime series Kaz. The series had met with critical appreciation but was short-lived and was cancelled after 23 episodes.
His experience with Kaz made him distance himself from television, but he did series like Murder, She Wrote; Law & Order; and Law & Order: SVU. He also appeared in three episodes of HBO’s The Sopranos.
His last film was the 2010 comedy drama A Little Help and had also lent his voice for nine episodes for the animated sitcom Archer.
He was survived by his wife, the Emmy Award winning actor Jessica Walter with whom he got married in 1983. Leibman was earlier married to actor Linda Lavin. He also has a step daughter Brooke Bowman, who is a network executive.