(UnitedVoice.com) – Fans of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” probably remember actor Jack Axelrod by his nickname on the show: “Really Old Guy.” The actor played a semi-comatose patient who occupied a bed in the room where Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and the other interns ate lunch during seasons three and four. He later died, and now so has Axelrod.
Axelrod died on November 28 of natural causes in Los Angeles, according to his representative, Jennifer Garland. He was 93 years old.
The actor was born in LA in 1930. When he was younger, he served in the US Army as a corporal, deploying to Germany from 1953 to 1955. After Axelrod left the military, he studied architecture at UC Berkeley, gaining a degree and eventually becoming a licensed architect in Washington.
While working as an architect, Axelrod began to pursue acting. In 1969, he played in an off-Broadway production of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” In 1979, he landed a role in the off-Broadway production of “Gandhi” and followed it to Broadway. However, it only lasted one night on the big stage.
The actor went on to have a long, fruitful career in Hollywood. Axelrod starred in Woody Allen’s comedy “Bananas” in 1971. He also played in “Vice,” “Road to Redemption,” “Little Fockers,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” and many other films.
His most notable role was when he played mobster Victor Jerome on the ABC soap opera “General Hospital” from 1987 to 1989. He was in at least 40 episodes of the show. Of course, he played the iconic role of Charlie Yost on “Grey’s.” Although he only starred in a few episodes, his character was a fan favorite.
In addition to acting and architecture, Axelrod was a theater faculty member at Boston University, Penn State, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, Cal Arts, Brandeis University, Temple University, and a guest instructor at the Aaron Speiser Acting Studio.
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