Mark Blum, an actor on ‘Law & Order,’ ‘Succession,’ and “Desperately Seeking Susan,” dies from coronavirus on Wednesday.

Blum had entered NewYork-Presbyterian hospital and was being treated for coronavirus complications. His wife, an actress and acting teacher Janet Zarish, informed The Hollywood Reporter about the passing.

Blum was most known for playing Rosanna Arquette’s husband in the 1985 comedy Desperately Seeking Susan while having a prominent role in Crocodile Dundee as the newspaper editor.

A busy actor, Blum also recently played bookstore owner Mr. Mooney on the Netflix crime drama You and had guest stints on HBO’s Succession and Showtime’s Billions.

On Broadway, Blum started out as an assistant stage manager and understudy in 1977’s The Merchant and went on to appear in Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers in 1991, in revivals of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man in 2000 and 2012, in Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men in 2004 and in Richard Greenberg’s The Assembled Parties in 2013.

On acting in The Best Man 12 years apart, he told Playbill in 2012: “It feels a little like a dream where you think it’s supposed to go in a certain way, but you look around and all the people are different. I open a door, and Angela Lansbury walks in instead of Elizabeth Ashley. I open another door, and it’s James Earl Jones, not Charles Durning. It feels like I’m hallucinating instead of acting.”

He also worked dozens of times off-Broadway, including in Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery, Terrence McNally’s It’s Only a Play, Amy Herzog’s After the Revolution, Craig Lucas’ The Singing Forest and Zoe Kazan’s We Live Here; he won an Obie Award in 1989 for his co-starring turn in Albert Innaurato’s Gus and Al at Playwrights Horizons. [Hollywood Reporter]

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https://twitter.com/vanderjames/status/1243268351637389312

Mark Blum RIP. So sad to lose you to this horrid crisis!💔💔

— Bernadette Peters (@OfficialBPeters) March 26, 2020

Mark Blum, so generous, so kind, so humble,so talented. Our time together in the play The Assembled Parties at MTC was a true joy
May he rest in peace knowing that he transformed the lives of so many and was cherished by so many; me among them

— JudithLight (@JudithLight) March 26, 2020

Mark Blum was a dear, kind man, a fiercely talented artist, a good pal. His loss is devastating to all who loved him. Condolences to his family. Our hearts are with them.
This plague will pass, but the scars it leaves will be permanent.
Stay safe, friends.

— Terry Kinney🎸🎬 (@RealTerryKinney) March 26, 2020

I am so devastated by Mark Blum’s passing. His performances in the dozens of plays I saw him in were unfailingly deep, subtle, hilarious and moving in equal measure. Seeing his name in the Playbill always meant you were in for a treat. Also just one of the loveliest humans ever. pic.twitter.com/vC5rlpRJtq

— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) March 26, 2020

When I was in drama school Mark Blum was exactly the kind of actor I aspired to be: constantly employed, deeply respected, total mensch. Gutted to hear of his passing. His wife Janet Zarish was my acting teacher at NYU. They were the loveliest couple. My heart breaks for her. https://t.co/J7MvHutdge

— Josh Radnor (@JoshRadnor) March 26, 2020

It is clear, we will all lose people we know and love. Sweet dreams friend… https://t.co/OWo24SJJHU

— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) March 26, 2020

 

This piece was written by Wayne Dupree on March 27, 2020. It originally appeared in WayneDupree.com and is used by permission.

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