Michael Tolan, American actor (The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Mary Tyler Moore Show), died from heart disease and renal failure he was , 85

Michael Tolan was an American actor died from heart disease and renal failure he was , 85.


(November 27, 1925 – January 31, 2011)

Life and career

Tolan was born Seymour Tuchow in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit and studied under Stella Adler and at Stanford University.^[1] He appeared primarily in stage roles in his early career, with only minor parts in films of the early 1950s. His stage roles include Romanoff and Juliet and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, his Broadway debut. His first film role was in The Enforcer; he also had roles in Fort Worth, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Presumed Innocent.^[1]
He acted mostly on television from the mid-1950s on, including an appearance on the 1960 CBS summer series, Diagnosis: Unknown, a role in The Doctors and the Nurses, and a continuing role as Jordan Boyle on "The Senator" segments of the anthology umbrella TV series The Bold Ones (1970–71). He had a recurring role on three episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and made guest appearances on such television series as Kojak, McMillan and Wife, and Law and Order. His last known television appearance was on an episode of Murder, She Wrote in 1994.
Tolan appeared in the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz (1979) as lead character Joe Gideon's cardiologist, Dr. Ballinger.
Tolan also helped found the American Place Theatre, of which he wrote:

Personal life

Tolan had two marriages, both of which ended in divorce; at the time of his death, he was partnered with Donna Peck, with whom he lived in Ancram, New York.^[1] He had previously married actress Rosemary Forsyth on June 28, 1966. The couple had one child and divorced in 1975

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