Joanna Merlin

Joanna Merlin, born JoAnn Delores Ratner on July 15, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois, was an American actress, casting director, and acting teacher whose Broadway career spanned from 1960 to 1982. She died on October 15, 2023, at the age of 92, from myelodysplastic syndrome, at the Los Angeles home of her daughter Rachel.

Merlin was born to Harry Ratner, a Jewish grocer, and Toni Merlin, whose maiden name Joanna would later adopt as her own. Her parents had emigrated from Russia to the United States. Her older sister, Harriet Glickman, became known for her role in persuading cartoonist Charles M. Schulz to introduce a Black character to the Peanuts comic strip in 1968, resulting in the creation of Franklin. Merlin first appeared on stage at age eleven in a community theatre production of Too Many Marys. When she was fifteen, her family relocated to Los Angeles, where she later attended UCLA without completing a degree. She subsequently studied under Michael Chekhov, mastering his acting technique, and was regarded as the last surviving student of Chekhov who continued to teach his method.

Her screen debut came in 1956 in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Merlin made her Broadway debut in 1961 in Becket, and went on to originate the role of Tzeitel in Harold Prince's production of Fiddler on the Roof. She departed the show's tour before its conclusion to care for her two young children, after which Prince offered her a path into casting work that accommodated a more flexible schedule. Her Broadway credits also include Solomon's Child, The Survivor, and Shelter, among other productions. As a casting director, Company was the first musical she worked on in that capacity, and she subsequently cast Follies, Evita, and Sweeney Todd. In 1986, she served as casting director for John Carpenter's film Big Trouble in Little China.

On screen, Merlin appeared in the film Fame, playing classical dance teacher Miss Olivia Berg. She made her first appearance in the NBC drama Law & Order in 1992 as a defense attorney, later returning to the franchise in additional roles. From 2000 to 2011, she appeared in 43 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit across every season of that period, playing Judge Lena Petrovsky. In that role, she interacted with characters including ADAs Casey Novak and Alexandra Cabot and Detective Olivia Benson.

Merlin was a faculty member of New York University's graduate acting program at the Tisch School of the Arts and founded the Michael Chekhov Association in 1999, through which she led acting workshops. She authored two acting guides. Her first marriage, to Martin Lubner in the 1950s, ended in divorce. She was subsequently married to David Dretzin from 1965 until his death in 2006, following injuries sustained in a car accident. The two had two daughters: Rachel, a documentary filmmaker, and Julie, an actress.