Ned Eisenberg, a prolific stage, television and film character actor perhaps most widely recognized for his long-running recurring role as defense attorney Roger Kressler on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, died of cancer Feb. 27 at his home in New York. He was 65.
His death was announced by his agents at Nicolosi & Co. speaking on behalf of his wife, the actress Patricia Dunnock, and family.
In a statement, Dunnock said “As Ned would say, he was attacked by two very rare assassins — cholangiocarcinoma and ocular melanoma. Over the course of two years, he bravely fought the cancers in private while continuing to work in show business to ensure that his medical coverage paid for himself and his family.”
Born in the Bronx, Eisenberg began his film and TV career in the early 1980s, most notably in four episodes of Miami Vice and, in 1990, a starring role in the short-lived comedy The Fanelli Boys, alongside co-stars Christopher Meloniand and Joe Pantoliano.
His many subsequent TV credits include Dear John, The Sopranos, Dash and Lilly, NYPD Blue, Rescue Me, The Black Donnellys, Law & Order, The Plot Against America, The Blacklist, Elementary, Bull, White Collar, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary, 30 Rock, The Big C, New Amsterdam, The Night Of, Little Voice, Person of Interest and, in the recurring role of Detective Hauser, HBO’s Mare of Easttown, among many others.
Most recently, he guest starred as the character Lou Rabinowitz on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Eisenberg also had a busy film career, portraying Sally Mendoza in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (2004), and, two years later, photographer Joe Rosenthal in the director’s Flags of Our Fathers. Other film credits include Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center, Limitless, Won’t Back Down, Experimenter, Asher, The Exterminator, The Burning, Moving Violations, Air America, Last Man Standing, Primary Colors, and Steven Zaillian’s A Civil Action.
On stage, Eisenberg first appeared on Broadway in 2000’s The Green Bird, returning in 2006’s revival of Awake and Sing!. Subsequent Broadway performances include Golden Boy, Rocky and the 2017 revival of Six Degrees of Separation.
He played lead roles at such major Off Broadway theaters as Theatre for a New Audience, New York City Center, The Vineyard, Second Stage, and Ensemble Studio Theatre, and regional companies including Williamstown Theatre Festival. He was among the co-founders of Manhattan’s the Naked Angels Theatre Company in 1987, along with Kenneth Lonergan, Jon Robin Baitz, Joe Mantello and various other directors and actors.
In addition to his wife, Eisenberg is survived by son Lino Eisenberg.
