Joanna Merlin (born JoAnn Delores Ratner; July 15, 1931 – October 15, 2023) was an American actress and casting director who worked with Stephen Sondheim and starred in the original Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. She wrote two acting guides and was a faculty member of New York University's graduate acting program. From 2000 to 2011, she was known for her recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Judge Lena Petrovsky.
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Early life
JoAnn Delores Ratner, who later took her mother's maiden name, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 15, 1931, to Toni Merlin and Harry Ratner, a Jewish grocer. Her parents had immigrated to the United States from Russia. Her family also included her older sister, Harriet Glickman, who would go on to gain recognition for helping persuade Charles M. Schulz in 1968 to add a black character to his Peanuts strip, which he did with the introduction of Franklin.
Merlin first acted on stage at age 11, joining a community theatre production, Too Many Marys. Merlin's family moved to Los Angeles when she was fifteen. She attended UCLA, though did not graduate, and later studied under Michael Chekhov, learning his world-renowned acting technique. She was described as the last student of Chekhov who was still alive and teaching.
Career
Merlin made her first screen appearance in Cecil B. DeMille's film The Ten Commandments in 1956. Five years later, she made her Broadway debut in Becket before playing Tzeitel in Harold Prince's production of Fiddler on the Roof. She left the cast of Fiddler on the Roof before the end of its tour to take care of her two small children, but Harold Prince gave her the opportunity to become involved in casting with a more flexible schedule. Company was the first musical for which Merlin served as the casting director. She was also in charge of casting for such plays as Follies, Evita and Sweeney Todd.
In 1986, she served as casting director for the John Carpenter film, Big Trouble in Little China.
After making appearances in several feature films, including the movie Fame, in which she played Miss Olivia Berg, a classical dance teacher; Merlin appeared in the NBC crime drama Law & Order in 1992 as a defense attorney. Like many actors from that show, she went on to play other characters in the Law & Order franchise - another defense attorney in the original show and a more recurring role as Judge Lena Petrovsky, a judge who was very stern, by-the-book, and scolded or sanctioned, at various times, ADAs Casey Novak (Diane Neal) and Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) and Detective (now Captain) Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), in its first spin-off Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In the latter role, she appeared in 43 episodes, across every season between the years 2000 and 2011.
Merlin taught in New York University's graduate acting program at the Tisch School of the Arts and in 1999, founded the Michael Chekhov Association where she taught acting workshops.
Personal life and death
After a marriage to Martin Lubner in the 1950s ended in divorce, Merlin was married to David Dretzin from 1965 until his death in 2006, from an injury sustained in a car accident. They had two daughters: Rachel, a documentary filmmaker; and Julie, an actress.
Merlin died from myelodysplastic syndrome at the Los Angeles home of her daughter, Rachel, on October 15, 2023, at the age of 92.
